I don't keep up with Shingrwa as much as some of you folks but I do occasionally watch some episodes when I can. I watched the finale on eastafro.com, which was also broadcast live on EriTV. What an exciting finish! It coincided with Easter Sunday in Eritrea so there was a doubly festive mood in the audience. Sudanese-born Simon Kahsay led off with an Arabic song "Habibti T'al." He was excellent! I disagreed with the judges' decision. I thought he deserved second place. Meriem Shawsh followed-up with "Indabalyo" a Kunama song, and she just lit up the place! The venue was Cinema Roma. She was just absolutely dynamic and had her followers who came all the way from Gash Barka on their feet dancing with the rest of the audience. She reminded me of a young Dehab Faytinga. Sounds like her too. As they say here in the U.S. she is definitely going places! Like all the rest of the contestants I might add. I thought they were all
talented. The judges had a difficult job but they made the right decision in picking Meriam as the winner. There was some suspense as to whether the judges would find a rising star (Shingrwa) among the contestants. I am glad they did. Because Meriam can just really belt it out. She had a lot of fans in the audience so she must already be a household name in Eritrea. Nur Usman, who hails from the Southern Red Sea region, covered a very upbeat Afar song "Shaebia Commando." He had already been declared the new king of Afar songs by one of the judges in an earlier episode, replacing Mahmood supposedly. He too was impressive. Seemed like a likable fellow too. He wished all followers of the Christian religion a very Happy Easter at the end of his song. Eritrea is really lucky to have such a rich tapestry of cultures for a small country. Eden Kesete covered an old crowd favorite, Alganesh's "Asmera." She too did a fantastic
job. What a delightful young lady! Beautiful too! She looks like she could be Helen Meles's younger sister. Sings like her too. I have seen her perform that song at the Sawa Festival. I thought she did a great job then too. Clearly an exciting singer. The rest of the boys did fine as well, although one of them (Yohannes) was just full of himself. Too arrogant I thought. All of them were dynamic singers: Meriam, Simon, Nur, Abraham, Eden, Yohannes, . These are Eritrea's bright stars. We expect great things from all of them in the future.
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Received on Mon Apr 16 2012 - 10:29:19 EDT
