Maranatha Vocal Training School hosts graduation, fundraising concert

Music can uplift. It can inspire. It can change lives. And that is what Dr Karlene Sookoo hopes to continue to do on a bigger scale with the help of a fundraising concert on Saturday.

Sookoo is the founder of the Maranatha Vocal Training School which will have its graduation and fundraising concert, A Night of Elegance, at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s, Port of Spain.

The money raised will help cover the costs of graduation expenses such as trophies, medals, decorations, photography, as well as the development of a new home for the school.

“Over the years persons keep telling me I need to get a home for the school. So I decided, to have a concert where I could have more funds to do more and reach more persons.”

Usually, she goes into rural areas in south Trinidad to teach singing at churches, at people’s homes, at headquarters of organisations or wherever is available that has the capacity to host her students. She is hoping to build a small school and possibly get some buses to bring people out of those areas to the school for classes. “I’m a spiritual and patriotic person and I felt it was time to launch out into the northern region of the country seeing that I have mostly been in the southern region. I have touched north people, but not in any majority and I felt that there was a need for these voices to be heard.

“I felt that I needed to give people hope. I feel the place a little hopeless so I feel that people need to know that, amidst all the bad things, there are some good things happening still.

“I really feel that people need to relax, sit down, listen to some good music and see some young people doing something positive.”

Maranatha’s 23rd graduating class include eight basic and three intermediate students whose ages range from eight to 65. She expressed great pride for all her students, especially the older ones, and they will be performing at the concert.

She told Newsday her elderly students were special. One wanted to have a singing career in her youth but she got pregnant and that part of her life was put on hold. One man was having a difficult time in his life but he came out stronger and will be singing the gospel song Keep on Climbing by Wintley Phipps. Another woman experienced a cancer scare and singing was a way to help ease her distress.

“They may not sound as you may want them to sound but it will do something for them. I will be opening a dream for them, to stand on that stage and sing.”

Also performing will be two of her previous students – Keron Titus, and Aaron John who performed at the 2022 Antigua Barbuda Gospel Music and Media Awards and who was nominated for Breakout Artist of the Year at the 2023 Gospel Music Awards of TT.

The featured performance will be by Quite Exquisitely Done Company Limited (QED) comprising TT’s top vocalists Edward Cumberbatch, Nigel Floyd and Raymond Edwards.

She hopes the guest performers would show her students how far they can go.

She said she strongly believed people were put on this earth to help each other. That people just needed someone else to invest their time, talent and treasures in them, to give them respect, make them feel important, or simply be friendly toward them to make a difference in their lives.

Gift of giving

Sookoo said she has been singing from a young age, studying at the now defunct Ashford School of Music and the Chris Vocal and Music Academy International Ltd.

In 2001 she visited the US and, while waiting for a train at a subway station with her cousins, she started to sing. Someone approached her and asked her to sing some more. They invited her to a nearby church so the group followed. She was introduced to the church’s pastor who asked if she could help the youths with their singing.

She taught the young people for six weeks and had a graduation for them.

She realised, in addition to her gift of singing, she also had one for teaching. And since she always felt she needed to share her gifts, she decided to merge them and give of her time and skill.

At that point, she knew what she was supposed to do with her life when she returned to TT.

“If somebody was to describe me, they would say, ‘There goes a people person.’ I love people. I just have a love, a kind of empathy and compassion for them. All of those things started to point me to what I am supposed to do in life. I understood from these signs what I had to do.”

On her return from the US she started the vocal school in her area of Penal Rock Road. And while it does not have a physical home, she said it has been positively influenced rural communities.

“I saw the need for the school to provide a space for the community to learn and appreciate music while offering opportunities for students to develop their musical abilities and potential.

“My work is going to primarily rural areas and finding persons who want to learn music, distracting them from ill behaviours in some cases to a more positive way to spend their precious time.

“The Maranatha Vocal Training School is a platform for aspiring musicians to showcase their talents and foster a love for music and the arts in the younger generation. It also contributes to the growth and development of the local music industry as it offers a creative outlet to connect with other musicians and music enthusiasts in the community of all ages with a creative, supportive, and encouraging environment for students to learn and grow.”

In 2015, she decided to structure the operation. She started marketing Maranatha, created a website, a proper registration process and more. She already has the qualifications, experience, a curriculum and sets her own exams. It is also registered with Word of Life Ministries but she hopes to get it registered with the Ministry of Education soon.

I can do all things

In 2017 Sookoo earned a doctorate in philosophy in theology from CICA International University and Seminary. She also has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public sector management from UWI in 2011 and 2015 respectively.

To brush up on her singing skills and keep up-to-date with the latest vocal tools, in 2019 she attended the Loucretia Horrell Academy of Music in Chaguanas where she received a certification in vocal performance and music rudiments, and graduated with a diploma in vocal performance from the University of West London in 2022.

She is also an international chaplin and United Nations ambassador with Word of Life Ministries International as well as a certified psychotherapist, counsellor and mediator.

She said students of all races and backgrounds come to her so she feels it is necessary to understand them all to better deal with and teach them.

“Everything I have done so far points to people – understanding their behaviours and being equipped to deal with anything that might come up. It all assists with the whole thrust of the school and the work I have given myself.

“Singing is not an easy subject. It asks for practice and discipline. My philosophy is no matter how difficult a situation may be, you can do it. Which is why the motto of the school is from Philippians 4:13, I can do all things.”

The Maranatha Vocal Training School graduation and fundraising concert will begin at 6 pm on July 29. Tickets cost $100 and are available at the Queen’s Hall box office or by calling 778-1621 or 796-9318.