SINCE she was a little girl, growing up in the fishing community of Rock Stone, Rowena Renola De Jounge knew that her ‘calling’, as Christians would say, is to sing and record gospel music. This was further confirmed in her mind with the recent release of her first single, ‘Tell it to him.’

Her journey of becoming a local solo gospel artiste is one filled with tidal waves, hurdles and distractions, but because she knew what exactly her innate desire is, her determination to make this a reality has overpowered every negative force that would have formerly succeeded; though temporarily, and now her music is touching souls across Guyana.

Rowena said it all started when she and her cousins would play church in Rock Stone and she would always be the pretend, worship leader. “I always find myself in the forefront like the worship leader and we are always singing the choruses and so on,” she related. It was at this tender age, her talent was realised and she pushed through to be the gospel singer she knew she could become.

“At the age of 14 I gave my life to Christ, and I became a member of the Bethel Seventh Day Adventist Church. Shortly after I joined the church, I started to sing in church, doing solo pieces and so on. As my talent developed more and more, I found myself being a part of the Sasca Herelders Choir. I was an active member of the church, I was very active in the youth group,” Rowena highlighted.

In 2007 Rowena decided to enter the GTT jingle competition and that was her biggest spotlight in the local music area. “Seeing myself as one of the final five, it was a great joy for me… the feeling was unexplainable, being on a stage in front of a huge crowd. I gained the third position and I was very happy and I told myself, ‘this is it’.”

That very night, Rowena was flocked by producers but turned it all down because the offers were for soca and dancehall music, but she knew that was not her genre. She said she knew God knew her heart and didn’t want to divert from her true passion. Unfortunately, this decision caused her to become a little stagnated so she decided to take a spotlight off herself and place it on the youths of Linden who had the potential.

Over the years, Rowena would have worked with several Linden artistes who would have succeeded at various competitions but because of the unthankful response from many, she decided to work on herself. This caused her to take a sabbatical from gospel music and to try other genres. “I took a swing because I felt this gospel thing isn’t getting anywhere, because I wasn’t getting the support and that is what had me stood for a number of years; so I decided I need to do something for myself,” she said.

She joined the Irate Band which is the backup band for First Born and would have recorded several reggae songs during that time. She even made an appearance at Cronixx first show to Guyana, where she backed up 17 local artistes. She was also the choir director at the Linden Technical Institute where she is currently employed.

Rowena has travelled the length and breadth of Guyana singing and recording but that void was still in her for gospel. She decided to recommit herself to Christ and to really pursue her desire for gospel. “I needed to return to the Lord, for all these times I recorded music, yet the music wasn’t put out there and I think is because that is not really my calling, so when I decided to recommit myself to the Lord and to focus on me and my gospel music since last September, from then to now, there is a lot I would have done,” she shared.

Her first single was released by Signal Production with the help of Bonny Alves. It is now available on Sound Cloud. She will soon be releasing her next single ‘Believe’ and in September 2019, Rowena is hoping to release her first album.