Boys rule at My Star
Chippa Legodimo | Monday April 7, 2014 11:22
It was a boys’ night at My Star on Friday. They stamped their authority such that their brilliance on the microphone excited the predominantly female crowd that could not help, but alienate their fellow sisters.
Girl Power’ got a serious knock when one of the most talented female vocalists in this year’s edition, Galaletsang could not even be saved by the judges in the early stages. This was after she fell among the lowest voted for contestants.
Following her dismissal, fellow contestants seemed under pressure to impress. The first three Kebonye, Luis and Tshepang were not impressive, something which the judges noted.
Althought there was some spontaneity and passion in Luis’ singing the young lad soiled what could have been the first brilliant performance with too much vibration in his vocals.
Kesego, singing a classic, From A Distance by Nancy Griffith, simply failed to provide the spark needed to light up the night hence Master Dee wondered if the song was imposed on her. Nishu failed to give the song, Don’t Cry For Me Argentina any meaning even unable to capitalise on its punchline to create a musical froth for the audience.
The men backstage seemed to believe it was their responsibility to light up the show with some sparkling performances. They had the crowd and the fans filling up the Botswana Television (Btv) auditorium cheering for them.
Just when the murmurs of worry from the crowd started to fill the space, a fellow by the name Peter emerged on stage to change the game. Like his biblical namesake he seemed to be a godsen to lead and spur the remaining contestants on into impressive performances. Choosing Elton John’s Candle In The Wind proved a good choice. Though the judges felt Peter had failed to give the song the sad emotion it is supposed to carry, he had done enough to get almost everybody in the hall off their seats. His successor on stage, Mpho had to do something different to keep the women in the game and ensure her own safety. There was not much promise in the first few seconds into her performance.
Yet she managed to quickly shift to a higher gear, captivating the fans and luring the judges into awe.
But the real fun was yet to come in the form of another male contestant Ontefetse. Shakira’s performance at the opening of the the 2010 World Cup with the theme song Waka Waka was relived in the slender performer.
His dancers went through the roof with some scintillating vocal ability and energetic moves with nothing to suggest that a man was doing a woman’s song.
It would seem the audience had witnessed the night’s best performance yet in another man Motlha from Kasane. He set new records with a superb dance hall performance.
Demonstrating sheer vocal talent, passion and authoritative stage presence, Motlha’s performance could easily be termed ‘cool’. The fans raved along throwing money on the stage as the dreadlocked youngster bearing a Che Guevera t-shirt, was simply on cloud nine.