FRILLS, THRILLS OF STAR QUEST 2011
Star Quest, a musical talent hunt competition dedicated to rejuvenating music band culture in Nigeria, and which started airing on TV on Sunday, April 17, 2011, is waxing stronger by the day.
Promoted by nation's favourite Star larger, the numerous text messages sent in by viewers and scrolled on the bottom strip as the show progresses bears testimony to its popularity. Ardent viewers of the programme do not restrict themselves to sending text messages only. They also express their views on the social networking website - Facebook. Also, the Star Nigeria fan page, which is constantly updated with information about Star Quest, is awash with comments by numerous fans across the country.
But what exactly makes this year's Star Quest tick, to the extent that viewers stay up late, often times till midnight, just to watch the show? Well, several factors could be responsible for this. First would be the comic relief that Star Quest provides its audience. Registration is free, and the only requirement is a demonstrable musical ability, whether vocal or instrumental. No fees are required, so contestants have to await their turn before they are beckoned on stage to show the stuff they are made of.
If Ali Baba, Basket Mouth, Gbenga Adeyinka and other A-list comedians think they can get audiences laughing, and in the process smile to the bank, they had better be prepared to up their ante. These top comedians should rightly feel threatened by some of the contestants at the Star Quest, who would give them a run for their money. With their croaky voices, wacky rhymes, weird clothing, baffling lyrics, funny postures and other musical aberrations, the wannabes got the audience riling in laughter at the auditions.
Other performances were simply appalling, throwing the audiences into fits of rage. Some contestants, who did not want to leave the stage after being rejected by the judges, had to be whisked off by security guards. Some simply could not find their voices and were obviously overwhelmed by the large crowd. Many attested to the fact that they staged long sessions of practice, only to be overcome by stage fright at the audition.
The second ticking factor would be the judges. KC of KC Presh, Freeze of Cool FM, and renowned R&B singer, Paul Play were all saddled with the responsibility of picking the 36 contestants who would form the six bands for this year's edition of Star Quest. Even though, the judges have concluded their assignments, the memories of the various judgments they passed on the Star Quest's wannabes would linger on in the minds of viewers for a long time. They threw comical jabs at contestants who were unable to impress them during the auditions. As it appeared that there were far more comic acts among the contestants, and the judges did not spare the non-deserving their strong and blunt criticisms; lacing their comments with obvious sarcasm.
KC was the judge with the most comical edge. He once told a guitarist, who failed to hit the right notes when asked to play a makossa tune, thus: 'Look, you're playing 'samoka' not makossa'. He also asked a rapper who failed to impress him with stagecraft to 'go and buy 'swag' on the Internet'. However, the audiences across the regions would remember KC for shouting 'next!' when the appalling performance of a contestant became obvious.
Freeze, another judge, also dished out comical criticisms to a good number of contestants who performed below par with comments like 'you've finished rapping Economics. Can you also rap Physics and Chemistry since you're out to educate us?' and 'your voice is a natural disaster, it reminds me of the tsunami'. Paul Play, on his part displayed some level of humour. He once assisted a particular contestant with a beatbox sound, using his mouth, but then the contestant clearly embarrassed himself with a woeful act. At a point during the auditions, the judges, still in their comic mood, allowed the audience to make decisions on their behalf, after a poor rendition was made.
The audiences also made the Star Quest's auditions memorable. Even as contestants formed a majority of the audience, their counterparts who were on the hot seats were not spared when they performed below par. Their fits of laugher generated buzz and excitement around the audition venues.
Now that the chaff has been separated from the wheat, Nigerians can now settle down to savour the sound of good music. As the nation awaits its next superstar band to emerge from Star Quest, the viewing public should not forget that the power to choose the winning band lies in their hands. Only this will justify the late hours they spend watching the show across a variety of TV stations.