UGANDA'S Esther Nabaasa Mugizi, a 21-year-old engineering student at Makerere University, on Sunday, beat 18 contestants from Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya to the sh130m grand prize in the Tusker Project Fame contest. The reality TV show nurtures local music talent. Of the 18 contestants, 15 were placed in the academy, given voice and musical lessons to get a winner. Laura M. Walusimbi traces her success

To tell you how I feel now would mean being speechless.â€ Those were the words of Esther Mugizi Nabaasa, the Ugandan who won the Ksh5m (sh130m) in the Tusker Project Fame 2 contest last Sunday.

Moment of truth
Immediately MC Gaetano Kaggwa announced her the winner, Esther bowed down, applauded her fellow contestants and then bent over and smiled â€” perhaps to the realisation that her dreams of buying a car, studying sound engineering, owning a studio and touring the world had been achieved.

â€œI am so excited. Thank you East Africa and Tusker Project Fame for making my dream come true,â€ Esther said.
The 21-year-old Bachelor of Telecommunications Engineering student at Makerere University scooped the most SMS votes from East Africa.

Tusker Project Fame is East Africaâ€™s premier music TV reality show, that aims to nurture and promote local music talent. Fifteen out of the 18 contestants from three East African countries were placed in the academy, where they received voice, musical and performance lessons.

The preceedings
Her crowning night was a culmination of star-studded performances, tension-gripping moments and a heart-throbbing climax.

Tusker Project Fame is a regional talent show, but because it is broadcast from Kenya and sponsored by a largely Kenyan beer brand, there was, initially, a disconnect between Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

But an idea was floated for the contestants to meet their fans in Uganda and Tanzania.

Although it was only two weeks before the end of the show, with only eight contestants remaining in the academy, the ploy worked. The votes shot up after the contestantsâ€™ visit to Kampala.

Each of them sang three songs before the voting lines were closed. The show was spiced up by entertainment from some of East Africaâ€™s stars who helped to diffuse the tension.

The audience, which was a blend of fans, celebrities, media and top corporate executives, started streaming in as early as 5:00pm.

Shortly after 7:00pm, the presenters, Gaetano and Sheila, ushered in performances from the four contestants and East African artistes like Kenyaâ€™s Redsan and Jua Cali, Tanzaniaâ€™s AY and Ugandaâ€™s Bobi Wine.

After releasing their entire vocal and dance prowess, the climax of the 10-week journey came; who would be the winner of Tusker Project Fame 2?
When Gaetano announced that Victor was the third runner-up, some fans shed tears as the other three contestants gasped for air.

When David was announced the second runner-up, more tears were shed. In what must have been the longest 30 seconds of their lives, Wendy and Esther waited nervously for Gaetano to announce the winner.

â€œEsther is the 2008 Tusker Project Fame winner,â€ he said. Estherâ€™s win draws to a close a six-month musical journey that traversed the three East African countries of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in search of the best undiscovered musical talent.

Her win also caps 10 weeks of the Tusker Project Fame Academy that has witnessed the metamorphosis of Project Fame from East Africaâ€™s indigenous and most popular reality TV talent show, into a culture phenomenon that has attracted millions of viewers.

One person who was conspicuously absent was last yearâ€™s Tusker Project Fame winner, Valerie Kimani. In fact the one time she made an appearance was two weeks ago when she went to the academy to give the contestants tips and copies of her CD.

Why Esther won
Speculation was rife in Nairobi that the show could not be won by a Ugandan because the Uganda national language is not Kiswahili and, as such, would not appeal to the larger East African region. But Esther proved these critics wrong.

Her win was clearly a result of support from each of the three countries.
Throughout the competition, Esther wowed both the showâ€™s viewers and judges with pitch perfect renditions of ballads, ranging from modern classics to African songs.

She managed to avoid probation time after time, until the last week when all the contestants were put on probation.
On Sunday, her rendition of Fantasiaâ€™s I believe, Zamajobeâ€™s Ye Wena Sani and Colours of the Wind, captivated the crowd, who sang along with her. Esther was a crowd favourite.

