The Idols season 10 regional audition rolled into Durban yesterday and with it the good, the bad and the disturbed.
Sitting on a low stool, wearing a leopard-print vest and carrying a four-string guitar, contestant “Siyanda” had just one question for judge Randall Abrahams.
“How did Professor steal my song?” Siyanda was referring to the kwaito star managed by Abrahams and a song which, he said, was played on the radio at the moment he was about to write it down.
Imoto etshontshi’ imali (The car that steals money) was conceptualised and composed in Siyanda’s mind, but was “somehow extracted by the musician without his permission”. Fortunately, Abrahams – somewhat bemused and unable to answer – was not asked for royalties to be repaid.
Siyanda’s bizarre claim and rather poor musical performance were preceded by a nervous 16-year-old who was told she “needed to mature” by Abrahams, and a scratchy version of James Blunt’s You’re Beautiful performed by a timid teenage boy.
It was not all doom and gloom, though, and Durban did deliver several solid performers who earned a pass to the next round.
Among those who impressed the judges – who included regulars Gareth Cliff and Unathi Msengana – was medical doctor Lihle Buthelezi, a 26-year-old, who wanted to swop the hospital rounds for the spotlight. “I am passionate about music, and I am in it to win,” said Buthelezi.
The doctor said if she took the Idols crown she would still pursue a career in medicine, and find “a way to make it work”. - The Mercury