At the time of posting, Jerrilyn Mulbah, from Liberia. was going strong in MNET's West Africa Idol - a pop contest featuring budding superstars from the West African sub-region.
Here is a touching story about Jerrilyn
Best of luck to her.
A few thoughts on the competition though. I am rather disappointed that it has focused on "Western" songs and genres. I am not speaking from a proponent of African music's perspective since many African artistes are doing more and more Western style of music and succeeding at it, but I thought with a competition of this magnitude, at least, the contestants should have been made to sing African classics too. Ultimately, I think these musicians will have to be able to make music that is authentically African enough to score on the continent as well as the international scene.
Watch a few more videos from West Africa Idol here
Eric Arubayi (Nigeria)
Mercy John (Nigeria)
Ama Ejisu-Akropong (Ghana)
James Brendan (Nigeria)
Omodele Fatoki (Nigeria)
More contestants here
Email
, USD 19.88 only.
Must agree with you on that one. The competition is frustratingly way too westernized. Love the show, but its sad to see how the judges encourage the contestants to sing "Western songs". I thought the whole point of the competition was to find unique African talent that can be representative of the continent (or West Africa) while doing well internationally? But then you see the judges ask the contestants to sing "I Believe I Can Fly" (The R Kelly version) whenever they need to decide amongst themselves who can sing and who can't. It seems kind of counter-intuitive to me if the best contestant is the one that sings R kelly's song the best. Personally witnessed a few auditions where people came in in traditional gear or came in and sang a song in an African language (some cases, a religious song) and were asked to "give us something a little different. Sing I believe I can fly". In fact some of the contestants were ridiculed when they sang more "traditional" songs. Granted, they weren't that great, but still.
I feel so strongly against this. Personally, I don't want to buy a West African idol's cd if they will be singing crappy Westernized RnB / Hip Hop songs in English. We all know what we do best, and I think we should stick to that.
Ah well, the West African Idols competition is done and the winner is Timi Dakolo,
News story
Mike Majic announced that Timi was the winner to a spontaneous roar from the crowd. Timi sang his single, ‘I Love You’ as he wept with joy.
By being the first ever West African Idol Timi wins numerous prizes, including a recording contract with Sony BMG.
Full story here
I wish to request the email address of my star. She was my Idol during the concluded west Idol contest.
I am based in Bonny Town, Rivers State and wish to make contact to JERRILYN.
Thanks
Unlike the West African Idol, a new site is being released for ALL AFRICANS... just it out at www.plentyAfricans.com Should be fun...
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