IO – A present on Hero’s Day for Indonesia comes from Germany. Claudia Emmanuela Santoso, a girl from Cirebon has won “The Voice of Germany”, Sunday 10 November.
Claudia received far more votes than her competitors in the final round, taking in 46.39%. Her closest rival, Erwin Kintop received 17.36% of the votes and in third, Lucas Rieger took in 14.33% with Fidi Steinback and Freschta Akbarzada receiving 12.51% and 9.41%, respectively.
“Danke schon, vielen dank (Thank you very much),” said Claudia as quoted by Antara, spontaneously after seeing her name at the top of the list on the winner announcement screen. Claudia and her mentor, Alice Merton cried and crossed their index fingers and thumbs as a sign of love to all their supporters.
Each finalist performed thrice, twice as a duet and once solo. In her first duet with guest star, Freya Ridings from the U.K., Claudia sung “castles”, a song from Riding’s self-titled album.
During the second duet with her mentor, Merton, the two sang a song created by Claudia called “Goodbye”. “The Goodbye song was inspired by Claudia’s story. This song tells of (Claudia’s) feelings of longing for people who she loved, because she had to leave Indonesia and live in Germany,” Merton said.
When singing solo, Claudia sung Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing”. In his performance, Claudia received a standing ovation from the coaches and the thousands in the audience.
Previously, in Indonesia, Claudia took park in several the talent search events such as Akademi Fantasi Indosiar Junior and Idola Cilik in 2011. She also participated in Mamamia in 2014, however failed to win any of the competitions.
Nonetheless, Claudia never gave up and took part in The Voice of Germany while studying in Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany.
This is the first time an Indonesia has won The Voice abroad. “Claudia’s achievements is very fitting with the theme of Hero’s Day, which we are commemorating this year, ‘I Am Hero of Today’, said Indonesian Ambassador to Germany, Arif Havas Oegroseno. Congratulations and thank you for making Indonesia proud, Claudia! (rp)