Andre Alleyne with his original piece.
Combermere student Drayann Cadogan.
Kaysha Springer was fantastic in both of her
appearances.
One of the lead singers of Link’d.
Talented vocalists of the Fuzion Band.
The Alleyne School Choir in their rendition of ‘Hold On’.
Musicians and vocalists were centre stage as the NIFCA Performing Arts Finals continued on Sunday night at the Combermere School Hall.
The nights schedule consisted of a diverse line up but all of the participants were extremely talented. The Combermere School Steel Orchestra were the first to grace the stage. With “Te Solte La Rienda.” They were followed by the eight members of the Fuzion Band who brought a fresh approach to their presentations of both “Barbados We Come From” and “Joyful Joyful”.
There were many fantastic solo performances throughout the night. Drayann Cadogan, a student of the Combermere School, had great stage presence and the tone of her voice was captivating with the
ability to draw you in. Sixteen-year-old student of the Frederick Smith Secondary School, Kaysha Springer, was also a standout act with her performance of “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength” and “I’m Gonna Be Ready”. Other individual performers were Faith Harewood and Asha Augustine.
The Alleyne School ably represented the institution with two offerings, “Total Praise” and “Hold On”. In the latter they were accompanied by a dramatist who depicted the feelings of anguish and the suicidal thoughts that may result in times of turmoil but aptly reinforced the need to ‘hold on’.
The sounds of African drums reverberated through the hall with the rhythmic pieces from both the Israel Lovell Foundation and the Haynesville Youth Club. Both groups were characterised by youthful vigour.
Another group who got a great response from the crowd was the all-female group Link’d who performed a medley of pop star Rihanna’s hits. Despite some technical difficulties the band C S Kloud 9 were the epitome of showmanship and musicality.
The Marlon Legall Project and their spin off group Elite Vox are remarkable. Even without musical accompaniment the sister group were able to command the attention of everyone present with “Sleep” which had a lullaby-esque quality to it. Their second performance of “Momma” was also phenomenal. The Marlon Legall Project were spine tinging with “Riots and Rebellion”. Their emotive style of presentation makes their performances more striking and keeps the audience spellbound.
Participants from Her Majesty’s Prison also continued to showcase their talent. Contributions came from Jornella Boland with “Battle Scars” and Rohan Arthur with “School Girls” in which he advised them to pay attention to their school work. Also from the prison programme was Ronneisha Carter who performed “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” which was dedicated to her children and her loved ones who were in attendance. Carter who won the in-house singing competition at the prison has an absolutely exquisite voice.
Gospel performers also featured on the night with outstanding performances from BCC student Dawn-Mari Nicole Springer and Ki’ann Browne.
Many original pieces were included on the third night of finals as they each vie for the Jackie Opel Incentive Award which is being given for the best original work. One of those came from Andre Alleyne with “Soldier of the Heart” which showcased his skills as a guitarist and a vocalist.
With the raw talent that is on display the judges have an extremely hard task on their hands to determine who gets top honours. (ST)