Throughout her time at the Tusker Project Fame Academy, she was nothing short of a role model and a good example of a student.

She was consistently above average, working hard and making the right choice of songs to perform during the eviction shows. Esther had the whole package â€” confident, talented, sassy and still managed to portray the image of an artiste.

Esther displayed very little emotion and always acted professionally every time she was on stage. Clearly, she had only one goal â€” to win. She only showed emotion when she received calls from home.

Then there was the politics of voting. Odds seemed to favour the Kenyans as Kenya was represented by three finalists in the academy, compared to Ugandaâ€™s Esther and none from Tanzania.

That means Uganda and Tanzania most likely voted for Esther overwhelmingly while Kenyaâ€™s votes were split.

Other Ugandan contestants
In the beginning, Ugandans were strong contenders. One would think Jacob Nsaali, Steven Oundo, Esther, David Ogola and Wendy Kimani would be the top five contestants.

However, Jacobâ€™s fortunes were reversed when he and Steven were put on probation after singing Luganda songs.

After the live eviction show, there was an air of regret when Jacob was sent out of the academy. He was very upset and when was asked what he thought about his fellow students voting him out, he said it was because they considered him a threat.

Jacob can excel in music, but he needs to work on his diction if he is going to sing in English. He uses many râ€™s where they are not supposed to be.

Steven, who survived eviction that night, is also a gifted singer and was very passionate in his performances. He is also humourous as evidenced by his appeals to the public to vote for him.

But as fate would have it, he did not make it to the finals. To say Steven was shocked would be putting it mildly. His disappointment was clearly etched on his face and in the way he stood in front of the audience with hands held out as if asking, â€œwhy?â€

Glitches
One of the main aims of Tusker Project Fame is to showcase East Africaâ€™s talent. But the integrity of the show was questioned when the three Tanzanians; Hemedi, Linah and Felly were evicted and then returned to the show the following day.

There was speculation that the organisers did not want to lose Hemedi who, though he is no great singer, proved to be the entertainer.

His theatrics ranged from crying because Wendy did not reciprocate his love, to attacking Ian Mbugua, the Kenyan judge, in a song. He also made lewd gestures at him on stage. Losing him would mean losing television audiences.

If there was a third show, there would be a lot of room for improvement. For instance, to make the show more professional, they should ensure each judge has a microphone.

Secondly, they have to ensure that the contestants get exposure through meeting their fans.

Thirdly, they need to stick to the programme. Viewers were disturbed when, for two consecutive weeks, there were no evictions. As a result, four people had to leave at once.

Fourthly, a lot of effort needs to be put into the editing of the daily shows. When Tanzanian Asha Mashauri succumbed to the pressures of the show and collapsed, the remaining contestants were shown crying and looking sombre.

There was no official explanation about what had happened. At the end, there was a strap line saying Asha would not be in the show any more.

Lastly, it is fine for the sponsors to brand the contestants in their T-shirts and blouses, but the company should get them special designer T-shirts, shirts and blouses, so it is a win-win situation for all concerned.

The reward
Esther walked away with sh130m, a recording contract from Gallo Records, the biggest recording label in Africa, health insurance worth Ksh10m from Resolution Health, a laptop with one-year Butterfly Internet connection from Kenya Data Network, a six-month full beauty therapy from Ashleyâ€™s Hair and Beauty College and a phone voucher worth Ksh40,000 from Kool Phones Ltd.

The first runner-up, Wendy Kimani, won health insurance worth Ksh5m from Resolution Health, beauty therapy from Ashleyâ€™s Beauty Salon, a phone voucher worth Ksh30,000 from Kool Phones Ltd and a laptop with a six-month Butterfly connection from Kenya Data Networks.

The second runner-up, David Ogola, will receive a Ksh2.5m insurance cover from Resolution Health, beauty therapy from Ashleyâ€™s Beauty Salon and a Ksh30,000 phone voucher from Kool Phones Ltd.

The top seven contestants have been offered a management contract by Pine Creek Records.

Additional reporting by Sebidde Kiryowa

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