Solo classes wow at Music Festival at Queen's Hall

The Music Festival continued on Thursday with lively competition at Queen’s Hall in St Ann's in the contemporary religious solo and solo folk song categories. Holy Name Convent, Port of Spain and the Holistic Music School dominated the entries in the categories respectively.

Following a late start, 16 of a possible 33 registered contestants took part in the contemporary religious solo for 13-21 years. The test piece was chosen by them or from a selected list and was to be no longer than five minutes.

Eight persons moved on to the finals on March 20. USC’s Renee Lawrence captivated the audience with her strong rendition of We Shall Behold Him, while Kassi Sylvester of BATCE Sixth Form gave a moving performance of You’ll Say. UTT Academy for the Performing Arts’ Patrice Richardson gave a performance worthy of any gospel show, singing His Eye is on the Sparrow, and the lone male entrant in the category, Birdsong Academy’s David Sylvester thrilled the audience with his rendition of The Lord’s Prayer. Ronni Sampson of the Port of Spain Youth Choir gave a powerful performance of Bless You, moving effortlessly through the highs and lows of the song. Xaviella Millette, Nathania Arneaud, and Chaya Vincent of HNC POS gave strong renditions of Lamb of God, and People Need the Lord in Vincent’s cases. Celiste Seales of ASJA Girls’ College was the only contestant to sing unaccompanied, and even though she did not place, gave a very good performance of Rise Up.

In the folk solo category, the emphasis was as much on the physical performance of the song as well as the singing of it. Many of the performers in this category were accompanied by drums and guitar, as well as other traditional instruments. The three top performers will move forward to compete in the Championship competition between the North, South and Tobago centres.

The songs performed in this category were again chosen by the performers. In third place was Jennelle Ross of UTT APA who brought a strong sense of drama to her interpretation of the song Murder in the Market. Second was Holistic Music School’s Aysiah McEachnie Assing, who held the audience spellbound with her rendition of Tina, as she portrayed a woman telling the title character to pack up her things and leave Cumana and go before she caused more trouble. Undoubtedly deserving of first place was Nanyamka Wellington of El Dorado West Secondary, who portrayed both a man and a woman during her performance of Ms Lucy, telling the story of Ms Lucy and the man who comes to woo and eventually win her daughter’s hand.

Adjudicator Evette Graham said she was blown away by the performances in both categories. She encouraged patrons to continue to support the Music Festival and the continued improvement of music in TT.