Nthatuoa Koeshe

TALENT search project Step-up has whittled down its contestants from the initial 100 to the top 10.

The top-10 was selected at a boot camp which was launched by Communications Minister Thesele ‘Maseribane on 12 July at Bocheletsane Combined School in Mantšonyane. The boot camp ended last Sunday.

The top-10 musicians will now battle for honours and the grand prize which includes a brand-new Polo Vivo, a record deal in the United States of America and a full three-year scholarship.

Step Up production manager Lereng Mosoang said the trimming process was tough because of the abundance of talent among the contestants.

“We were looking for people who can sing or rap and have good voice control and articulation because some rappers want to rap in English and that makes it difficult for them because that is not their mother tongue,” Lereng said.

He said the next step would be trimming the contestants further to the top three before the grand finale.

Lereng said they will groom the top-10 teaching them to song writing and live performances.

“For the next two months, the top-10 contestants will be staying at Botleng Guest house and they will each leave via elimination,” he said.

He said the top-10 is mainly composed of contestants from Maseru which he attributed to exposure.

Lereng said the talent search project has suffered a lot from having participants who lack exposure.

“During the auditions we noted that from 150 contestants, only 10 would make it through and I think this was because of lack of exposure to music,” Lereng said.