10 artistes to show skills at Kaiso Blues

SINGERS who participated in MusicTT's Artiste Portfolio Development programme (APDP) will showcase their talents on Saturday at the Kaiso Blues Café, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain.

The artistes were selected from over 100 applicants to be part of the programme in December 2017. Among them were Daniel Griffith, Donald Job, Keoné, Renuka, Xavier Edwardz, Candice Caton, Shannon Z Francois, Voice Queen, DEZii and Chinaka. They were evaluated via a showcase and then were exposed to specific capacity development training in areas such as music business, entertainment law, brand and marketing development, music business and knowing how to monetise music to complement their raw talents, said a media release.

With the first cohort coming to a close after nine months of training, the ten artistes are set to perform at the showcase from which two of them will move forward to the second phase of the development programme.

In the weeks leading up to the showcase, the artistes were evaluated by an independent panel of music professionals who then picked the two final acts.

Panellists included Jean Michel Gibert, a music and film specialist; Simon Baptiste the (CEO) of Question Mark Entertainment; Ken Holder, producer and Akua Leith, conductor, arranger, musician, composer and Fulbright fellow.

Commenting on the artistes' progress Melissa Jimenez, general manager of MusicTT said, “These ten artistes have been working so very hard at their craft and have certainly developed quite a bit during such a short period of time. I'm so happy to see so many of them releasing singles, representing TT on regional and international stages, performing more frequently and sharing the knowledge,

"They identified that understanding key business values and best practices as it relates to treating with the music industry was vital for them at this stage in their career as an artist. We hope that they continue to soar and break barriers and be the best that they can be.”

Showtime is 7 pm.