The Quest Is On! ...Excitement as Star Quest Gets Set to Kick Off

Excitement and anticipation! That is the dominant mood as Star Quest, Nigerian’s first and longest band-based reality TV show/ talent hunt competition gets set to kick off. From February 21, 2012, some of the brightest and most talented young musical acts in the country will storm four auditions centres across the country. They will face possibly the toughest test of their musical life. Their goal is to be the winning band of the Star Quest 2012.

Star Quest, which began in 2002, has managed to carve a niche for itself in spite of the glut of music reality TV shows in Nigeria. The reason is simple: Star Quest is the only band based talent hunt musical competition in Nigerian today. While other talent competitions focus on the search for one individual as winner, Star Quest goes beyond that. It seeks for the blend of talented individuals to form a music band.  Through Star Quest, the dying art of live band music is finding expression in the country.

At stake is a N7.5 million naira recording contract, a brand new minivan, N3.6m cash for the winning band plus one year paid accommodation in a choice area of Lagos. The accommodation comes with a studio equipped with the latest musical equipment.

Fantastic prizes indeed but the biggest boost the winning band will get will be the opportunity to perform in two of Nigerian’s biggest musical events; Star Trek and Star Mega Jam. Star Trek is a yearly musical tour that moves around the country featuring some of Nigeria’s biggest music icons. Star Mega Jam, on the other hand, is an annual musical fiesta where an international music artiste performs in selected venues across the country.  Winning the Star Quest competition may well be their launch pad to making it big in music. The concerts will afford them the much needed exposure and chance to show the world that their winning the competition is no fluke. Indeed, the prospect of performing alongside an international artiste as well as the best of local acts is a rare opportunity they will do well to seize.

But emerging as the winner will be anything but easy. Thousands of wannabe music talents are expected to turn up at the audition venues for the screenings. The music enthusiasts, who must be within the ages of 18 and 24 years, are expected to show demonstrable proficiency in at least one vital area of music ranging from vocals, instrumentals to composition. They will have to do enough to convince the impressive array of judges made of Paul ‘Play’ Dairo,Waje and KC Presh before progressing to the next round. In order to give equal opportunity to participants from across the country, the selection will hold in four cities- Makurdi, Enugu, Benin and then Lagos.

The auditions will not be an easy task for the judges. They will have to probe through the anxious horde of fame seeking budding musicians and prune the crowd down to 55 from the four audition venues. Only the best will advance to the next stage. Then the action will move to Lagos for the grand auditions. There, the judges will once again assess the qualifiers to determine which of them is good enough to move on to Star Fameland. Only 36 of the 55 qualifiers will be lucky enough to advance to the Star Fameland from the grand audition.

Then the real work begins. Inside the Star Fameland, the 36 lucky qualifiers will be required to form six bands of six members each. Interestingly, the pairings are done without the interference of the show organizers. Here, the bonding process really begins for the band members. Gradually, each of the bands begins to develop character and identity independent of the others. The six bands will have to pick a band name and assign specific roles to the individuals in the band. They will also undergo extensive rehearsals in preparation for their regular performances. Coached by music professionals, each of the six bands will be required to perform hit tracks from a variety of musical genres from both local and international artistes. This time, their fate lies in the fate of the voting audience who will determine who stays and who leaves in the competition via SMS. The bands will be trimmed from six to three before the final round of voting to determine the over-all winner.

For some past winners of the event, Star Quest was the ticket through which they achieved fame and success in music. One example is the duo of Kingsley Okonkwo and Precious John of the KC Presh fame. While speaking during the press conference, Kingsley Okonkwo expressed gratitude to Star Quest for their role in making KC Presh a success. “The truth is that we owe it all to Star Quest. Precious and I literarily walked the length and breadth of Lagos seeking for just one chance. We got it through Star Quest and today we have come a long way,” he said. Okonkwo also urged the participants of this year’s edition to be very focussed in their careers, saying that winning Star Quest was no guarantee for a successful career in music. “Winning Star Quest is one thing. Making a successful career out of music is another. When you win a competition such as this, you must understand it is just the first step. The hard work continues after that,” he continued.

Speaking in the same vein, Samspon Oloche, Senior Brand Manager, Star, also stressed that Star Quest was a platform for young, aspiring musicians to showcase their talents. “What we are doing through Star Quest is to provide a platform for these aspiring musicians. What we have noticed over the years is that this country has abundance in talented people but there is hardly a platform for them to express themselves to the world. We hope that after they get the platform to showcase their talent in Star Quest, they will go on to make something of their lives,” he said.

So which band will clinch the 2012 edition of Star Quest? Only time will tell as the Nigerians army of young musicians get set for the nation’s hottest band based music talent show.