Unravelling new talent

Stevens Muendo and Matilda Nzioki

Belting to Brenda Fassie’s Vulindlela classic, a stun charmer, Jardine Chao, knew so well that only a flawless thrill would get her past her closest rival Victoria Ofula.

The two girls had been on a head-to-head showdown throughout the five elimination hits of the Mombasa’s Got Talent star search contest and here they were now lining up with two others for the grand finale.

Previously that evening at the fully packed Club Bulls, Nyali, the 20-year-old Chao had presented a convincing performance as she received a standing ovation from the crowd singing I will Survive by Gloria Gaynor.

But Victoria replied back with a resounding show sending a section of the crowd into tears with an emotional Kirk Franklin worship hit, Silver and Gold.

And her well executed Kaoma; Dancando Lambada presentation had thrown the two horse race into a spin with only one more chance standing between the two and the Sh100,000 cash reward.

A graceful Chao walked to the podium for her final chance, pulled the codeless microphone off the stand, waving to the elated crowd. With a whisper, her mellow voice brought out the Brenda Fassie magic to the arena as the back-up band coated the Vulindlela hit, transcending into a breath-taking thrill, which was to become the showstopper of the night.

Before a galaxy of prominent personalities, celebrities, event organisers and hundreds of witnesses cheering on, an energetic Chao took full command of the stage, hitting the notes and sexing the whole show up as she amazingly gyrated her ‘substances’ to an animated applause.

AFRO HOT OR NOT FINALISTS: (SEATED FROM LEFT:) Nice Githinji, Vanessa Maina and Justine Kasema (STANDING FROM LEFT:) Doreen Seke, Sylvia Njoki Kamau and Nadia Kimani

MPs Ali Hassan Joho and Amason Kingi could not help joining the jovial crowd in according Chao a second standing ovation in one afternoon. Also at the VIP alongside the MPs were Fidel Odinga, John Mburu, Jeff Kiboro, Dominic Maina and Ashu Sangani.

The emcees of the night Katana of Katnice Concepts and much talked about actress, Tanya of Tahidi High fame were speechless so was the panel of judges which was now facing a gigantic task to decide on the winner.

The night had been marked with spectacular performances by several dance and singing groups. However, bad sound and microphone inadequacies had marred the best part of the night to the annoyance of the guests.

The usual showbiz rivalry at the Coast seemed to have taken a back seat as leading events organisers Bably Omar of Tabasamu records, Eve Queen of Eve Entertainment, Luciano Senzani of Big Tree and leading Mombasa artistes joined the party to witness the making of a new star.

As the clock ticked towards 1pm, it was adrenaline rush heart throbbing anxiety as the moment of truth came. The judges had made their verdict and Fidel joined by Kiboro and Maina was on the podium to break the news.

Amidst hilarious comic and trying suspense Fidel held the winners name up, looked straight at the crowd and declared Chao, the winner of the inaugural Mombasa Got Talent star search competition.

"I knew the competition was tight between me and Victoria and I am glad I won. I thank God and my family for helping me through," an overjoyed Chao said as she was presented with the Sh100,000 cash award, a trophy and a recording deal with the Ogopa Deejays.

And to her delight, she went further to receive an extra Sh50,000 cash pledge from Fidel as Victoria, the first runners-up went home with a trophy, a recording deal with Ogopa and Sh20,000 token from Joho, the Kisauni MP. Both finalists also received goodies from Dstv and Cadbury Chocolate.

The third place went to the UGK dance group while Dabs dances got fourth spot.

The Saturday finals brought the curtains down on the two months talent search, which saw 70 participants, contest in the three categories — singing, dancing and comedy.

"We will hold the event annually and we expect it to get big with time. All the same, it was a great start which exceeded our expectations," said Delph Maina of Visual Jay, the brain behind the initiative.

Nokia knockouts

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but in the recent past beauty has been in the eye of the Nokia holder.

How about we revisit a few weeks back and check out the hotties that were freshly crowned as the Nokia phone application Afrohotornot beauties. It had been a fun-filled five-week competition where Nokia users were able to post the pictures on the Afro hot or Not Application and have people take a vote on their looks department. In the end winners were picked out of over 1000 entries from Kenya. The overall winner of the Afrohotornot competition was Sylvia Kamau, a Food Science student from the University of Nairobi and also a fashion stylist. She won Sh50,000 and was crowned at the Carnivore Restaurant in Nairobi.

Each of the winners received a Nokia 5230 phone and Sh5,000 for the award of being the weekly hottie. They also got an enviable chance to grace the cover of the leading Showbiz magazine, the Pulse magazine on the week they had won.