TelCell Breakthrough talent search judges once again had their work cut out as they ploughed through a host of entertaining auditions at the Community Center, Backstreet, Saturday.
The search kicked off shortly after 8:30 am with a record number of acts lined up to be seen and heard.
By 4:00 o’clock, the judges and organizers had whittled down the huge number of performances to just 22 young men and women who will be taking to the stage at the Theatre Royale, Maho, where they will vie to become TelCell Breakthrough winners 2017.
Sporting a range of categories, including, Dance (Urban and Technique) Rapping, Singing, Spoken Word and Instruments, the judges and organizers listed the following names as finalists: Leatton Douglas; Roan Norley; Timothy da Silva, Gershwin Busby, Bryan van Putten; Acquilla Carty; Ingemar Arndell; Jason Brice; Quon Gordon; Tyra Liburg; Jeremiah David; Niky-Jean-Charkles (aka Phreedom); Jandrick Hinds; Sinatra Bauld; Tyler Percival; Shakim York; Aiyaunty Romney; Temaia Dennis; Kirk Vital; Stefanas Waakzaam and Manukiell Edwards.
Co-organizers, Angel Richardson of TelEm Group, and Bertaux “Mr. Rude” Fleming of Xtratight Entertainment were both “Super Happy” with the results of the auditions, which both agree will make the 5th anniversary of the TelCell Breakthrough event a surefire success.
“We say it every year, but once again the acts were just amazing with the quality getting better and better every year,” said the pair.
They said the evidence of how tight the competition was this year is in the length of time it took to announce the finalists going through to the finals on September 30.
“We were scheduled to announce the selection after two in the afternoon once the auditions were closed, but we ended up making the announcement well after 4:00 pm on Saturday,” said Angel, who thanked judges, Da Lion, Cali, Betti V, La Rich and Dizzle Bueno for their hard work and professionalism.
Thanks also went out to the TelCell Breakthrough team partners, Cani TV E2P, Genesis, Music Group, Philipsburg Cultural Center, and all the hosts, sponsors, parents and well-wishers for their support
“It was a long tough day, but the super talent on stage made it all the more worth while, now it’s on to preparing for the finals on September 30,” said a very relieved co-organizer, Angel.
She said there is an added bonus to this year’s auditions in that the entire event was recorded and will be professionally edited so that performers, their families and friends and a wider audience overseas can witness their talent for themselves when the final product is posted as a Youtube video for everyone to watch.
Angel has also informed that voting for favourite contestants for the upcoming finals will begin on August 26th, when fans, who are also TelCell subscribers, can text their favourite finalist’s number to 8844.