By Dipo Olowookere

Viewers of the ongoing Gulder Ultimate Search (GUS) season 12 are looking forward to when they would have the rare opportunity to vote to return an evicted contestant with boomerang back to the Amorokin Camp.

This edition of the show gave GUS viewers the avenue to return one contestant back to the television reality series to partake in the search of Akolo’s chest, which was lost a long time ago.

It was a twist introduced in the GUS Age of Craftsmanship, with boomerangs scattered around the jungle, allowing contenders who find any of them and are evicted to have the opportunity to return to the show with the support of viewers.

Among those who have been evicted so far, Esitima, Tosin and Osas have boomerangs and have the opportunity to return to the jungle. Viewers would be able to vote for one person that would return to Amorokin camp to fight for the N50 million prize.

Before now, evictions marked the total end of the road contestants until the introduction of the boomerang, which the host, Toke Makinwa, informed the warriors of.

Last week, Yankari and Esitima were evicted from the show, leaving only five in the jungle.

Esitima, who found three boomerangs during her stay at the camp, but had to let go of two, has the opportunity to return if voted by viewers.

With less than two weeks left to end the programme, one question of the lips of viewers is; when will we have the opportunity to vote one of our favourite evicted contestants back to Amoroki camp? This is left for the organisers to answer.

But the show producers have promised that viewers will surely have the opportunity to vote back their favourite warrior when voting is open and the contender with the highest votes will return to the jungle to participate in the final task in the search for Akolo’s chest.

More than 20,000 Nigerians applied for the Gulder Ultimate Search Season 12 Age of Craftsmanship and after a regional selection process followed by a two-day trip to the Sea School, the number was pruned to just 18, who made it into the jungle and were divided into three clans of Amo, Irin and Iroko.

By Dipo Olowookere

The music scene in Nigeria is unarguably one of the biggest in Africa. In fact, it is like what the American music industry is to the world and the key stakeholders are loving the attention.

A popular female artiste, Yemi Alade, attested to this when she told CNN International in the latest episode of Africa Avant-Garde that, “The music industry in Nigeria is ever-growing, it is huge. The music has spiralled out of control. It’s international, the entire world is into it, the spotlight is on Africa and we’re loving it.”

Unfortunately, the outside world sees the sounds from Nigeria as purely Afrobeats, which some people like Yemi Alade, who gained limelight after she won the maiden edition of a now-rested Peak Talent Hunt in 2009, said was worrying.

“I like to call my genre of music Afropolitan. For me it’s a mix of highlife, Afrobeats, R’n’B and pop,” she stated.

“I’m not an Afrobeats artist, my own genre of music is Afro House. Afro House is a fusion of African music, there’s the African influence in terms of the beat, and my vocals – I love to sing in Yoruba language,” another female singer and songwriter, Niniola, said.

Afrobeats is the sounds produced from West African and was made very popular by late music legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and music executives, Kenny Keke Ogungbe and Dayo D1 Adeneye, who started Kennis Music, one of Nigeria’s best-known music labels, in the late 1990s, cautioned that not everything should be grouped under the Afrobeats label,

“I hope as we keep moving, the world will learn to recognise that everything that comes out of Nigeria is not Afrobeats,” the submitted.

As for Mr Obi Asika, the founder of Yam Carnival, a festival in London, England celebrating Black music, culture, and food, he is hopeful that African music will continue to grow in popularity internationally.

However, he cautioned that the genre shouldn’t lose its African roots, “I hope that it keeps its foundations strong, and I hope that African people remain stakeholders in it – that it’s not just gobbled up by the industry, because then it will last forever.”

A renowned music producer and founder of Mavin Global, Don Jazzy, said streaming is increasing the popularity of African music globally.

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Over the weekend, more than 4,000 talented singers were at the Colossus Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, to audition for the Nigerian Idol season 7 music reality show and become to latest music celebrity like the season 6 winner, Kingdom.

The budding music acts were there to fight for a spot in the top 500 contestants who will emerge from the live audition to the next stages.

The 500 contestants would be judged again and pruned down to 250 contestants. Only 50 contestants will proceed to theatre week out of the 250 contestants, and the 50 contestants will be judged based on their creativity, strength of voice and stage performances.

Out of the 50 contestants from theatre week, only 10 contestants will emerge for the live performances. Fans and lovers of the show are to catch up on the audition and selection stages on DStv and GOtv in February 2022.

The Nigerian Idol season 7, sponsored by Bigi drinks, will come to an exhilarating climax on Sunday, May 22, 2022, with over N50 million worth of prizes awaiting the winner.

At the audition last week, talented young up-and-coming artists were refreshed by Bigi, produced by Rite Foods Limited. They applauded the company for the refreshment.

Speaking on the turnout, the Brand Manager, Beverage and Bakery, Rite Foods Limited, Ms Boluwatife Adedugbe, described it as impressive and commended all contestants for their confidence to embark on the musical journey to stardom with Bigi.

According to her, “we are elated to witness a day like this where thousands of talented singers are prepared for a refreshing journey to stardom.

“The Bigi brand will ensure that whatever flavour that resonates with the contestants’ singing abilities, the brand is always there to give refreshing confidence for their performances as they journey through the singing competition.”

Ms Adedugbe further emphasised her company’s commitment to espousing talent discovery in music through platforms like the Nigerian Idol for young talented singers to find expression and become megastars.