Idols hopeful Karabo not giving up on his education

Winning the singing competition may be his number one priority at the moment but Karabo Mogane has not given up on his dream of a university qualification.

The 24-year-old Nelspruit born singer plans to finish his degree in Geoinformatics while pursuing a career in the music industry.

Mogane was not able to complete his studies at Stellenbosch University as the bursary he had received only covered three years.

"Last year I was doing my third year at Stellenbosch University doing a four year degree in Geoinformatics,” he says.

"The plan essentially is to do music full time but I'd also like to finish my off my studies part-time just to complete because I'm that guy, if I start something I must finish it. That's what I believe, that's what I've been taught as well that you don't just start something, you see to the end.

A gap in his studies presented the perfect opportunity for Mogane to see how far his singing talent could take him.

Before auditioning for idols his performances were limited to weddings, corporate gigs and clubs.

"People told me, 'Karabo since you not going back to why don't you go and try it out?', so initially when I came here (Idols) I was like 'I'm gonna do my very best' but in my mind I was like 'if I don't get the golden ticket I'm never going back to Idols again'".

His soulful, baritone voice earned him a golden ticket in the auditions however it would take some doing for people to fall in love with his personality.

One of the judges Somizi Mhlongo was not impressed by Mogane’s calm, nonchalant demeanour and compared his personality to that of plain ‘dishwashing water’.

"At the time it was like yoh, I felt really small because I thought I looked pretty okay and I was giving it my all and then that came about. But it made me realise, made me sit down and think 'what is it that I can do so that people don't view me as such because I'm not necessarily that. It's just that maybe I'm a very shy person, very laid back maybe that thing makes me look like I'm not approachable."

After working on it for sometime, Karabo believes that he has finally done away with the 'dishwashing water personality'.

"I had to work on that and I told myself that even if I may appear shy as a person, but when I perform my shyness should not reflect while I perform because people want to feel that you are performing for them and you doing it for them because essentially as a musician it's not about you, it's about the people.

"I believe succeeded in it because when we came back for top 16 and I performed, his view about me was completely different. He told me 'dude I can see that you've worked hard'," he said.

So far Karabo has consistently wowed his fans and the judges when he takes up on the stage.

"Idols journey has been fantastic, I think I have grown as a person and as a vocalist as well there's so many things that I have learned. When I got here I didn't know nothing about mic technique, I didn't go to school for this so it's things that I have learned here."