Eastern European Music: Jan 11, 2011

Flair or Fluff?

Every time I turn on my television, there seems to be a new face showcasing a newfound talent. Equally as often there tends to be some poor schmuck broadcasting his entire life to the county’s couch potatoes. The question then, is are our airwaves just being cluttered with crap or saturated with savvy personalities? Out to get the goods on the whole reality TV/talent show dramas, What’s On investigates…

Bordering on the edge of inanity, the number of these types of shows seems to grow daily. One of the stupidest ones I’ve come across most recently, is called Without Mandate which takes Ukrainian politicians and makes them live like ordinary people.

There are some, however, that really take you by surprise, and demonstrating how talented Ukraine really is, each television season that passes offers something we haven’t seen before. To find out just how incredible this phenomenon really is, we called up Ihor Kondratyuk, the man who first introduced talent shows to Ukraine, who then put me onto Oleksandr Bozhyk, the second season’s second prize winner of the country’s most popular talent show – Ukraine’s Got Talent. Rounding it all out, I thought I would try and get a hold of the producer for this show ever-growing in popularity, Halyna Pilyutikova. Incidentally, she also happens to be the producer for another talent show, X-Factor, which, despite the fact that it’s only half through its first season, has already hit the jackpot.

The Seeker

The first person I wanted to talk to about talent shows in general is Ihor Kondratyuk – creator, producer and jury member of a various number of talent shows. “Sometimes people call me the most experienced TV-talent finder in Ukraine,” Kondratyuk starts jokingly. But in fact, that assessment wouldn’t be such a stretch as it was he who took to the streets, actively looking for and broadcasting able-minded individuals over twelve years ago. His idea was something called Karaoke on Maidan and represented the very first talent show here in Ukraine. For those who have never heard these impressive (and sometimes not so impressive) ‘stars’ belting it out in the middle of main street every Sunday, it was a real coup to be chosen to sing in front of the entire country! His search to find some of the country’s hottest talent didn’t end there, however, and what would follow just a few years later was the television show Chance. The stakes were a little higher with this show as every winner from Karaoke on Maidan had the opportunity to appear on stage and really reach for stardom.

Sitting on the jury these days for two more such shows, X-Factor and Ukraine’s Got Talent, Kondratyuk says that the format and the substance have changed a lot since getting Ukraine onto the talent show circuit those twelve years ago. Now people are able to choose for themselves which show they want to be on and what they are going to showcase. For this reason, the producer’s role in deciding the jury is a very important one, and Kondratyuk says they need to work independently, not making any stupid mistakes. But he also says that it is sometimes easier said than done, because every now and then there are acts that appear that the jury just doesn’t know how to evaluate. “It can be hard,” he admits, “especially when we are dealing with genres that we have little experience in, such as Oriental dancing, for example. I remember one time I had to go home and watch clips from a few different movies just to be able to understand what was going on.”

While there are a lot of very talented people out there, there is a fair share of those who get on these shows who have not been as gifted, and Kondratyuk has a seemingly logical explanation as to why they even get through the front door. “We see a lot of people during the pre-cast, many of which would not necessarily be good enough to appear. Asking whether it’s just nerves that have affected their poor performance, the answer we often get is yes, so we go ahead and cast them. It serves as a good lesson to future participants, however: they should be sure of themselves before they make the commitment. But then it’s also a little comic relief for the audience as well.”

The Show

Producer of X-Factor and Ukraine’s Got Talent, both of which Ihor Kondratyuk sits and judges on, is Halyna Pilyutikova. Responsible for everything that happens from beginning to end, “We do the pre-casting, then choose the candidates for television, and even have a hand in costume decisions,” she says.

While it sounds fairly straight forward, in the case of X-Factor, for example, there have been up to 30,000 entries, out of which they are allowed to choose 100, so easy is somewhat relative here. While in the process of deciding on who stays and who goes, however, Pilyutikova says it’s very important to keep focused and not discard the ones that actually have talent. This sometimes is harder than it seems as there are so many entries that get sent to the station. But equally important is trying to predict how the audience is going to react to those you do choose. “Even though we really pay attention to all of our contestants, regardless of their backgrounds, it does sometimes happen that the audience reacts in a way that is totally unexpected. For example, a very modest performer that demonstrates his sincerity to the audience may well impress our viewers more than someone who belts out the perfect song but has ‘empty eyes’.”

Once the casting calls have been completed, all preparations have been made and the participants have hit the stage, the work of the producer eases a little, and it is at this point that the jury takes over. Pilyutikova says, “I actually feel sorry for the jury. They are always in front of the camera, sometimes working 12-hour days and often only get an hour break.”

With regard to X-Factor specifically, Pilyutikova says, “It is more than just a contest, it is a show, and sometimes it’s very hard to say ‘no’ to our participants. But, when you have some constructive criticism to offer with the no, sometimes it inspires them to work harder, and come back next time even stronger.”

The Talent

Having talked to those who scour for talent and those who say yes or no as to whether it makes the cut, it’s time the talent itself talked. Winner of last season’s Ukraine’s Got Talent was a girl by the name of Olena Kovtun. It was a close one, however, as runner up was a guy by the name of Oleksandr Bozhyk who impressed a huge number of people with his ability to play the fiddles – yes, that’s right, two fiddles, at the same time! In spite of playing professionally and often going abroad to play at international concerts, Bozhyk says that getting to play on Ukraine’s Got Talent was incredible! “I have played a lot of concerts before, but knowing that you are playing for an estimated 17 million people, this was really nerve-wracking!”

In contrast to the various reasons people want to get on these shows, Bozhyk came with only one wish – to get to the top. While he didn’t take home the grand prize, he did come away with a better understanding about what it is these shows are able to do, and breaking his contract with a foreign company to come back to perform on Ukraine’s Got Talent once he heard that he was in the top 50, he says, “The winner needs to have an extraordinary, charismatic personality. They need to be fanatic about what they do.” In addition to leaving a good job as well as play two fiddles at once – something he’d never done before – it certainly seemed that Oleksandr Bozhyk could have been that person. “Having made it through the various rounds, I suggested that playing two fiddles at once might be something my next act could include. Theoretically I knew how to do it, and since the producers were very excited about it, I had to become accomplished at it very quickly! The next time I come out I’ll be playing three!”

With so many individuals displaying their diverse range of talent, there is a lot of fluff out there. But in amongst it all, the number of people with genuine gifts are high as well, and without such shows, perhaps they’d never get their shot. It’s made people like Oleksandr Bozhyk a star, and who knows? You could be next!

Eastern European Music

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Flair or Fluff?

Russian Top 11