Naija Star Search: Heightened emotions as contestant performs late sound sultan’s hits

Emotions ran high, and tears flowed uncontrollably in the last episode of Naija Star Search when Toms delivered a solemn and resonating rendition of late Sound Sultan’s hit song, ‘Motherland.’

Legendary Sound Sultan died of Angioimmunoblastic T-cell Lymphoma, a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, in July 2021. He was notable for using his music to speak against Nigeria’s poverty, corruption, bad governance, and societal ills.

Whilst his memory lingers on, his imagery was alive in Toms’ voice as though it was Sound Sultan himself performing on stage. Toms, widely called ‘small but mighty alias ‘Omo-Maamé’, took the show to a crescendo of emotions.

Judges Keke Ogungbe and ID Cabasa could not control their emotions. All attempts to stay strong failed as they cried uncontrollably. Eventually, they had to leave the stage immediately after the performance to cool off. The touching performance even punctured the toughness of the third judge, Asha Gangali, who wore the look of a torn heart.

While Sparrowh’s performance could not save him from eviction in the week, Tom’s performance got several tongues wagging.

Toms rendered the song expressing intense emotional vocals, which depict the untold struggles, pains, silent groans, and cries faced by Nigerians, a reflection of Sound Sultan’s musical themes.

Motherland was released under the imprint of Ogungbe’s Kennis Music. Tom’s vocals and lyrical dexterity took the judges and audience on a memory lane that ended in soberness for all.

Toms’ performance moved the judges and in-house audience and VJ Adams, the show host, who couldn’t help but feel sombre after the performance.

ID Cabasa shared a conversation with Sound Sultan shortly before his death. “What I am wearing now is what I wore the last time I saw Sound Sultan. And it was intentional since I was told this song would be performed. There was a conversation I had with Sound Sultan on this song. When all this Japa stuff started, Sound Sultan and I recorded a song in a hotel room on the Island. He said if he could go back to this song, he would probably change some lines because of what is happening in Nigeria now. Toms, you didn’t just bring this song back to life, but you gave it a new meaning intended by Sound Sultan,” the sober ID Cabasa said in his assessment of Tom’s performance.

And afterwards, tearful ID Cabasa called everyone to stand up for a one-minute silence in respect of the Jagbajantis crooner.

Emotional Kenny Ogungbe tried hard to pull himself together to give his assessment but only ended up walking to the stage as though he had seen Sound Sultan. He took off his necklace, wore it on Toms, pointed to the puppet on the necklace and said in a tearful voice, “This is Sound Sultan.”

Toms graduated from Pefti Film Institute, where she studied music technology. To her, music is home and an expressway to endless emotions. She sings Afrobeat Afropop/fusion and is one of the top contenders for the star prize.

Naija Star Search collaborates with StarTimes Nigeria and Kennis Music toward preserving Afrobeats.

Highlights of the previous episodes are on the Naija Star Search channel on YouTube. The New edition airs every Sunday at 8 p.m. on ST Nollywood Plus, ST Nollywood and ST Yoruba channels on StarTimes, and the StarTimes-ON mobile app.

Winners will get N10m in cash prizes, a recording contract, and an opportunity to reach the skies.