Digicel Rising Stars 2011 hits the mark

Garfield Whyte, Contributor

The curtains have come down on another very entertaining Digicel Rising Stars production. I enjoyed it thoroughly and now make a few comments.

1. It was refreshing in so many ways, inter alia, the new panel of judges who, for the most part, were charitable in their comments, especially Tessanne Chin, and of course the hostess. She, in my opinion, promoted and advanced the show in every way more than her own interests. At no time do I recall her saying she is Diva Terri, or saying thanks to a boutique/salon for her bling dress, bling acrylic or bling wig/weave. Her language, style, and attire were beyond classy. My hope is that producers of some local productions were taking copious notes. Not to leave out the Chill Room. That hostess with her experience did not disappoint. Her sense of humour and neutral position were exemplary.

2. The fact that Delando Colley aka 'Sixteen' was in the competition, one would have expected that he met the age requirement. If so, why was it that some judges refused to accept that and instead couldn't resist commenting that he was too young? Why didn't they simply comment on his performance? If they think he is too young, maybe say his performance was not mature, or some similar comment, rather than hammering him about his age. If it were felt that being 16 is too young, then ask the organisers to increase the minimum age. He didn't enter the competition dishonestly. He met the age requirement and the votes of his fans took him that far.

3. The producers need to find a way going forward to bolster credibility where the weekly results are concerned. Let me make it absolutely clear that I am NOT saying the results that were announced weekly were not the true voting results of the public, BUT in order to bolster the confidence of the public, they should find a way to advise the public of the authenticity of the scores. For example, in some contests, it is announced that the scores are verified by an auditing firm. This should, to a great extent, ensure accuracy. Just merely announcing lowest scores or highest scores is not sufficient.

4. If the show is heavily promoted as "Vote, Vote, Vote" so that your favourite contestant will win, then why is there a judge's and a producer's wild card? Doesn't that defeat, to an extent, the purpose of voting? It does give some more variety to the show, but it robbed some good contestants, who didn't get a second chance after one bad performance, of re-entering the competition. The only way any judge and the promoter should be able to assist in bringing back a contestant is if they were voting just like any member of the public, (but I doubt Digicel would allow them to vote based on their positions).

Don't make a mockery of this competition like recently when a judge in another competition was allowed to repeat a question for a contestant who ironically said it was an "interesting question". Digicel Rising Stars already has a ridiculous side to it because the votes of members of the public many times do not always result in the best contestant winning, but if it is the votes that should count, then there should be no derailing of the competition with these wild cards. There should be one level playing field.

5.Please don't misunderstand my point as I loved both finalists. They were excellent. Tash was being dubbed the Jamaican Lady Gaga, and sometimes looked like she could be the Jamaican Tina Turner as well. During the last three weeks, it is my view that Latty J outperformed Tash. She certainly did not let down the producer for giving her that golden wild card. Her performance with Chuck Fender and her version of Aretha Franklin's hit song Respect were phenomenal and raised the bar so high it was out of the reach of any upcoming artiste, and even established ones, too.

Cherine Anderson couldn't have done that duet any better, and if Aretha Franklin saw that performance of her song, I am sure she would have given Latty J a lot of RESPECT. However, I think the result at the end was fair as it was the votes that carried Tash all the way. She didn't need a second chance to go the distance. Any other result, in my view, would not just be a mockery, but unjust.

They are both great singers and performers and I hope the whirlwind that is behind them now will take them to another level. I wish them the best and hope that they will be nurtured by excellent producers and songwriters.

Garfield Whyte is an attorney-at-law in Kingston.