Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

In search of talent
Talent Search 2005 was a time for true talent to be on display. Many participated, and while some are yet to master their talents, others shined. The Critique takes a closer look at the show

The lead up to Talent Search, 2005 was just amazing. The advertising campaign was catchy and everyone was talking about it. What was left was the show.

Talent Search 2005 opened on November 8, 2005 at the BMICH, amidst loud cheers starting literally with a bang, and confetti being shot out from the sides of the stage. With the curtains opening to an amazing backdrop the organiser’s promise of this being the breakthrough year for Talent Search seemed almost true.

First up, Eastern dancing…
Coming in runners-up were the dancers from Visakha Vidyalaya presenting the Gajaga Vannama. It was a performance that was well received by the audience. Even though they had a smooth flow to it, I felt that their synchronisation could have been better. Their performance, however, was quite good.

Varuni De Silva of Girls’ High School, Kandy, well deserved the award she bagged as the winner of this category, dancing to the tune of a Tamil song.

In the Western dance category, Bishop’s College sailed through to the first place for their performance of Bombay Dreams. Wearing purple Indian kurtas, they started off with the audience going wild even before they moved. Their synchronisation was near to perfection, and I thought that their style of dancing kept to the essence of the song.

Giving them some tough competition was Visakha Vidyalaya. They had great moves and they too had the crowd growing wild. It was really unfortunate that the CD skipped and their performance got messed up.

Coming in at the third place were the Lady Marmaladez with their flashy costumes and their smooth dance moves. They had a lot of variation in their performance, and by the looks of it, a lot of ballroom dance training as well. They did jazz up the show.

In the Instrumental Category, Blend proved that they were worthy of being adjudged the winners. Comprising eight guys, the group had a wide range of instruments on stage, and each of them played at least two or three instruments. Going through a medley of songs they inspired in the audience a desire to learn to play an instrument. They were just amazing and what struck me most was the fact that they were having a lot of fun on stage.

Remember the Brass Monkey Band… if the answer is yes, then you would definitely be familiar with the winner of the solo category, Oshan Gunawardena, singing “Chariot” by Gaven Degraw. He had a clear and good voice that kept the audience’s attention, as they tended to be more interested in spelling out their school names than anything else at times.

Dulshani Premachandra from Bishop’s College singing “Show Me Heaven” came in as the second runner up. Unfortunately she could hardly be heard, simply because the audience was way too loud. She started off slightly self-conscious on stage, but she picked up later.

Coming in as the first runner up was Melissa Perera from Holy Family Convent singing “You Raise Me Up” by Josh Groban. She started off fine, but at times the words of the song were not clear.

The Band Category was up next. When the Josephians started singing, they could not be heard. The lead singer, however, did have a lot of emotion, and was very confident on stage.

Chocolate from British School in Colombo, had the music overpowering them most of the time, so that again they could not be heard, which was a shame, because I felt that both lead vocalists did have good voices.

Winners of this category, Tyrants from St. Peter’s College, came in at a time when everyone was quite drained out, after sitting for more than four hours. Their performance was better than the others, but it seemed as if though the lead vocalist did not know some of the lyrics of the song.

The side effects of the Rap Category winning entry had me wondering what rap was about; one of their chosen songs being “Drop It Like It’s Hot”. Isn’t that more hip hop?

Let’s move on to the Group Singing category, shall we?
Trinity College, coming in as the second runner up, was a refreshing change, but at times the lead vocalist did not know his lyrics, which broke the flow of the song.

St. Joseph’s College came in as first runner up, singing “Eye Of The Tiger” and “Denna Dena”and they did justice to the songs. The second song “Denna Dena,” went down quite well and their singing was good.

Bishop’s College should probably be considered very lucky, as they started singing when most of the crowd had left, due to the show running for a very long time. Singing “Killing Me Softly” and “Yesterday”, they were an invigorating change. They kept to the pitch, and it almost felt like the organisers saved the best for last. Bishop’s College came in as the winners of the category, and subsequently the overall winners of Talent Search 2005.

Speaking to one of the judges after the event, it was mentioned that one of the reasons most of the participants were not upto standard, was because of the fact that the audience was too loud and rowdy. As a result of this, she said, most of the performers could hardly get their harmonies right. Most of the contestants who performed were very young, and they would have definitely been very nervous, therefore all the interruptions they had to endure would not have helped them at all.

A lot of effort goes into organising this event, and each year Talent Search keeps getting bigger, but it is as important that standards are maintained. Crowd control is important… after all this in not a rugby match.

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