Now that the second round of the semi-finals is completed, ten of the 25 semi-finalists will perform at tomorrow night’s finals of the Guyana Talent Search Competition.
On Sunday last, singer Vicadi Singh replaced Timeka Marshall as a judge, joining Poonam Singh, Akelo Elliott and Joel Ghansham. Contestants performed songs, dances, spoken word poetry and art, but the judges did not all agree that all of the contestants brought their A-game.
Two of the best seen on Sunday night, according to the judges and the comments on Facebook, were Cassia Adams and Quanisha Patterson.
Cassia played the guitar and sang a cover of Alicia Keys’ “Fallin”. All of the judges agreed that she was one of the best for the night. Akelo said she was “born to be a star”, Joel raved that she was the best performance he had seen that night, Poonam called her “the entire package” and Vicadi predicted she would rise to “stardom” and was “bound for greatness”.
Quanisha’s spoken word piece focused on women empowerment. Her power performance totally engrossed the judges and drew wows from her audience. The piece called for women to stand up for themselves and not to accept disrespect.
Fourteen-year-old Emmanuel Kippins played three drums in a soca performance that brought amazing energy which saw Joel remarking that he showed great showmanship.
uxtonian Trishauna Percival did a soulful cover of “Colours of the Wind” and said she was confident that she secured a spot in the finals.
Another powerful performance came from 15-year-old Ashakia Bamfield who did a cover of “Never Enough” from the film, The Greatest Showman.
Sonia Singh did a medley of pop and chutney songs and danced.
Speed artist Roberto Teekah captivated the judges with his painting of a woman’s face. The painting also included the words “Protect Our Women”. The judges commended him for the message through his art.
Another performance that caught the judge’s attention was an emotional Bollywood song done by Priya Maniram, a tribute to her sister who died last year along with her baby. The touching performance left Joel in tears. He said he connected with the tribute as he also lost his sister last year and was now taking care of her four children.
One of the audience’s favourites Joel Dudhnath did not mesmerize the judges as he had hoped to this week. His cover of “Old Town Road”, they said, was a wrong song choice and not the best performance they have seen from him.
Jevin Harris did a cover of Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend” and was told he needed to project his voice more.
Michael Payne who did a Hip Hop song for this week’s performance got mixed reviews from the judges.
Linden artiste Roderick Allicock, who has been deemed a ‘Jack-of-all-trades’, did speed painting. He painted three mini canvases of Linden at night with a bit of sunset and hills in the background to the sound of an original single featuring Linden. The judges were not all too happy with his performance. The finals will air at 7 pm tomorrow on the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports Facebook page, HJTV, E-Networks, NCN and MTV.
