The journey to find Nigeria’s next music star kicks off as theNigerian Idol crew hit the road this weekend to kick start auditions
for talents
The world- famous musical franchise has been staged in many continents
of the world, seen by millions of live and TV audiences, but on
Saturday October 9, 2010, the journey to finding Nigeria’s first Idol
begins.
“The auditions will start with producers screening wanna-be singers on
the first two days, and then the judges will fly in on the last day to
audition those that passed the producer’s phase” Project Manager
Chichi Nwoko told reporters on Tuesday morning before heading to Enugu
Already, a 50 man production team comprising of grounded experts from
South Africa, Nigeria and the United Kingdom arrived Enugu on Monday
to set up for auditions at the Universal Hotel Enugu.
“We need to get things ready and in place for the contestants as well
as the judges and the host for Saturday” Lillias Bode Head of the
production team disclosed.
Sponsored by Etisalat, the lucky 100 from all the audition venues will
return with Idols team to Lagos, Nigeria after which they will be
screened down to 50. Host Misi will take TV viewers through auditions
through the Theatre episodes, group work shop episodes all the way tothe live shows.
After Enugu, the preliminaries will move to Abuja where resident
talents will audition for Idols at the Nicon Luxury on October 15 and
16. Auditions will hold in Calabar at the Cultural Centre on October
22 and 23, and finally in Lagos at D Box Studios Omole Phase 1.
The journey to discovering Nigerian Idol will take the mould of the
original Pop Idol. Viewers and critics familiar with the Idols format
can state categorically that Idols usually has three judges (as in the
US version) or four (in the European version).
For the first time ever, Maikori, Daniel and Davies will take up
positions as judges of Nigerian Idol and play their trusted role in
commenting on the performances of this year’s contestants while
helping the wannabes be the best they can be.
At the end of the search, the winner of Idols will get a cash prize of
2.5 Million Naira and a record deal from an international record label
Originally referred to as Pop Idol, Idols debuted on British TV in
October 2001. It was initially aimed at discovering the best new pop
singer in the United Kingdom, but over the years, it has grown to
become an international franchise with many now excluding “Pop” from
the title.
