Winners emerge at Goldberg’s Ariya Repete talent hunt

The just concluded Goldberg talent hunt, Ariya Repete 2018, which held in the ancient city of Ibadan would forever remain indelible on the minds of Ashafa Olushola Martins, Ayodele Olatunji and members of Oludare Cultural Group, who emerged ultimate winners at the grand finale, in Fuji, Juju and Drumming categories.

The road to the final was a long one as each contestant who progressed from the audition stage went through rigorous grooming and mentorship sessions at the Ariya Academy. Eventually, out of about 5000 contestants, only sixteen progressed to the finals in Ibadan after they were selected from the forty that slugged it out in the Lagos semi-finals.

For the Fuji category, only six contestants, Ayomide Ode Omotola, Saheed Akangbe, Abiodun Saheed Oloto, Sulaimon Ajibola Destiny, Mohammed Adewale and Asafa Olushola made it to the final. Another four, Wale Crown, Bukola Ahmed, Ayodele Olatunji (a.k.a Femi Bright) and Ayegbayo Oluwaseun qualified from the Juju music category. They were joined at the finals by the six dance groups; Ifesowapo Cultural Group, Sakuba Cultural Group, Oludare Cultural Group, Igba Iwase African Entertainment Cultural Group and Eniafede Dance Group.

It was a blend of fun and serious business as all the finalists treated the audience to rich renditions of their severally rehearsed and composed songs. Their sonorous voices rent the night as the whole of Ibadan stood still for the performances of all the 16 budding artistes.

All sixteen finalists delivered very impressive performances making the selection of the eventual winners even tougher for the Judges. In the end, three contestants who stood out, Ashafa Olushola Martins, Ayodele Olatunji, and Oludare Cultural Group in their performances emerged.

Ashafa Olushola Martins got N2 million prize for emerging tops in the Fuji category, while Ayodele Olatunji a.k.a. Femi Bright also went home with N2 million cash prize after winning the Juju category while Oludare Cultural Group, led by a pregnant woman, Olubunmi Sadiq came first in the drumming category and won N1 million cash prize. Consolation prizes ranging from N1m to N250,000.00 were given to First and second runner ups in all the three categories.