Chronicle Editor
Melissa Mpofu, Showbiz Editor
Effect, one of the two groups representing Zimbabwe at the Old Mutual Amazing Voices competition in South Africa may want to seriously take the show’s judges advice if they are to make it to the semi-finals as their “sexiness” alone, according to the judges, may not be sufficient to save them.
Seven out of 10 groups are left in the competition after two groups, Apopearls and KPM from Ghana were voted out last Sunday. The remaining groups are Nigeria’s Eva Chorale and 121 Selah; Kenya’s Malkeeya; South Africa’s Southern Six and Hush SA as well as a second group from Zimbabwe, The Unveiled.
This week’s outstanding group which earned the Golden Voice was Hush as judges were impressed saying they have taken all the advice they have been given and incorporated it into their performances.
Malkeeya, an all-female RnB group, on the other hand, were very fortunate to survive elimination as they had the lowest scores. Luck was on their side as there was no elimination on Sunday.
However, this means that the remaining groups will need to up their game this coming Sunday as at least two groups will likely be booted out of the competition as the race for the US$100 000 prize money heats up.
During this past Sunday’s show, Effect, a diverse seven-member all-male group from Bulawayo performed a cover version of Beyonce ft Wizkid’s Brown Skin Girl. Oozing so much confidence, as usual, the boys, led by vocalists X-Mile and Tony Q Moyo took ownership of the song and stage as they worked hard to convince judges that they were the best-unsigned group in Africa. The theme of the night was celebrating musicians who are singers/songwriters.
Commenting after their performance that left one of the show’s hosts, Ghanaian Elikem Kumordzie mesmerised, one of the judges, South African musician, Vusi Nova said he was not sure of the group’s song choice.
“I’m not sure about the song choice for you guys definitely. I think you guys could have taken it a semi-tone up. I felt it was a bit low, but overall, I feel you guys are gonna make it. It just works,” commented Vusi Nova.
Another judge, Ammara Brown concurred with Vusi saying she also felt the song choice was not the best.
“Listen, I just love to see you hey. I love the whole dynamic, it’s beautiful. You’re beautiful to look at and lovely to watch. Today though, the song choice was not suited to your voice. It was too low,” said Ammara.
She suggested that the group’s lead vocalists take time to rehearse alone so as to avoid clashing on stage.
“You guys have sort of picked who’s singing lead so speak about it and share your strong and weak points with one another. Also, the two of you (X-Mile and Q Moyo) both have higher registers so when you’re doing your adlibs, it can get a bit on top of each other (like yelling).
“You two need to work together and rehearse so that it refines the beauty we want to hear because we absolutely love hearing your voices.”
In the end, Ammara gave the boys a boost of confidence when she described them as sexy.
“You guys are sexy, are a vibe and you look comfortable so keep that going and tighten it up,” said a visibly smitten Ammara.
Commenting on the show, Effect members said the going is getting tough.
“The going is getting tougher and tougher. Groups are being eliminated almost weekly meaning only stronger ones are surviving and that’s what’s making the competition tougher. There’s no room for errors or mistakes at this stage,” group spokesperson Ngonidzashe “Nino” Musiniwa said.
Quizzed who is behind the selection of their songs, Nino said: “Each and every Effect member has a say on the song selection. We sit and discuss the songs and always try to come up with the best that works for us as a group. Most importantly, we try and pick hit songs,” Nino said.
On the judges’ comments about their performance this past Sunday, Nino said to some extent, they were in agreement with Ammara that their song was too low for their lead singers.
“She was right to some extent as I think we got scared of the original Beyoncé key and wanted to play it safe not knowing we were throwing ourselves under the bus.
“But, we felt really good singing that song and enjoyed the performance.”
Nino said Ammara’s comment that the group is sexy was a major confidence booster adding that they will use that to their advantage and also incorporate judges’ notes.
“. . . and not forgetting Ammara Brown’s comment that we looked sexy. I think we’ll couple the sexiness with our talent to sail through the remaining episodes and also try and incorporate what the judges asked us to fix.” — @maffarro.
Online Reporter