ASPIRING singers braved Saturd heavy rain to audition for the third season of the I Want to Sing Gospel reality television show.
The show has also helped the careers of Charisma Hanekam and Siphumelele Mbambo, who are now members of South Africa’s most-loved gospel outfit, Joyous Celebration.
Other artists made popular by the show include Khotsho Makgalema, Nqobile Ngidi, Mzoxolo Rafani and Thabisa Nteoane – who all have solo albums.
Those who made it to the top five for the Eastern Cape region will be announced at the Orient Theatre on Thursday.
They will then join 10 other contestants, from the other two auditions, to form the 15 contestants for the season three show.
During the shows, judges eliminate five contestants until 10 are left and from these, viewers get to vote for their favourite singer, with weekly eliminations for the one with the least votes, until there is just one left.
The weekend’s auditions for this South African show were held at the Eastern Cape Audio Visual Centre in East London.
The show is the brainchild of Thokozani Nkosi, who said: “We are on a national tour and have come to East London as part of our countrywide search for talent.
“People are invited to audition in front of our judges, who are fairly well-known and respected musicians in the country,” he said.
Nkosi said out of the 1 000 contestants who auditioned on Saturday, they were only looking for five singers.
“We are coming to them, saying here is the chance, we want to expose you to millions of South Africans,” he said.
He said they were not particular about style or genre, but specifically wanted uniqueness.
“We want something that South Africa is going to look at and say, ‘ wow we have never seen anything like this before, this is amazing’.
“We want that Zahara effect, where somebody comes out and the country just responds, someone who would otherwise not have a chance to be heard,” he said.
The talent show started in 2008, when Lungisani Ntuli from KwaZulu-Natal won. In its second season, in 2011, the crew found Nhlakanipho Cele, also from KwaZulu-Natal.
This year auditions were held in Johannesburg, Durban and East London.
The winner will be announced in May. —
1 000 brave rain to audition for gospel reality show spot
The show has also helped the careers of Charisma Hanekam and Siphumelele Mbambo, who are now members of South Africa’s most-loved gospel outfit, Joyous Celebration.
Other artists made popular by the show include Khotsho Makgalema, Nqobile Ngidi, Mzoxolo Rafani and Thabisa Nteoane – who all have solo albums.
Those who made it to the top five for the Eastern Cape region will be announced at the Orient Theatre on Thursday.
They will then join 10 other contestants, from the other two auditions, to form the 15 contestants for the season three show.
During the shows, judges eliminate five contestants until 10 are left and from these, viewers get to vote for their favourite singer, with weekly eliminations for the one with the least votes, until there is just one left.
The weekend’s auditions for this South African show were held at the Eastern Cape Audio Visual Centre in East London.
The show is the brainchild of Thokozani Nkosi, who said: “We are on a national tour and have come to East London as part of our countrywide search for talent.
“People are invited to audition in front of our judges, who are fairly well-known and respected musicians in the country,” he said.
Nkosi said out of the 1 000 contestants who auditioned on Saturday, they were only looking for five singers.
“We are coming to them, saying here is the chance, we want to expose you to millions of South Africans,” he said.
He said they were not particular about style or genre, but specifically wanted uniqueness.
“We want something that South Africa is going to look at and say, ‘ wow we have never seen anything like this before, this is amazing’.
“We want that Zahara effect, where somebody comes out and the country just responds, someone who would otherwise not have a chance to be heard,” he said.
The talent show started in 2008, when Lungisani Ntuli from KwaZulu-Natal won. In its second season, in 2011, the crew found Nhlakanipho Cele, also from KwaZulu-Natal.
This year auditions were held in Johannesburg, Durban and East London.
The winner will be announced in May. —
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