Tears flowed freely on Naija Star Search reality show as one of the contestants, Toms, rendered a solemn and resonating cover of the late Afropop musician, Sound Sultan’s hit song, Motherland.
Sultan, who died last year, was notable for using his music to speak against Nigeria’s poverty, corruption, bad governance, and societal ills.
Whilst Sultan’s memory lingers, his imagery resurrected in Toms’ rendition as though it was Sound Sultan himself performing on stage. Widely referred to as ‘small but mighty’ and also known as ‘Omo-Maame’, Toms took the show to a crescendo of emotions. The judges, Keke Ogungbe and ID Cabasa, couldn’t control themselves, as they burst into tears and eventually had to leave the stage to cool off.
ID Cabasa, who all the while maintained a stone face, shared a conversation he had with Sound Sultan shortly before his death. “What I am wearing now is what I wore the last time I saw Sound Sultan. And it was intentional since I was told this song would be performed. There was a conversation I had with Sound Sultan on this song. When all this Japa stuff started, Sound Sultan and I were recording a song in a hotel room on the Island. He said if he could go back to this song, he would probably change some lines because of what is happening in Nigeria now. Toms, you didn’t just bring this song back to life, but you gave it a new meaning intended by Sound Sultan,” he said and tearful asked for a minute silence in respect of the Jagbajantis crooner.
Kenny Ogungbe, who tried hard to pull himself together, took off his expensive necklace and put it on Toms’ neck. Pointing to the effigy on the necklace, he said in an emotion-laden voice, “This is Sound Sultan.”
For Toms, a Music Technology graduate of PEFTI Film Institute, music is a passion and an expressway to endless emotions. She sings Afrobeats fusion and is one of the top contenders for the star prize of N10 million recording contract, and opportunity to reach the skies.
A collaborative effort of StarTimes Nigeria and Kennis Music, Naija Star Search is aimed as preserving Afrobeats. Highlights of the previous episodes are on YouTube, while new edition airs every Sunday at 8pm on ST Nollywood Plus, ST Nollywood and ST Yoruba channels on StarTimes, as well as the StarTimes-ON mobile app.