There must be something in the water when it comes to musical talent in Tairāwhiti, with four out of the eight finalists on the TV show 5 Minutes of Fame coming from Gisborne.
The Whakaata Māori television show is an entertainment series and platform for singers from across Aotearoa to take their one shot at fame.
The four Gisborne finalists and their categories are:
Salem Mahia Randall - Male and female youth under 16
Manawa Randall - Male 16+
Samantha Booth - Female 16+
Jan McKay - Male and female 60+
Manawa, Salem, and Sam live in Gisborne but Jan now resides in Hawke’s Bay.
The four singers will sing against one other finalist in their category for a chance to win $10,000 and a trophy.
For the Randall brothers - Manawa, 18, and Salem 14 - music runs in the family. They attribute their love for music to their mum.
“Mum, from as soon as I can remember, has been singing,” Manawa said. “She used to take us all to all of the church band practices when we were first born and hold us with the mic on the stage.”
The boys sang on stage from a young age. Manawa remembers his first musical performance was around age 4 or 5.
“I stood on the big stage in front of the crowd, I had a little mic and my guitar and I just sang. Everyone was starstruck apparently because I was just this little boy that had lungs,” he said.
At 4 years old, it was the promise of lollies that got Salem up on stage.
“My mum told me a story about how I went to the country club one day with her,” Salem said. “She was singing there, my brother was singing there, and I asked her for some lollies and she said, if you sing up on stage you can have some lollies.”
Salem didn’t hesitate. He got up and sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. The band joined in with a different key and Salem switched key to join them. Apparently the band was blown away by a preschooler who could do that.
His aunt, award-winning country singer Lesley Niania was also there and she said he had perfect pitch.
“She told my mum ‘your boy will be an amazing singer when he grows up’,” Salem said.
In 2021 Manawa and his band T.M.B won the regional Smokefree Rockquest and Tangata Beats award. The band’s original song Ngā Manu a Tane was recorded and is on Spotify.
This year Salem won the Smokefree Tangata Beats Best Vocal award, and his high school band Tūranga Tane Rebels won the Reo Award.
Salem also became Tiktok famous when a video of him singing Stand by Me with the Gisborne Boys’ High School choir went viral and gained media attention in New Zealand and Australia. It currently has over 133,000 likes.
The other Gisborne-based contestant, Sam Booth, knew she wanted to be a part of Five Minutes of Fame but nearly missed out when the deadline for the online audition closed. Luckily for her, it was extended so she sent in her video.
She was then invited to be part of the in-person auditions held at Gisborne Girls’ High School in July.
“I was probably the first one to turn up. I was really keen,” she said. “And I sang Silly Love Songs. Then it took six weeks for them to get back to me after that. I was like - I didn’t get in.”
However, after a long wait, Sam received the good news via email.
“I was just really stoked and really shocked. I remember seeing that email and being like, I got in, I’m so excited.”
The 22-year-old says her drama and music teachers built her confidence with music. Beginning at Te Wharau primary school when her choir teacher Mrs Maynard gave her a solo. In her intermediate years, she was a Kaea for her kapa haka group Tūranga Tangata Rite, and more recently Gisborne Girls’ High music teacher Jane Egan has played a big part in Sam’s success.
“She’s my biggest musical influence,” Sam said. “She’s always pushing me to do new things, giving me mahi in the music industry, and always telling me that I need to be doing music and that’s why I’m here.”
During her time at Girls’ High, Sam won the Smokefree Tangata Beats Mana Wahine Award and Musicianship Award.
Her original song For You is on Spotify and Apple Music.
The finals of 5 Minutes of Fame will be broadcast live this Wednesday from 7.30pm in a two-hour special.
Contestants will sing two solo songs and a group song.
To follow the musical journeys of our finalists follow them on Instagram.
Manawa: mana_ojr
Salem: salem.Mahia
Sam: samantha_grace_music
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