National Song Competition calls for talent of young singers
The National Song competition is nearing the end and so far the submissions are impressive. But while the quality good, the quantity is raising concerns. According to Jacklyn Castillo, the Industry Creative Development Officer at the Institute of Creative Arts, they would like to see more artists take up the challenge, particularly in the junior category. Castillo says ICA wants to encourage the young musicians to use the competition as a great opportunity to showcase their talents and win attractive cash prizes. There were also a few changes to the structure of the competition, on which Castillo gave us an update.
Jacklyn Castillo, Industry Creative Dev. Officer, ICA
“After the national commission met, we made a decision to extend the submission date for the national song competition from July twenty-second to August seventh. We’ve also made a couple changes where we’ve dropped the semi-finals and final rounds and we’re just going to have one open competition. This allows us to get a little bit more entries because people were saying that to go through the process of having three different competitions would have been costly for some musicians. So we just decided that we’re just going to do one big bang and we’re just going to be having the one competition. This is going to be held on August twenty-first and this is going to be happening at the Memorial Park. So for all of those artists and musicians around the country that still want to submit, now is the time to submit. I must say that compared to last year, the quality of work this year is amazing. We’ve gotten some wonderful entries, both from experienced and up and coming artists and so we want to give them that exposure. So over the next couple of weeks until the competition you’re going to be hearing some of the patriotic and some of the carnival songs to get the public used to hearing the songs.”
Delahnie Bain
“It’s good that you’re getting quality music, but are you getting as many submissions as you are hoping for?”
Jacklyn Castillo
“That is one of the reasons why we extended the date because to date we’ve only gotten about twelve entries and we have not gotten any juniors, which is something we’re very concerned about because this means that for some reason our younger artists are not stepping up to the plate and making use of such a wonderful opportunity.”
Castillo says they are also working on providing a live band to perform with those persons who are unable to record their music.
