SABC2's new music reality show
I Want to Sing Gospel is on the tracks of South Africa's next big gospel sensation from this Sunday, 3 August, at 20h00.
Music industry executive and gospel legend
Lindelani Mkhize has been holding I Want to Sing Gospel auditions in Port Elizabeth, Durban, Cape Town, Bloemfontein and Johannesburg since May.
The Top 30 singers are now on their way for 13 grueling, trying weeks in Johannesburg - where they’ll have to prove to Mkhize why he should turn one of them into a superstar.
The show’s first episode on Sunday evening will showcase all the highlights, including a few funny hopefuls who didn't make the cut, from the nationwide auditions.
According to Thokozani Nkosi, the creator and executive producer of the show, it's a much-needed shot in the arm for South Africa's gospel industry.
"This show is just what gospel-loving South Africans need," he said in a media brief.
"Popular African gospel music has tended to sound the same over the last few years and the Top 30 contestants in this show are going to be a breath of fresh air to the gospel music industry; they are a varied combination of different types of singers who sing different types of gospel.
"We trust that the show will cater for everyone’s taste in gospel music."
The prodigious producer behind the SAMA-winning gospel group Joyous Celebration, Lindelani Mkhize has set forth a series of challenges for the Top 30, to help him and his panel of confidantes decide who should stay and who should go.
The Top 30 contestants will be revealed on Episode 2 (10 August) as they arrive in Johannesburg; checking into the hotel they will be staying in and taken into the rehearsal room for the very first time.
This is the room that will determine their fate in the competition...
After they meet Lindelani again for the first time since the auditions, they are divided into five groups and given a task to rehearse and present to him.
Based on their performance, Lindelani will eliminate six from the Top 30. Audience voting will begin in Episode 5, by which time we should have a Top 12.
The show is presented by
Thabo Mdluli, who initially rose to fame as one of the singers in Joyous Celebration. Wonder how he got the job...
I Want to Sing Gospel premieres on SABC2 on Sunday 3 August, at 20h00. Repeats are on Tuesday nights at 23h00.
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