Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
After almost two months of scintillating entertainment and stiff competition among the contestants, the 2019 Hi-Life Fest competition is gradually winding down with the emergence of four finalists in the music category and two in the dance category going for the grand finale in Onitsha.
The semi-final competition held at Enugu Shoprite last Sunday was a blend of fun and sweat as fun seekers enjoyed the rib-cracking jokes from the two anchors of the event, MC Twin Parrot and movie actor, Gideon Okeke.
Legendary highlife maestro Bright Chimezie, despite being the chairman of panel of January, did not disappoint as he also thrilled the audience with his numerous hit tracks while zigimatising on stage with his unique dance steps.
Life Beer Brand Ambassador, Phyno literarily brought down the roof as fans kept on screaming as he dished one tune after the other, keeping the crowd on their feet all through as his performance lasted.
Ikebe crooner, Sunny Neji, made a special guest appearance among the judges joining other members of the panel like Dr Akas and David Jones to probe the performances of the contestants.
In the singing category, backed by the Tipsy kelvano Band , Umunnakwe Gideon Nwajiaku, Chimex Chimaroke, Frank Onyeka (Morroco Jnr), Cyprain Igwe, Prince Destiny and Chijioke Charles slugged it out. At the end of the day, the duo of Cyprian Igwe from Enugu and Prince Destiny were eliminated while the remaining four proceeded to Onitsha for the finals on 18thAugust.
For the dance category, Ofu Obi cultural dance and Aka Mara Mma dance group were picked to go for the finals while Megastar Dance Group got eliminated.
They are to slug it out for the N5m prize money for the King of Hi-Life and N3m for the best traditional dance category.
Speaking after presenting prizes of N150, 000 and N140, 000 to the eliminated singers, Brand Manager, Life Continental Lager, Mr Chidi Egwu, said the Hi-Life Fest, Rhythm of Progress show is one of the veritable platforms with which Life beer connects to its loyal customers in the South East and South South regions.
He described the competition so far as “thrilling, high-tempo entertainment and discovery of fantastic talents” expressing commitment that the brand woukd continue to provide the platform for the winners and non winners to develop their careers.
“We are happy with their performance and also elated on the crowd and their reception. Tens of thousands of people are here to witness their performance and it goes to say that the people appreciate what Life Continental Lager beer is doing with our culture because what we believe is that we are from this part of the country and we promote our culture before the world.”
On the rating of the competition so far, Egwu noted that it was getting better and higher each year.
“Every year we see improvement. In 2017 we had a fantastic first outing, in 2018; the entertainment went to the next level and what we are seeing here this year surpasses what we have witnessed in the last two years,” he said.