Talent Yapa Zed Exposes Us

I have a confession to make. I began watching Talent Yapa Zed with great expectation having seen similar shows such as America’s Got Talent and Britain’s Got Talent. I was hoping to see a great production, entertaining judges and above all explosive talent that were waiting to be discovered. Alas, after watching a few shows, I have learnt to lower my expectation and I began watching it for a whole different reason. It turned into a must watch show to see talentless individuals embarrass themselves on national television.

The show produced by Location Challenge, is a good production by Zambian standards. The reality show productions are in their infancy in Zambia thus I will not dwell too much on them or even dare compare them to similar shows in South Africa because we definitely pale in comparison. There is some formula about such shows that just make them tick, the production, judges and the contestants. If a show can have this mix it is bound to provide loads of entertainment and many people glued to their television screens. Unfortunately, barring the production side Talent Yapa Zed falls short on the judges and the contestant’s front.

Most of the judges on the show sorry for lack of a better word are simply BORING. There is nothing going on among them. No chemistry whatsoever and sometimes their comments are just bland. The judging panel’s only saving grace is Ballad Zulu. He dishes out the advice as it is supposed to be. If you are a horrible singer then you are a horrible singer period. Then to some extent the judges fail to appreciate talent in its merit. It appears as if they have already preconceived ideas of who should win the competition and in my opinion it has to be a singer. So if an individual goes there to rap or do anything funny the chances of them being shot down are extremely high. The fact that a person is a singer or an actor, does not automatically translate into them being good judges for such shows. The producers need to consider finding the right mix for the judging panel in the event that the show will be back for another season.

Then coming to the essence of the show that is finding the best talent in Zambia, I have come up with two assumptions. It is either that the talented Zambians did not turn for the show or there is simply no talent in Zed. With all due respect to the contestants that have been put through there are only a hand full of contestants that I can truly say, ‘Wow! That is talent!” Most of them really are sub standard and need more time to develop their talents and definitely I do not think that they are worthy of the ZMK 100 million that is being dangled in front of their faces. Maybe it is just me who needs to stop comparing them to other participants I have seen on other shows. Then again I am right to compare them to those individuals we are in a global community after all. Perhaps it sounds hypocritical of me to comment on the talent, when I did not bother to compete myself.

If you watch Talent Yapa Zed long enough, you can be forgiven to think that Zambia only has two talents namely singing and dancing. You could also be forgiven to think that people only listen to gospel music because more than three quarters of the singers sing gospel songs. I have no idea whether singing a gospel track is to buy sympathy or perhaps it is easier to overlook such issues as melody or pitch in a gospel song. On the lack of diverse talent however, some of the brunt should be borne by parents and guardians. Little is done to develop a child’s talent. Anything else that has nothing to do with academic work is seen as a waste of time and will only make the child dull. Therefore, the child’s talents are stifled and eventually the talent becomes underdeveloped. It is for this reason that I am not a fan of nursery and primary schools that are formed in someone’s backyard. However, this is a rant for another day.

Finally, the path to greatness begins with the first step. Therefore, applauses for the birth of Talent Yapa Zed are definitely in order. It is however, important that the producers of the show take this first show as a platform to learn from their shortcomings and improve in the next season. For the participants I expect them to practice much harder and perhaps we will see a better and diverse crop of talent to grace our screens. We need to find talent that is truly worthy of the K100 million and if they can offer car to go along with it then, I might be tempted to participate next year.