Kenyan Carpenter Wins Coveted African Idol Title
0 Comments
Aug, 2007
Mombassa – Festus Wambugu, a 23 year old carpenter from Magadi, Kenya is the feted winner of the first ever 2007 African Idol.
“I feel great,” said Festus. “It’s so unreal. We had some talented singers on the program this year..but I beat them all.”
Kwabena Darko, a Ghanaian judge representing the west coast on the all African panel of judges said no one better deserved to win this year.
“I mean, here you have a guy from a town of about 980 people living in the most rudimentary conditions, and yet he was able to deliver his songs with such flamboyant style and international flair…it was unbelievable.”
Mr. Darko was wearing his trademark reflective sun-glasses, so it was difficult to read any sincerity in his eyes. So we had to ask him, just to be sure. He was adamant in his response.
“Am I being sincere? Just take a look at the tapes. You will see tears on my cheeks. It might look like sweat…because the studio was rather hot… But the tears are there; and they are real.”
Festus claims his victory came as a result of his fusion style of delivery. He calls it “remixy-mixy”. His inspiration: Will Smith.
“You see, the thing that gave me the edge over the other contestants is that they delivered their songs in genuine and pure African style, according to their region or culture,” Festus explained. “As we all know, Africans do not like or value anything that is uniquely African, under no circumstances. EVER. So I did a remixy-mixy for my favorite artist’s song.”
That song was “Summer Time”, a Will Smith classic from the early 1990’s. Festus sang his rendition a cappella, in true falsetto, just for Maize Break.
Heh ge dez, kum kum
Heh ge dez
I go, slide, transform
Just a little bit?
G-g-give me the subject of it. You nevah helps it?
I t’ink-e t’ink-e of a Summer time!
Festus says he hopes to have a long and fruitful music career, just like his hero, Will Smith.
And for the record, we wept too.
