BY MULUGETA GUDETA
Most of the talent shows in this country are inspired by similar shows in America because they are popular among the public as well as enthusiastically attended by a wide range of professionals, experts and ordinary and passionate fans. One of the most famous such show is called “America Got Talent”. There are also other talent shows American Idol.
The shows that are often presented are amazingly attractive, sometimes unbelievably real and hugely popular judging by the number of people who attend them and the huge enthusiasm they display during the shows. No doubt that many youngsters have passed their artistic or talent “baptism of fire” with flying colors on those cultural stages.
The judges presiding over the shows are not only impartial and professional but also emotionally involved and they enjoying the amazing show. They encouraging the youngsters whose age is so tender that one can hardly believe that teenagers could perform so well for the first time. They are not only artistically gifted but have also mustered the courage to perform in front of such a huge and roaring gathering on such intimidating stages.
No doubt that America Got Talent is one of the most loved and most attended shows in America which is also serving as a pool of young talents who would sooner or later graduate into mature and professional artists. What were then called Variety Shows back in the 1960s and 1970s were also popular in Ethiopia. They date back to at least half a century, although their older versions were music shows presented over the radio, and later over TV with the participation of listeners who request their preferred music or singers over the phone.
These shows are still popular and practiced despite the advent and growth of impressive media technology. Live shows are on the other hand recent phenomena that started not more than a decade or two ago following the popularity of their American version among middle class Ethiopian youngsters who enjoyed them immensely. Most countries in the world have their own talent shows inspired by their Western counterparts.
Various radio and TV stations here in Ethiopia have therefore adopted different formats of the shows but most of them focus on music and dance. The foreign TV shows on the other hand are varied in their presentations, including such categories as circus performances, magic, comedic or sometimes horrific performances executed with unbelievable human creativity and talent.
There is nothing wrong in adopting foreign shows to the local audience or create prototypes that appeal to the local culture. Nowadays modernity is supposed to be the copy paste process of technology and entertainment that are created and developed in the West or in any part of the world. What is important however is the need to use those formats and change the contents in ways that reflect local cultural and traditional realities.
This is no doubt the process created by globalization of culture and entertainment. China was once a closed society where Western cultures were supposed to be signs of “bourgeois decadence” or “imperialist influence”. This was true back in the 1960s and 1970s when the Chinese Cultural Revolution was wreaking havoc on Chinese society in the name of changing culture from above and in a guided manner and at faster pace. This had created chaos and disappointment until the Deng reforms came and issued more realistic guidelines that corrected the excesses of the Cultural Revolution.
Nowadays China is adopting Western cultural approaches at an unbelievable speed but she is doing so by integrating it with its own tradition, culture, history and objectives. Capitalism is indeed one of the most effective means of doing away with poverty and China has developed to become second in the world after the United States thanks to its own version of capitalism that is sometimes called “socialist market economy” which is in fact a combination of both private and state enterprise.
By the same token, China has developed its film industry by borrowing heavily from Hollywood and other Western studios both technologically and technically but they have done so by working on their own stories that are often based on history and traditions. Blockbusters with martial arts as their basic features are coming from traditional Chinese self-defense sports. They are adopted and modernized with special effects and other such techniques that magnify the attraction of the films. There are also Chinese talk shows and variety shows modeled after their Western counterparts. The forms may be similar but their contents are different.
In Ethiopia too these kinds of shows have become very attractive and very popular and have provided opportunities for talented and yet invisible youngsters to come forward to express themselves in front of live audiences. This is a positive feature of the shows because Ethiopian children, and more particularly young girls are traditionally discouraged to perform music or dance in front of live audiences because this is considered not only impolite but also an unnecessary physical exposure that might lead to premature relationships with the opposite sex. Such performances were not even basically considered and less welcomed as respectful and professional opportunities like any bread-earning alternative.
These talent shows have in some way helped break this kind of taboo although they are limited to audiences and performers from the big towns while the rural population is not neglected but limited in participation due to distance. Anyway more and more participants are coming forward these days and taking part in these competitions that have become increasingly lucrative. Some of the shows have reached the million birr mark as award money to the best performers.
Not only this. Winning at the music and dance shows is a sure certificate of entrance to the world of the relatively lucrative show business in this country. Those who stand first at the annual talent
shows enjoy offers for the production of albums and a few of them have turned into national music icons that are in great demand both at home and among Diaspora Ethiopians. Most of the competitors, even those who do not well at the competition, land jobs at night clubs where they are well paid and train themselves to become bigger stars in the process.
So, the shows have multifaceted advantages to young boys and girls who often fail to avoid the pitfalls of growing as they lack any other viable opportunities. There is now a TV advertisement about a new talent show program called “Ethiopian Idol” which will com e soon in a different way with unprecedented award moneys and many more advantages to the winning participants.
This must be the third such show, the first being “Balageru”, and the second sponsored by Fana Media Corporate. Both of them have proved immensely successful, benefiting both the sponsors and organizers who generate advertising money and the participants who are lucratively awarded at the end of each season. No doubt that “Ethiopian Idol” will prove extremely attractive and successful without diminishing the importance of the other such shows.
If there is one suggestion that we should make about these shows is that they may find some ways of integrating other entertainment features in their shows as “America Got Talent” is doing in the United States. In the case of the local version, the shows consist of mostly or entirely of songs and dances both modern and traditional ones.
There are a number of circus groups, magic performances and other gifts that are considered talents by the entertainment industry. So, there is the possibility of inviting talented youngsters outside the music and dance industry and to come forward to show what they are best at outside the two main streams. Diversifying the talents might not only benefit the audience but also the performers who might come with unexpected talents other than singing or dancing.
This would provide the new performers more opportunities and recognition which is in itself an avenue for financial success. Most of the amazing circus performers in this country are living in the shadows of anonymity and neglect while displaying their talents in public will certainly give them celebrity status as well as invitations to perform abroad as sponsors will certainly be interested to support Ethiopian youngsters who can compete at international venues. This is only one example among many with huge potentials.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 7 APRIL 2023
