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Idols West Africa: What You Need To Know
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Tuesday, February 20, 2007
by Tashi Tagg
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 If you're anything like me you may have heard bits and pieces about Idols West Africa having started but you won't have a clue as to exactly what's going on with it.
You'd seriously think that DStv don't want anyone watching it considering how non-exisistent the news and hype about it's been.
To put you in the picture properly as to what's happening, here's all the info you need for the four months of musical torture that lies ahead:
Times
The show premiered this past Sunday (18 February) at 20h00 on DStv's AfricaMagic (channel 102) and began its search for an Idol in Lagos, Nigeria.
The second episode moved on to Abuja and was on Monday, 19 February, also at 20h00.
From now onwards it'll be broadcast twice a week at these times, until the finale on Sunday, 27 May.
If you're in the mood to be institutionalised you can also catch all the extra audition footage on Channel 37 which is going out 16 hours a day - starting at 08h00 and ending 00h00.
The weekly episodes were actually supposed to go out on different nights on M-Net Series but DStv decided to change it so that SA viewers can see it in real time with West Africa.
The Cast
Here's the lowdown on the important players:
 Presenter: Mike Majic
28 year-old Mike Majic (aka Michael Olubunmi Adekunle) is the man in the spotlight in the search for West Africa’s Idol.
No stranger to presenting, Majic has worked in both radio and TV over the past few years. From 2000 to 2003, he was a familiar voice to Cool FM listeners in Nigeria and between 2002 and 2004 he presented two different shows on Galaxy TV.
He is also an event MC, made an appearance in the Emete music video Dance For Me and has appeared in commercials for brands such as MTN.
He co-hosted the Lipton Create Your Style radio show which was aired across Nigeria and his work as an entertainment consultant has seen him visiting Nollywood to scout new talent and working with Channel O award winners Mode 9.
Currently a partner and executive director at the media company Yellow Dog, the Majic graduated from the University of Lagos in 2006 with a BSC degree in Building.
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 Judge 1: Dede MabiakuDede Mabiaku is a versatile, popular musician who specialises in Afrobeat, Highlife and Jazz.
A protégé of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Dede was an integral part of Egypt 80 (Fela's band) for over 10 years. Dede made his name by opening at all Fela’s local and international shows, performing vocals and playing the saxophone.
A graduate of the Department of Theatre Arts at the University of Benin, Dede has a B.A. Honours degree.
 Judge 2: Abrewa Nana
27 year-old Abrewa Nana is a a household name in Ghana and is the first female artist in the Ghanaian music industry to have her own album in the contemporary HIP-LIFE category.
A trained accountant who followed her musical aspirations, Abrewa Nana is a also a dancer and singer with three albums to her credit.
Sagaa was released in 2000 with African Gal and Maba released in 2002 and 2004 respectively.
Nana’s shared a stage with artists such as Akon, 2FACE and Tony Tetuila.
She’s currently recording her latest album which she hopes to release in July under her own record label.
 Judge 3: Dan Foster
Dan Foster is a radio presenter with Cool FM in Nigeria. He hosts Good Morning Nigeria which has been rated No.1 for the last six years.
Foster has also re-created the Sunday Gospel radio show Praise Jam and was a key organizer for the Cool FM Praise Jam concerts in 2004, 2005, and 2006 which concentrated on boosting the image of both established and upcoming artists.
Born in California, Dan was educated at Morgan State University in Baltimore where he studied drama and broadcasting.
He went on to work in 6 different popular radio stations in the US including Mix 106.5 FM.
Foster won the Nigeria Media Merit Award for Best Radio Personality in 2003, 2004 and 2005. He also won the City People Media Person of the Year award in 2004 and again in 2005.
I caught Monday nights episode and it was hysterical - when there's been a break in Idols you forget just how unbelievably, brainfryingly BAD most everyone is.
My fave judge out of the three is Dede, who says it like it is and has an excellent sense of humour. He also made a decision I fully agreed with about a contestant called Gina.
She had all the outward tricks - including an American accent - which he saw right through and gave her a NO, saying she wasn't ready for the competition.
Abrewa spotted it too and delivered her verdict with no hestitation whatsoever, which resulted in both of them going against Dan - who's my most loathed.
That American accent of his needs such a slap. Unsurprisingly he liked the Gina chick a lot.
What's juicy is that there's stacks of tension between the three judges - Dan and Dede espesh. They had two moments between them that strongly suggested "issues".
As per always happens with Idols, it's guarenteed there will be tons to say about the show so if you neeeed to share your thoughts please go wild and start a TVSA Idols blog by going here: Create a TVSA blog.
