MANILA, Philippines—Two Filipino vocal groups are bound for Kuala Lumpur, to join the regional talent search, “Gang Starz” — in which contestants from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand are vying for a US$ 100,000 cash prize.
The news was relayed to Inquirer by Azhar Borhan, general manager of TV3, the show’s airing station and a leading network in Malaysia.
Borhan acted as judge, along with two Malaysian music veterans — record producer Azmeer and singer Damien Seet. (The audition judges are not part of the show’s final panel.)
ABC 5 aided the Malaysian network in mounting the two-day local tryouts last week.
The identities of the members of the two Pinoy vocal groups are still confidential, pending final paper work, but Borhan revealed that the groups are both trios — one all-boy, the other all-girl.
“The girls are former finalists in ABC 5’s ‘Philippine Idol,’” said Borhan. He added that, apart from the top two groups, two more had been selected as standby entries. “Should the first two drop out, the two others would replace them.”
The standby groups consist of another all-girl trio, and a boy band with five members.
Borhan said he had been very impressed with the local talents. “There’s a wow factor. This show is all about discovering unique recording artists that could succeed regionally,” he noted.
Now in its second season, “Gang Starz” had Indonesian trio “The Lima” as first winners. “They’re popular in Malaysia,” Borhan said. “Now, they’re trying to break into the Indonesian market, which is tough to crack.”
Record deal
Aside from the cash prize, the winning group gets a recording deal with Malaysian label KRU.
The two Pinoy groups will stay in KL throughout the four-month competition, which begins late April.
Borhan admitted that he had arrived in the Philippines with certain expectations. “We had previous exposure to Filipino talents in Malaysia,” he explained. “They’re not big-name artists, but they perform with bands in bars and shows. We simply liked the quality of talents here. At the end of the day, we were pretty satisfied.”
[by Onigiri Sensei]
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