Curtain comes down on the 26th biennial Music Festival

A FULL night of contrasting musical performances filled Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s, on Sunday night as competition in this year’s 26th Biennial Trinidad and Tobago Music Festival took its final bow. After three-and-a-half weeks of musical excellence, patrons crammed Queen’s Hall to be part of this year’s music festival experience on a programme which did not miss a beat. Starting minutes later than its advertised 8 pm curtain call, patrons turning out for the programme, were not bereft of top notch entertainment, lasting four hours, which the $75 admission fee could not cover.

From operatic arias, to pan, to Broadway Musical Songs, gospel, calypso, chorale, folk song choir, religious music and contemporary religious offerings, this year’s production marked a revival of the festival, which up to six years ago, had shown signs of demise. Patrons attending the programme expressed surprise that this country had so much talent. One female patron remarked to another, that she had no idea Trinidad and Tobago possessed such a wealth of talent. Jeunes Agape’s performance of a contemporary gospel number called “Shackles,” accurately depicted the wealth of talent commented on during the show’s run. It was a performance that would make gospel artistes Kirk Franklin, Cece Peniston and Cece Wynans sit up and take notice.

Under the direction of Lois Lewis, the choir delivered “Umbaya” from the late calypsonian Merchant first, before changing the musical mood to contemporary religious music. It started with the group’s urban dressed code, then onto its tuneful singing. The presentation moved up ten-fold when the well-thought out choreography applied showed another dimension to the troupe’s performing depth. Saturday morning saw the nation’s finest young musicians, as adjudged in this year’s festival produced by Scotiabank, bpTT and the Ministry of Community Development and Culture, take the spotlight at Queen’s Hall, to display their musical wares in fashion and with vigor at the junior finale.