Local artists give sneak peak of music to come

ALL year round, our local musical artists work endlessly to promote their music in hopes of creating an authentic Guyanese sound. We followed Gavin Mendonca as he represented Guyana in Colombia at the CirculArt Festival, the largest music industry summit for Latin American, South American and other Spanish speaking countries in the world. Gavin is also working to drop his highly anticipated Christmas EP ‘Hung up on your Cross’ this season. Jackie Jaxx took a break during the year to focus on herself but is now back and better than ever with a new sound that speaks clearer about who she is as a musician. Meanwhile, other artists like Ruqayyah and Vanilla have worked tirelessly to produce new music and stay true to their passion.

Now, these artists have come together to extend holiday wishes to persons who, despite our struggling local music industry, have continued to offer unwavering support. Here are Christmas wishes from some of our favourite artists who we have covered during the year:

Gavin Mendonca
Merry Christmas Guyana! Cheers to an awesome 2017, and to a 2018 filled with lots of laughter, joy, positive vibes and some brand new Creole Rock! \m/

Feed the Flames
A very Merry Heavy Metal Christmas to you and to yours! Keep the fire of the Season burning bright as we head into a brand New Year. Keep chasing your dreams and let the fire inside light the path to accomplishing all of your dreams!

Ruqayyah Boyer
I love the holidays and hope to spend Christmas with my grandad and friends back home in Linden since they’re the only family I have left in Guyana. If I had to request a present I’m not sure what that would be as I think I’m pretty content with what I have currently so I’ll be the giver instead this season.

While I started releasing music since 2016, 2018 is the official launch of ‘Ruqayyah’ (The Artist). I am both nervous and excited all at once because this has been a long time in the pipeline. One thing I do look forward to getting across as I focus more on music, concepts and collaborations for 2018 is the separation between Ruqayyah Boyer, the former beauty queen, current TV/radio hostess and entrepreneur and ‘ RUQAYYAH’ the artist which will see quite a contrast in my overall persona and attitude than what most are probably accustomed to. It’s going to be an interesting and busy year and I do anticipate finally getting the opportunity to step into my truth as an artist while sharing bits and pieces of my past, present and future self, that I’m sure might surprise quite a few. I want to wish all of Guyana a Merry Christmas and Prosperous 2018!

Jackie Jaxx
I wish every Guyanese can spend the holidays with their close friends and family and that we all have food on your tables and gratitude in our hearts. I plan to spend time with those closest to me and by God’s’ grace, ring in the New Year together in health and strength.

In 2018, I plan to release my first mixtape successfully, perform and tour Guyana and several other countries. I’ll also start swimming and piano lessons in January since I’ve been meaning to do it for a while now. Overall, I hope to take my music career to the next level and set a firm foundation for myself. I will also launch to build my first small business in retail and hopefully make a name for myself as a competent business-woman.

All the best for the season!

Vanilla
First off, Season and Greens (Season’s Greetings) to all of Guyana and a productive New Year! My Christmas wish never really changes because every year all I want for Christmas is to spend that special time with my family. All year round we are so busy that we hardly get to see each other so I look forward to this time of the year when we all make a special effort to get together. This year we’ll be celebrating it in Hopetown, West Coast Berbice and Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara. What makes this Christmas even more special is that through the Give Another Chance Foundation and Digicel, I’ll be able to spread additional Christmas cheer to 100 children in those communities.

2018 is a year I’m looking forward to because there’s so much happening at the end of 2017. Apart from releasing new music and videos, I’m looking forward to my Television programme “Vology” which airs from January 6 at 15:30hrs on NCN. The show centres on Film, Nutrition and Music with particular focus on Guyanese and Caribbean content.