THE 2013 Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company (GT&T) Jingle & Song Competition has now progressed to the group stage, after the auditioning of some 300-odd contestants at Duke Lodge Hotel, in Duke Street, Kingston, Georgetown. The first audition was held on Monday evening at the National Cultural Centre (NCC), also in the city, where about 70 persons were auditioned in more than 10 groups and saw the contest continuing to the elimination process.
Those in the contest performed for about four hours and the judges evaluated them from Linden, Berbice and Essequibo, including a lot of individual talent and some coordinating team work.
Among the popular songs sang were Rihanna’s ‘Shine bright like a Diamond’, Alicia Keys ‘This Girl is on Fire’, Justin Beavers ‘As long as you love me’ and ‘Shelika Javan’ by an Indian group in the Bollywood category.
The evaluation saw persons in group and individual performances doing a 30-second personal rendition for survival.
Many gained qualification from their group delivery while others were sent to a ‘sing off’ through which they will be given a second chance.
Creditable performances came from, among others, contestants Maurice Baksh, Jermaine Mc Bean and Diana Chapman.
Remaining groups are set to perform before the judges during the week at the NCC in a closed-door session.