Paleki, one of the South Sudan contestants in the Tusker Project Fame, 2011
The Tusker Project Fame 4 opening gala party was held in October in an event that brought together the best from East Africa in a night of glamour and music. The top 18 contestants and faculty members were unveiled during the show with the three judges Ian Mbugua, Juliana Kanyomozi and Hermes Bariki coming back from last year. The changes in the faculty were that of Hellen Mtawali as the Principal, replacing Achieng Abura, and R-Kay, replacing the controversial Hellon Joseph. Choreographer Edu also came back from TPF 3. For the very first time since the start of the event a number of years back, this is the first time that Sudan was represented. It is worthy to note that the contestants from Sudan actually were picked from South Sudan with the auditions taking place in Juba. One of the judges in Juba was the Sudanese music icon, Jal. The Tusker Project Fame is an event that runs for several months and it is aimed at unveiling the talent in East Africa and helping to nurture it. Initially, Sudan had three contestants but one of them pulled out before the action proper started. This left Sudan with only two contestants in the house, Paleki Matthew Obur (a.k.a Leki, Bianca) and Kuonck Deng. From then, the fight has been on for the contestants. So far, Sudan has only Paleki left in the competition, which is becoming stiff by the week. Deng, also known as ‘K-Denk’ was promising but the competition proved too tough for him and he was eliminated from the Academy in the early stages of the competition proper. Paleki, 22, loves listening to jazz, soul, blues and RnB and says her favourite performers include Alicia Keys, Whitney Houston, Bob Marley and Jazmine Sullivan. She would like to be remembered as a good friend and singer from Southern Sudan. She says that she was pushed to audition for Tusker Project Fame by a close friend and will miss shopping, Facebook and her family as she goes into the Academy. 24-year-old K-Denk is a freelance journalist in his native country although music has always been his passion. He started singing at a tender age in his church choir and has also composed a few songs although he is yet to record any of them. He says because he comes from a poor family, he has immense respect for anyone who has lived the hard life and come out stronger. Unfortunately, we will not see much of him now. There are only two weeks remaining now before the overall winner can be known. The winner will run away with a whopping sum of money – Ksh. 5 million and a recording contract, among other prizes. It remains to be seen whether Sudan will make a lasting impact in this competition. What is for sure is that this reality show experience has given the southern Sudanese a good opportunity of getting a feel of what it is like to be part of the East African family. It comes at a time when the south is seriously considering joining the East African community made up of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. This is an economic powerhouse in the African continent and joining it will only help to open up and expose southern Sudan in the coming years.
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