The stage is ready and all systems are go for Saturday’s final of Season 2 of the Baje to the World competition which Trinidadian soca artiste Fay-Ann Lyons said could function a blueprint for other contests across the region.
During a walk-through of the stage at Golden Square by organisers and stakeholders on Thursday, ending touches were made as months of competition challenges, developmental workshops and other activities draw to an in depth.
Joining organisers on the tour, Lyons, who will take the winner under her care once they get the chance to tour together with her and her band internationally, said the competition which was created by the Community Development Department within the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment might be imitated in other regional countries.
“I strongly imagine that something like this has the potential to have a ripple effect across the Caribbean. I don’t think this product can be limited to simply Barbados. I’m seeing where this might be a template for other countries now to take a look at expanding their competitions and never having it’s short-term investments,” she said.
“If you have a look at a contest and you only have a look at winning the primary prize, that may be a short-term investment…. You win, you’re here as an area hero and that’s it. A protracted-term investment is while you create the chance for that individual win to be manufactured into something greater – meaning the person can now resolve that they need to be an artist, they need to really branch off into some arm of the music industry.”
Lyons noted that although song originality won’t be a very important consider Saturday’s final, the winner can have the prospect to create their very own music, and their success within the industry would depend strongly on how their fans reply to their original works.
“You wish legitimacy, you’ll want to actually give your fans something, so while you wow them on stage with a song, we would like you to wow them in real life with you, by giving them material that’s from you, in order that your fan base now can proceed.
“That now solidifies the stance that Baje has put into making the competition something greater than just ‘let’s crown a winner after which we sit up for next yr’. It means now that they’re going to have a vested interest within the winner for a whole yr,” she identified.
The Baje to the World finals will stream on CBC TV 8, Baje to The World and the National Cultural Foundation YouTube and Facebook channels, in addition to on radio stations CBC 94.7, 98.1 THE ONE, VOB 92.9, and HOTT 95.3. (SB)
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