Posted by By TONY EGHAGHA ERARIFE on
Although the seed of the beauty and musical talent hunt was planted in the United States of America (USA), it is in Nigeria that it would first yield fruit. Truedis Enterainment, a fast rising outfit, is poised to discover fresh talent when it kicks off its beauty pageant and talent hunt show.
Although the seed of the beauty and musical talent hunt was planted in the United States of America (USA), it is in Nigeria that it would first yield fruit. Truedis Enterainment, a fast rising outfit, is poised to discover fresh talent when it kicks off its beauty pageant and talent hunt show.
According to its CEO, Fred Allison, the talent hunt would serve as a platform to launder the image of Nigeria hitherto battered by the activities of fraudsters : ' We shall hosts a model search show, as well as a music video contest which objective is to reach out to talented youngsters". He noted further, 'this nation is blessed with abundant talents and we must begin to harness it positively to reposition Nigeria in the comity of nations."
Strategy
Currently on is the Shoot My Music video contest which is going to run from now till August I5. Our train will move to Calabar, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Benin, Jos, Abuja and Ibadan. With the success of Tu face, P-Square and other Nigerian artists, it's a definite escape from proverty . There are a lot of artists out there who lack the financial muscle to get their music released or do proper visual presentation of their music.This contest is a yearly thing.
We shall go out to look for these artistes, smoke them out where ever they are and give them a career. At the end of the show, the winner will smile home with N1 million. Apart from that, other participants would use platform to showcase their music. From there, we would pick an artist and shoot his musical video.
According to him, there are three categories of the talent hunt; the male, female and group. Allison added that Truedis would be responsible for the music videos that would be shown on local and international T.V stations.
'We shall be looking for models in the Look and Personality Search. We are not necessarily looking for the tall and skinny girls but models that have that unique Nigerian look. We are looking for that Nigeria personality. It's all about promoting brand Nigeria."
Early years
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Allison grew up in the U.S. When he began organising parties at the University of Pittsburgh in early 2002 in the USA, he already knew where he was going. His parties were the toast of campus with the likes of dance hall king, Bennie Man and Sean Paul being special guests among a host of other stars.
Even the name Truedis is not a coincidence. According to him, ' Truedis is genuine. It is the product of years of brainstorming. I got the name by putting a vernacular twist to three words, ‘This is true.' The whole idea is about positioning and promoting Nigeria as a brand. We all know that Nigeria is the most populated black nation. We want to take advantage of this."
Vision
Having travelled widely as a businessman, the artiste believes strongly in the Nigerian dream. He captures his vision thus,' I am very passionate about whatever I do, especially when it involves my country. I discovered that I had a flair for entertainment while in the U.S. so, at a point, I asked myself, why can't I bring these ideas home? I reasoned that I would be doing a great injustice to Nigeria if I did not. I remember that before I left the country, I used to watch Tales by Moonlight, Prime Time Jams among others.
All these developed me. So, I felt that I needed to be there for the youths in my country.
'Tu Face, P Square and other musical stars are exportable brands. Like the Indians and Cubans who have succeeded in exporting their music to the rest of the world, we shall use the young talents as vehicles for exporting our culture and redeeming our battered image.