16 Jun 2014

Pandemonium erupted at Serowe Institute of Health Sciences auditorium, packed beyond its capacity, when My Star fans broke to deafening cheers to top six contestants who served them well rehearsed renditions from established and celebrated world musicians.

Throughout their polished performances, which were somewhat punctuated with roars of approval from unswerving and avid followers of the show, top six contestants took every opportunity to endear themselves to the supporters in a bid to survive the next ‘eviction.’

Top on the list of the most wanted by the followers who broke into near stampede due to shortage of sitting space was Leonard who incidentally hails from Serowe, the host village. However, Peter was at his element as observed by Tumediso ‘Shanty-Lo’ Loeto who praised him for his vocal skills.

However, Obakeng and Tshegofatso had their fair share of support. Tshegofatso is the only female contestant left in the competition and it remains to be seen whether she will garner enough votes to defeat the testosterones around her.

Obakeng remains one of the strongest contenders though and the judges have attested to that with their comments that showered the dark skinned aspirant. Not left behind were Ontefetse also from Serowe and Boikanyo whose enthusiastic performances too deserved newspaper headlines as they moved the roaring crowd.

Prior to the much awaited show the scheduled 3pm start time had to be postponed for more than an hour to allow the queuing staunch supporters of the arguably popular local talent show to squeeze themselves in so they could at least get a peep at their stars.

Despite struggling for air and a better sight of the contestants, judges were overwhelmed by the response from the vociferous enthusiasts. Though he lost his voice, the brains behind the coveted show Keabetswe ‘Master Dee’ Sesinyi expressed his gratitude to the support that Batswana continue to offer the talent show and did the same even in a post-performance interview.

He observed that the season eight show has proven to be exciting, not only through polished performances but the support. This season My Star managed to hold auditions at places which they had never visited on previous seasons.

However, when asked about the progress of My Star as a business and its impact on his pockets Master Dee was cagey with information but chose to say, “My Star is a project that seeks to empower Batswana.” To drive his point home the show founder narrated that some of the previous winners of the competition were studying at the universities courtesy of My Star and government.

To that he thanked government through the ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture for sponsoring the show to help empower the young generation of music aspirants.

But when quizzed about the success of the past winners musically and his opinion on why supporters enjoyed the shows over purchasing of the winners’ projects Master Dee conceded that Batswana seemed to be glorifying international stars at the expense of their own.

This could be anchored on the fact that the contestants rehearse and perform songs from the global icons of music. He described as ‘funny’ the locals who continue to shun and despise local acts. Notwithstanding that, Master Dee called on Batswana to appreciate and own local productions which he said were followed outside the borders of Botswana.

He argued that had the former winners’ music been bad as some allege it would not be downloaded in foreign countries. The optimistic Master Dee has promised an even better show in the next two years when the show will be celebrating its tenth anniversary.

“This show will be amongst the best in the world,” stated the ambitious former reggae musician who has found happiness in unearthing pop music talent. Master Dee expressed his pain to losing some contestants especially in the top five brackets due to the fact that as they say, there can only be one winner.

My Star, formerly Pop Star until 2009, has seen seven winners many of whom seem to have vanished from the music circles although having won recording deals and some cash to help kick-start their music careers. ENDS