Ginsberg wows talent spotters
KING William’s Town is the hub of South African art talent, according to renowned dancer and actress Lucia Cooper.
Cooper was speaking to the Dispatch after she announced the winners of SABC talent search Showville, at an event held at the Steve Biko Centre in Ginsberg on Saturday.
Cooper – who has been travelling the entire country with her co-judge, TV presenter Morena Sefatsa, and the series producer Mark van Hoff – said they had not seen such a wide variety of talent in any of the other places they had been to.
“We have not seen talent that is so raw and so giving and so generous. Personally, it blew me away.
“The fact that people created their material is a good sign. In our travels, we have seen musicians, dancers, people playing instruments, poets and all other artists, but I am just completely humbled by the talent in this town,” said Cooper.
Sefatsa shared her sentiments, saying it was difficult for them to choose from the four finalists who performed on the night.
“From the dancers to the vocalists to the actors who were doing monologues, it was absolutely world class stuff. It is quite phenomenal that in one area, King William’s Town, there is so much talent.
“It is safe to say one can come up with a production company right here, cast people from here and complete the production without having to go to big cities like Johannesburg, Cape Town or Durban,” Sefatsa said.
“Showville travels to all corners of South Africa, especially small towns – places where big television talent shows would not necessarily go,” he added.
The project was about giving people a platform to display their talent so they could get exposure, while telling the story of their town and what made the community tick, he said.
Van Hoff agreed that the talent they found in King could challenge any pop star. He explained that before winners were chosen, auditions were conducted to determine the top four acts, which were then be voted for by the audience.
With the audience possessing the power to choose, the winner soon became obvious as the duo Shai – dancer Sikhululiwe Genge, 27, and singer Siyabulela Tshatshu, 22 – was the only act to receive a standing ovation.
Speaking to the Dispatch after the show, the duo said they had not expected to win.
They performed Tshatshu’s composition called Ameva.
Genge said they were happy that their efforts did not go unnoticed.
“We put a lot of effort into the performance. We are humbled that the audience recognised that and the majority voted for us,” he said.
They won R10 000, which they said they would use to buy more musical instruments. —