Idols East Africa 2008 - Seven More To Go

After bidding farewell to Zimbabwe’s Samantha Tirivacho who many still did not deserve to leave the show, Idols East Africa is heating up by the week and all the contestants seem to have upped their game, including Cynthia Kuto. Yeah she’s still in the race. Here's a peek at yesterday's (June 22) show.

19 year old Zambian Trina Chisanga kicked off the show on a high note with Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’. A very big song indeed. She left the audience and the judges visibly excited. TK thought she chose a clever song and Scar thought that she did the song justice. Her voice broke a little bit though somewhere in the high notes but that’s expected and the judges don't seem to have noticed.

20 year old Zimbabwean Adiona Maboreke gave a better performance this time compared to last week with Keisha White’s ‘The Weakness In Me’. She was accused last week of not feeling the song but this time she tried to change that. She put some more emotion in her performance and the judges thought she was spectacular and very confident. I’m not sure about spectacular but she sure has improved.

24 year old Cynthia Kuto whom Scar (real name Thabo Matlhabapiri) described as the Houdini of Idols is still very much in the race despite the fact that a lot of people, judges included, think she should go. I think Cynthia is there only because people are voting in favour of their countries and since she's the only one from Kenya, she gets a huge chunk of Kenya's votes. Zimbabwe on the other hand has to split her votes among 4 contestants. Otherwise as soon as they decrease, so will Cynthia’s chances. But at that rate it's not the most talented Idol that Africa is looking for but rather the one from the most populated country. Yesterday Cynthia admitted that musically she does better in groups than she does solo and I think that explains a lot. She has improved this week though but it’s clear she’s still not a singer. As Angela Angwenyi says, Cynthia's problem is that other contestants are growing much faster than Cynthia who seems to be on a platue.

23 year old Zimbabwean Mkhululi Bhebhe was as charming as ever as he sang ‘Have I Told You Lately’ by Rod Stewart. He got really creative by giving a member of the audience a red rose although he almost butchered the song towards the end while trying to 'make it his own'. This smooth operator definitely did a better job than last week.

19 year old Amarra Brown from Zimbabwe dared to do George Michael’s ‘Careless Whispers’. It was good of her to challenge herself in that way but Scar warned her to watch out on the high notes. And once again he's right. If she's not careful she may sound too pitchy. This girl is meant for the stage though and even though she does not win, her path is already clear.

27 year old Eric Moyo also of Zimbabwe brought the late Luther Vandros on stage in his song ‘Here and now’. Eric seems to have listened to Scar advise last week about being too cocky and this time he did less song butchering. But all in all it was a very good performance that Angela thought would make Luther Vandros proud.

Finally 19 year old Nicollete Kiiga from Uganda but with ties in Zimbabwe (or is it vice versa) set a very high standard for herself with last week’s sterling performance but unfortunately this week she did not get there. Her attempt at Madona’s ‘Like A Prayer’ was a slight slip back and it seems she’s better off doing slower songs. But I’m sure she’ll bounce back. All the judges were in agreement that the vocals were not good this time.

May the most talented Idol win.