The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports’ inaugural Guyana Talent Search Competition has concluded with all ten finalists declared winners. Curtela Lewis, Joel Dudhnath, Quinesha Patterson, Kaysheena Singh, Logan Simpson, Nia Allen, Roberto Teekah, Darius Austin, Cassie Adams, and Sonia Singh will each receive $500,000, training sessions by Grammy award winning rapper Saint Jhn be registered in the local arts.
Many viewers had expected Nia or Quinesha to win. But all of the contestants shone during the virtual final on Sunday last and even the viewers had a hard time deciding who should be named the star of the competition. In the end, when they were all announced winners, while a few still wanted only one, many gave kudos to the ministry for granting all ten finalists the winning prize.
The competition opened with 17-year-old Curtela’s mind-blowing cover of Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary”. Prior performances had proven she deserved a spot in the final, yet those were not enough for viewers to foresee what was coming. Some viewers commented that they initially thought they were viewing the wrong show as her voice and performance matched the standard of an international competition.
Joel, who had captured the hearts of viewers with his first live performance months ago, did not live up to their expectations. Nonetheless he gave a beautiful performance of a blend of “Jealous” by Labrinth and “Heartbreak Anniversary” by Giveon.
Spoken word poet Quinesha followed, opening her performance with the playing of Jackie Jaxx’s “Guyana”. Quinesha had gained a following with spoken word pieces where she advocated for women’s rights, but on Sunday night she did a patriotic piece. Adorned in gold with the Golden Arrowhead painted over her eye she lamented in her poetry, “We preach peace when the only piece are the pieces separating us…” She called for “strength in diversity” and for Guyana to be a people with one common destiny.
Eleven-year-old Kaysheena who came next dazzled in her talent as much as she dazzled in her Indian outfit. She danced to popular Bollywood hit “Dhoom Taana”.
Logan, who had also garnered quite a number of fans for being multi-talented in song and on the piano at just 11 years old, did a medley of covers of “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd and Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean”. While he performed “Billie Jean”, a dancer showcased his moves in popping and managed to pull off the moonwalk. Like Logan, the majority of the contestants had backup dancers.
Viewers were eagerly awaiting Nia, whose performance began with a playback of when she was ten and performed at the GT&T Jingle and Song Competition in 2011. In the video, Nia did an outstanding remix of Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got To Do With It”. The end of the clip made way for her upbeat performance where she shone in voice, dance and performance.
Talented artist Roberto, who followed, certainly trumped his past presentations. Just when viewers were beginning to wonder what else could he possibly have up his sleeves, Roberto did a phenomenal piece of Guyana’s national animal, the jaguar with added slogan ‘Together we will rise’. He wrapped up his display of talent with six paintings representing the six ethnicities of Guyana which were brought on stage by a group of persons.
Parfait Harmonie youth, Darius, who previously had the judges dancing in their seats with his steel pan playing did not forget to bring it. He donned a blue shirt designed with palm trees as he moved to the rhythm of the songs he played skillfully.
Cassie, who has always mesmerised viewers with her voice and her talent on the guitar, pleasantly surprised with a twist as she rapped the cover of Tessanne Chin’s “Hideaway” in between singing the song. The contestant also did a cover of “Underneath It All” by No Doubt.
Sonia, who ended the competition, made her entrance descending from a swing from the ceiling. She sang and danced to “Jiya Re” from the Bollywood film Jab Tak Hai Jaan.
To close the performances, all ten contestants performed a medley of Miley Cyrus’ “Climb”, Cast of Glee’s “We Are Young”, and “This Is Me” from the showstopper movie, The Greatest Showman. The show ended with the contestants being announced winners while confetti rained down on them.
The Guyana Talent Search Final also saw performances from Samuel Medas and Vanita Willie.