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PS: Do you think Mike's nickname is Majic as a branding thing to suit the Magic in the name AfricaMagic??
PPS: Someone to look out for voice-wise: Sintikikiki. I don't think she has what it takes stage-wise though.
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Replies: 11 You must be a TVSA member to post a reply |
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| Reply from: |
Amazingly
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2/20/2007 6:24:39 AM |
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I've just started watching and already i'm burning the midnight oil on Channel 37.
i nearly had an attack when i couldnt find the African magic channel - thankfully my click happy fingers found it just in time to see MAGICAL MIKE introduce the show.
I love MM - he's such a natural in front of the camera (plus he's yummy eye candy) - what is it with me and Idol presenters :)
The contestants are a mixed bag. I watched Channel 37 for over an HOUR before they put through ONE contestant!
The judges are very straight forward and Dan reminds me alot of Randy for some reason. Must be that American twang. but so help me if he says Dawg just once .....
Thanx for the breakdown Tashi, nice to see who's who in the idols Zoo
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| Reply from: |
Cloud9
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2/20/2007 12:49:37 PM |
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>>The judges are very straight forward and Dan reminds me alot of Randy for some reason. Must be that American twang. but so help me if he says Dawg just once .....<<
He already did. In the first episode he called someone dawgv. thankfully it was a one-time thing and will hopefully never be heard again. |
| Reply from: |
Gemstone
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2/20/2007 1:28:54 PM |
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| I was awake at 03:00 last night and the auditions were on. Have to agree, Tashi, some of those can't sing, others were pretty good. The judges don't just give places away, that's for sure. |
| Reply from: |
Brown Shuga
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2/20/2007 4:22:56 PM |
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<<considering how non-exisistent the news and hype about it's been>>The promos were all over Channel O and I don't sit down and watch Channel O but I saw them no less than 5 times before it started.
I agree with you on Dede, I like him a lot but I think he tries to be "the star" at times.
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| Reply from: |
Tashi
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2/20/2007 7:54:41 PM |
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>>The promos were all over Channel O and I don't sit down and watch Channel O but I saw them no less than 5 times before it started.<<
That's the trouble with DStv's promos in general though - they'll highlight something millions of times on one or two channels instead of spreading it across as many as possible to create a buzz everywhere. |
| Reply from: |
Tashi
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2/20/2007 9:12:00 PM |
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I've just been watching ActionX to check out what their promos are like and they had some for a bunch of shows from different channels so perhaps I just have the impression that there's not enough advertising 'cos I fast forward through too many of the breaks.
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| Reply from: |
Lady D
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2/21/2007 6:43:03 AM |
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| Ok after reading yesterday i decided to watch,eish,but what i saw was not right!I really didn't believe that so many constants who have no slight singing talent thought they had it,haebo how possible is that.I mean i know gore i cant sing to save any life.Ok there was a few who could sing but i really took a lota of flob contastant before you can get to atleast one with a bit of talent.I also think that their accent is also not doing them any justice.I love Dede,he's so straight forward and i find myself agreeing with his critics.As for Nana,i see her as the Ghanian version of Khethiwe(Generations)they so look alike.She's also sweet. |
| Reply from: |
Brown Shuga
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2/21/2007 3:26:35 PM |
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| <<As for Nana,i see her as the Ghanian version of Khethiwe(Generations)they so look alike>> This is very scary!! I said the same thing to my cousin!!!!!!!!!!!! |
| Reply from: |
Andrew
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2/23/2007 2:31:28 PM |
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| Which countries are involved? Is it just Ghana and Nigeria? |
| Reply from: |
Tashi
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2/23/2007 2:55:09 PM |
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| These are all the countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Helena, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. |
| Reply from: |
Shakes
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3/1/2007 9:48:31 AM |
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I haven't seen the actual episodes, but the auditions footage on the Events channel is surprisingly addictive.
Dede is very sharp. I like him a lot. I was watching early this morning (around 1ish) and a contestant came up. Nana said he looked familiar and asked him if he had auditioned before. Contestant says no. Dan and Nana say OK, sing, but Dede stops everybody in their tracks, calling for the Director and telling the contestant that he had in fact auditioned, in Lagos. He then told him that he sang Que se ra se ra and tells him what their conversation regarding the song was.
Now, after the guy's Lagos audition, Dede's literally almost seen more than a thousand (even more likely) other people auditioning. I found it mindboggling that he was able to remember the guy. Auditioning guy admits to lying (saying everybody lies) and Dede chases him off.
Very entertaining. Apparently contestants are allowed to audition more than once, but the lie was the thing that did him in. |
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