Zimbabwe’s Eric Moyo takes Idols
When we got to the Bomas of Kenya just outside Nairobi on Saturday evening, it seems everybody but us knew that Zimbabwe’s Eric Moyo would be the winner for the first ever East & Southern Africa Idols TV reality show which had been running on DStv since April.
By Kalungi Kabuye In Nairobi
When we got to the Bomas of Kenya just outside Nairobi on Saturday evening, it seems everybody but us knew that Zimbabwe’s Eric Moyo would be the winner for the first ever East & Southern Africa Idols TV reality show which had been running on DStv since April.
To the group of teenage girls seated on my right, all you had to do was say Eric’s name and they would scream their lungs out. And boy, did they scream!
In the running for the $80,000 first prize was Uganda’s 19-year-old discovery Nicolette Kiige and Eric Moyo, 26, from Zimbabwe. Few people had given Nicolette a chance to even get that far in the competition, and when we spoke to her in the morning before the finale, she was comfortable with whatever happened. “It has been a dream ride for me, whatever happens,†she said at a breakfast meeting at Nairobi’s Serena Hotel.
“I have been exposed to so many things that otherwise I would not have experienced.†It was my first meeting with Nicolette, after watching her on TV for the last three months. At first it is hard to believe she is only 19 years old. She has an air of confidence that probably developed as the show went on. But when the questions start and the giggling begins, you realise this is just a young girl, albeit with a big talent.
The Harare-born Ugandan gave her best performance that night, and she said it could have been because there was no more pressure on her. The voting had already been done, the lines were closed, and nothing that happened that night could affect the outcome of the vote. So she gave her best, and it was awesome.
Watching it on TV afterwards, I realised it did not give her enough credit, because her powerful voice completely dominated the amphitheatre that the Bomas is. It almost took the roof off, and you could feel for Zambian judge TK for having tears in his eyes after she sang My Immortal, which was the judges’ choice for her.
She later did a song that was especially written for her, Goodbye Baby. Is she going to record that song? We all hope so because it is a very good song, and another judge, hip hop artistes Scar, said he would definitely buy the CD. But at the end, what everybody was saying came true, and Eric took the $80,000 (sh134m) cheque, a recording contract with Sony BMG, and $25,000 (sh42m) guaranteed CD sales from Celtel. Nicolette took $5,000 (sh8m) and several other prizes.
When we got to the Bomas of Kenya just outside Nairobi on Saturday evening, it seems everybody but us knew that Zimbabwe’s Eric Moyo would be the winner for the first ever East & Southern Africa Idols TV reality show which had been running on DStv since April.
To the group of teenage girls seated on my right, all you had to do was say Eric’s name and they would scream their lungs out. And boy, did they scream!
In the running for the $80,000 first prize was Uganda’s 19-year-old discovery Nicolette Kiige and Eric Moyo, 26, from Zimbabwe. Few people had given Nicolette a chance to even get that far in the competition, and when we spoke to her in the morning before the finale, she was comfortable with whatever happened. “It has been a dream ride for me, whatever happens,†she said at a breakfast meeting at Nairobi’s Serena Hotel.
“I have been exposed to so many things that otherwise I would not have experienced.†It was my first meeting with Nicolette, after watching her on TV for the last three months. At first it is hard to believe she is only 19 years old. She has an air of confidence that probably developed as the show went on. But when the questions start and the giggling begins, you realise this is just a young girl, albeit with a big talent.
The Harare-born Ugandan gave her best performance that night, and she said it could have been because there was no more pressure on her. The voting had already been done, the lines were closed, and nothing that happened that night could affect the outcome of the vote. So she gave her best, and it was awesome.
Watching it on TV afterwards, I realised it did not give her enough credit, because her powerful voice completely dominated the amphitheatre that the Bomas is. It almost took the roof off, and you could feel for Zambian judge TK for having tears in his eyes after she sang My Immortal, which was the judges’ choice for her.
She later did a song that was especially written for her, Goodbye Baby. Is she going to record that song? We all hope so because it is a very good song, and another judge, hip hop artistes Scar, said he would definitely buy the CD. But at the end, what everybody was saying came true, and Eric took the $80,000 (sh134m) cheque, a recording contract with Sony BMG, and $25,000 (sh42m) guaranteed CD sales from Celtel. Nicolette took $5,000 (sh8m) and several other prizes.