The nationwide Hansa Pilsener search for new talent to perform at the Hansa Festival of Legends concert is now in its final stage.
Two winners from six regions around the country were announced today.
They are BigSize and Mo Klaasik, Adbus and Mhlathi from KZN. Ma’pakshop and Shumi won their round in the northern region.
The Muffinz and Mo & The Dark Knights were the winners in Egoli. In the Eastern Cape the two final winners were H Zwegellus and Shoelace, while Busi M and Nonku Phiri were the winners in the Western Cape. The judges were Teargas, Zakes Bantwini and Thabiso Khati from Street Music.
The Cape Town finals took place on Durbanville Hills Wine Estate on Sunday to a packed audience amid the scorching heat.
Everybody looked most pleased with receiving a free six-pack of beer on entry and settled down on their camper chairs with their cooler boxes at their side.
When Bantwini arrived to judge the talent the crowd went crazy and mobbed him. Security had to act quickly and put up barriers around the judging area. The man is indeed very popular.
A house band called Deluge started proceedings. Unfortunately for the trio they had sound issues. However, they recovered quickly and showed the most potential on the day.
Deluge is made up of a trumpeter, a female vocalist, who also plays keyboards, and a bassist. They are all UCT jazz students. Their house music celebrates long lazy summer days on Cape Town wine estates.
Hip hop was represented by Dakidnexdoor. They had their own branded T-shirts which includes a dog. The lead rapper was a quirky individual who showed huge potential. Unfortunately their dancers lacked focus and the guys disobeyed the rules by playing longer than their 15 minutes. In the spirit of swagger they just didn’t want to get off the stage.
Whatever, kids! If you’re entering a competition then obey the rules, or you just kinda look like dumbasses.
There seems to be some hype about the eventual winner, Nonku Phiri (yes, she is the daughter of legendary Ray Phiri). She and her DJ experiment with delays on her vocals and the music leans more towards trip hop. She also really enjoys being on stage, but there is a lot more room for the development of her talent.
And finally, when the other winner, Busi M, performed, I had to leave in irritation as again, they were plagued by sound issues. Busi M is a great singer and her live band includes a xylophone and djembes.
All the artists showed the potential to grow into good artists. It will be interesting to see how they will perform against the musicians from the other regions.
Now the public are invited to go to www.hansa pilsener.co.za and vote for the final six winners. They will get to perform at the Hansa Pilsener Festival of Legends which will culminate in a performance by Usher. Online voting will take place from February 2 to 22. The concert will take place at Orlando Stadium on March 10.