So last Saturday I woke up ngenji xukuxa (when a dog brushes its teeth) as they would say in my language, which just means very early and made my way to Montecasino for the final round of the Idols auditions, yep Idols!
I had prepared my outfit and ironed it the night before. I couldn’t sleep, though, and I was tossing and turning and having visions of me losing my voice in front of the judges or worse, forgetting the lyrics of the song.
Needless to say I was up at 3.45am preparing to be there just before the gates opened at 5am. Thanks to fabulous Flowstar Bianca Bothma who dropped me off at Montecasino.
When I got there, the parking lot was already packed; it looked like some people had camped overnight in the hope of being South Africa’s next Idol, some were standing around singing, some were getting coffee, even toddlers were there to support their brothers and sisters.
The atmosphere in the queue was amazing, hopefuls were playing guitars, singing along and generally having a good time. I must admit I didn’t sing much because I was scared I would lose my voice (chuckle). We waited and waited and waited until the gates opened at around eight and people walked in like sheep going to the shed, he he.
At the registration room, we were told about the procedure and what we had to go through to get into the next round. At this point I had butterflies in my stomach and the experience felt so real. We were given our idols numbers and I was number 17082 in the queue, wow 17082! I thought that I would be there the whole day, but after registration, the process was quick. We were divided into groups of 10 and had an usher assigned to us who took us to the preliminary audition room.
As I stood in the queue I was so nervous and my knees felt wobbly. But then I remembered that I was there to have a good time and try my luck at it to tell my kids one day that I had entered Idols. Finally my time to audition came and as much as I was nervous, I gave it my all.
I started singing, I felt more relaxed and less nervous. The preliminary judge smiled and ticked off some things on his slip of paper, so you can’t blame me for thinking I made it through. Walking out of the audition room, I felt so liberated and so proud just knowing that I had been brave enough to do it.
When my group was finished, we went into another room and that’s where we were told that we hadn’t made it. Only one girl in our group went through. But I didn’t feel like a failure; I walked out of Montecasino proud that I had auditioned for Idols because I believe there are so many people who never even try. At least now I can say I was there!
Thanks to Tara for making me enter the competition and to the Flowstars who kept calling, SMSing, tweeting and sending me messages on Facebook throughout the day. You all rock!
Maybe next year I will try again or maybe we will just start a Flow choir. Judith, are you in?
Some pictures from Saturday
South African hopefuls
Going through the Idols gates
It’s Idols time