By Vanessa Obioha
The third season of the Trophy Extra Special Band show kicked off with 11 bands battling for the grand prize of 10 Million Naira and a brand-new set of musical instruments. In the first two episodes, guest judges, Yinka Davies and Illbliss joined Cobhams Asuquo and Made Kuti to vet the bands.
Episode three of the competition came with tension, suspense and drama, as the judges had the difficult task of eliminating some of the participating bands from the competition. The show kicked off with a continuation of the task set before the contestants — creating melodic, highlife versions of several Nigerian songs. For this episode, Asuquo, Kuti and guest judge, Illbliss were all keen on identifying bands that understood the assignment set before them, hoping to pick out the nitty-gritty elements that made a song truly highlife.
Berry Tunes opened this episode, with an upbeat and rhythmic highlife tempo of Banky W’s ‘Lagos Party’. The judges, at the end of the performance, were not totally convinced about the band’s performance, citing that there was a need for the band to present a more dynamic performance on stage.
Not to be outdone, The Set Up band came to the stage with one goal —to blow the minds of the audience and judges. And they did! Rendering Kizz Daniel’s ‘Oshe’ with a modified and exciting twist, the band sent the live audience into cheers. This excitement also passed on to the judges, who commended the band for understanding the assignment given to them. Zenith Band and Alatika both put in solid performances, with the judges praising their tenacity, but further noting certain areas that needed improvement.
At the end of the episode, the judges had to execute their most difficult task — eliminating contestants. After words of encouragement from the judges, Made announced that De Kings Rhythm was the band to be eliminated from the competition.
For the next episode showing this Saturday on MTV Base, DStv Ch. 322 and GOtv Ch. 72, the contestants are tasked to bring their
“owambe” vibes with their Fuji renditions.
