The New Amsterdam Secondary School brought the crowd alive during their winning performance for the choir division during the National Song Festival. The students were on their bus getting ready to head back home when the announcement was made. They rushed back in to claim their $300,000
First place and $300,000 went to the New Amsterdam Secondary School. The large choir brought the audience to its feet after their lively performance. Three young ladies from the choir sang engaging solos. They were the only school to compete in the festival and really embody the spirit of the competition. Second place for the choir division went to the largest contingent from Linden, the Saskas Heriltras who won $200,000. Third place and $100,000 went to the Brickdam Cathedral.
In the small groups category, which featured groups of two to 10 persons, first place and $200,000 went to the Messengers. The all-male Seventh-Day Adventists group garnered cheers and whistles as they preformed “Out in the Country” as their national song.
Second place and $125,000 went to the Jay Four Inspiration, a foursome from Queen’s College; and third place and $75,000 went to the veteran Circle of Love quartet who received praise from Steve Surujbally, chairman of the Elections Commission who told them “if you ever make a CD, I will be the first in line to buy it”.
“My Guyana El Dorado” and “Oh Beautiful Guyana” were the most popular choices for the national songs. The New Apostolic Church choir went a different route and chose the “Song of the Republic”, for their entry.
The choirs and groups were a diverse bunch of choral singers – young and old and everything in between. Andrew Tyndall, music development officer at the Culture, Youth, and Sport Ministry, was pleased with the event. He noted that “music development and the focus on bringing singing back to communities was the main purpose of the festival”.
He told Guyana Times that the ministry will continue to work with “communities, churches, schools to ensure that music is everywhere and the rich culture of choir singing is preserved in Guyana”.
Tyndall had been organising the festival since the beginning of November. All of the regions were invited to take part in the festival. He said that depressed areas throughout the county were a focus for the ministry, pointing out that Region 10 had numerous contestants throughout the festival.
“Places like Linden may have issues, but they do a lot in the area of arts and culture and that is what we at the ministry want to highlight,” he noted, adding that singing and music were at the backbone of Guyanese culture and heritage.
A total of 11 small groups and nine choirs participated in the event. Coordinators are already planning next year’s festival. They hope to get more schools to compete as well as younger groups such as the Brothers in Christ and the Cavalier Melody Makers, which comprised young women and men from Georgetown.