If you engage Josie offstage and outside her comfort zone as an entertainer, you would probably be forgiven for thinking that she is a shy, even introverted young woman, who is simply seeking, as we say in Guyana, to get on with her own life.
That she is doing in a way which, perhaps, you might not expect. ‘In another life,’ so to speak, Josie, a 21 year-old Lindener, is, unmistakably, an emerging musical talent. Her voice, bearing the unmistakable control of an accomplished singer, stops you in your tracks, so to speak, as it did last Friday, when she made an unheralded appearance ‘on stage’ at the Courtyard Mall, directly opposite the Stabroek News, with no more than a guitar for accompaniment.
Tomorrow evening Josie will be returning to The Courtyard Mall to perform as part of a more organized event that includes a number of other entertainers. She is more than worth hearing…again, even if you were lucky enough to catch a bit of last Friday’s offering.
After she had taken The Courtyard Mall by surprise, compelling patrons to set aside their Barbecue and Beer to focus on her musical offering. We learnt the Josie was going to be part of a ‘gig’ at the Mall on Saturday November 30, 2019.
On the stretch of pavement where up to several hundred people can walk by in an hour or so, a handful had stopped, a few making discreet inquiries about her. It was then that we decided that she had more than earned our attention and an opportunity to hear her story.
We learnt that Josie’s music career began in 2012 in which year she competed and was “well received” in the GTT Jingle and Song Competition in 2012. As a singer she has obviously grown since then. At the 2015 Rupununi Music & Arts Festival she made a spontaneous on-stage performance with the Local Rock Group.
She has been working with the Group since then. Josie and the Flames have appeared in neighbouring Suriname and at the annual Skyy Rock Festival in Trinidad and Tobago. As a member of the local group, The Unity Ambassadors her voice has graced the stage at several events during the 2016 50th Independence Anniversary celebrations as well as at the ‘Unity Concert’ in New York.
A pleasing and expressive artiste, Josie reached the finals of the GTT +Star Singing Competition 2019 and was a crowd favourite throughout the competition. Josie and The Flames, her biodata says, “are a group of young and driven, talented and determined Guyanese who are working together to accomplish their dreams and aim to transform the local environment that involves Live Entertainment, Professional Musicianship and Preservation of Culture.” It is a noble motive and Josie would appear to be a worthy Ambassador.
Her biodata also lists what is described as her notable local performances.
These include this year’s – Fete De La Musique at the Umana Yana, the Josie and The Flames live Concert at the Hard Rock Café and The Josie and the Flames event at the Movie Towne Fiesta Plaza, all in June this year.
Prior to those appearances she had performed at the Third Rupununi Music and Arts Festival in February last year, at the Rock Collection event in Suriname in April 2017, at the Guyana Golden Jubilee Concert in May 2016 and at the Second
Rupununi Music and Arts Festival September 2015.
Internationally, Josie performed at the May The Fourth Be With You Rock Concert in Suriname in April, at the Skyy Rock Festival 3 in Trinidad and Tobago, again in April and at the August 2016 Unity Concert in New York in August 2016.
