Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Guyana Music Award launched

The official launch with much fanfair. I hope it lives up to it's hype. The word on other blogs is that McCoy is the president's stooge. I don't know how it will all go down, but the artists will at least be promoted somehow....So when the award os presented they will be getting their "Accolade"? :) Some pics are on the bottom.

(Copied fully from Guyana Chronicle since they don't know how to archive properly)
Accolades Guyana Music Awards launched

By Shurland Thomas

GUYANA’s very own Music Awards, Accolades, was on Friday launched by the executive committee of Arrow Head Promotions, at the Zoom Inn International Hotel, Croal Street.
Executive Director of Accolades - Kwame Mc Coy (fifth from right) and other members of the team in a celebratory mood at Friday night's launch of the Guyana Music Awards.
The executive committee of Accolades Guyana, in recognition of the dedicated and hard work that Guyanese music artistes have put in throughout the years, and which in general has not been given the recognition that it truly deserves, feels that it should and must be rewarded.
To this end, Accolades, Guyana’s Music Awards, has been created to motivate music artistes, and to bring about an upsurge in the quantity and quality of Guyanese music, as musicians will now recognize they have the chance to receive a national award, and overcome the deterring absence of a strong enough copyright law.


Addressing the audience, Chairman of the nomination committee, Mr. Birchmore Simon, said that when he was first called to sit on the board of the nomination committee, he was a bit apprehensive since this would have been the tenth attempt at starting a national music awards in Guyana. He was nevertheless overcome by the impressive strategies and plans set forward by Arrow Head Promotions. He opined that the Accolades Music awards is here to be 'that catalyst' that will propel Guyanese music into the 21st century.

The period that will be focused on for this, the first year of the Accolades Music Awards, will be that of January 2004 to December 2006, since those were the formative years for musical entertainment in Guyana, with a major upsurge in the quality and volume of Guyanese music. The absence of a strong enough copyright law should not be used as an excuse to give good Guyanese music the rightful reward it deserves, Mr. Simon said.

Joining the Artistes at the launch were Minister of Tourism Manniran Prashad, Chairman of the Private Sector Commission Mr. Gerald Goveia, and corporate sponsors Caribbean Airlines; GT&T; DDL, CARIB Beer and Impressions.

Chairman of the Private Sector Commission, Mr. Gouveia commended the introduction of a local Music Awards, and pledged his support for the initiative. He expressed the view that it was long overdue in the music industry, adding that the introduction of copyright laws which would assure the protection of artistes' work is greatly needed if the music industry is to move progressively forward. He is now looking enthusiastically and optimistically towards Acccolades achieving what it set itself to.

Representing The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (G T&T), which is a Platinum sponsor of the Accolades Music Awards, Marketing executive, Renata Exita commented that GT&T supports the Accolades Music Awards so as to ensure the development of the music industry in Guyana, and to provide that prestigious platform for artistes to market and highlight their music efforts.

And Executive Director of Accolades, Kwame Mc Coy, said the Guyana Awards promises to be a premiere event comparable to International Awards such as the Grammys and BET.
Said Mc Coy: “Exhibiting our local talent at another level is the continuation of the unleashing of vast potentials.”





Kwame Mckoy is fifth from right. Charmaine Balckman, Celeste David, Vanilla and Big Red.


Don't look too bad.


Sunday, July 27, 2008

Eddy Grant is touring the USA


Yes here he comes...I want to hit his NYC tour....
Click on the picture to enlarge

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Accolade Nomination Panel targets diverse music styles

Artiste to be nominated in 35-categories

Music lovers are buzzing with excitement as Accolade- the music awards of Guyana intensifies preparations to celebrate music excellence and achievement by local artiste who have made their mark.

The Nomination Panel comprising Burchmore Simon, Music Producer, Kerwyn Bollers, Entertainer, Sean Bhola, Song Writer/Producer, Jaya Manickchand Attorney-at Law,(what doesn an attorney have to do with that this, they might as well pick little old me, is she related to Minister Priya Manickchand?) and Malcolm Ferreira, Radio Announcer/DJ is aiming to capture a diverse range of musical styles with a line up of 35 categories for which artiste will be shortlist for Awards on November 30th. The period under consideration for these awards is January 1, 2004 to December 30, 2006.

Local Disc Jockeys, Radio Announcers, Recording Studios, Record Bars and the public participation at large will feature prominently in determining who the winners will since they all play an important role in the music industry.

An eligible artiste for the purpose of these nominations is defined as:

1. A person who was either born in Guyana; or attain naturalization status and or;
2. A person who has lived in Guyana for the full eligibility period (January 1, 2004 to December 30, 2007)

The Nominations Panel comprises individuals with good standing, demonstrated expertise and knowledge of the overall industry or individual categories. The panel will forward their top five (5) suggestions in each category to the Executive Committee which will then select the top three (3) in every category to present to the public. (Internet voting, text message voting?, they might as well have created Guyana Idol)

Artiste may be eligible for any number of general categories. Where there are fewer than the minimum required amount of eligible entries the panel may use deliberate judgement, including making the entry automatically eligible in the same category for the following year.

Once again Guyana will be making its mark in the international arena by rewarding artistic excellence in the music industry through a premier event comparable to international Award shows such as the Grammy’s and the one produced by BET. --This seems like a stretch.

Indeed, the line up of fantastic performances will represent a climax for the local entertainment diehards and at the same time promote and represent a hype for the local music industry. Guyanese are asked to prepare themselves for an event which can only be billed as an excellent experience - from red carpet entrances to outstanding local and regional performances from a mind blowing awards ceremony to international celebrity endorsements.

The music industry is at a critical crossroad and deserves every effort to highlight its achievements, motivate its artistes, elevate standards, encourage artistic excellence and utilize talents that may be inclined to engage in negative endeavours. True True True!

(Email: accoladeawards@gmail.com )

Here is the complete list of categories for Accolade Awards 2008

1. Chutney artiste of the year (Male)

2. Chutney artiste of the year (Female)

3. Best Chutney Band of the year Sugar Cake Girls

4. Best Chutney Album of the year

5. Best groovy soca single (Male) -what does groovy soca mean?

6. Best groovy soca single (Female)

7. Soca single of the year My pick: No place like Home - Adrian Dutchin

8. Best soca album solo duo or group My pick: X2

9. Best reggae single There are lots to choose from; My pick FirstBorn - Headlines - does this song fall into the time period, am not sure.

10. Best soca compilation X2 feat. Gillo - Tick Tock

11. Best non soca compilation - this is a stupid category

12. Reggae artiste of the year I'd have to think about this one. Are they forgetting reggae group? Firstborn

13. Best rock alternative artiste or band StuckRoot? Brutus?

14. Best jazz album Never heard it out of Guyana. There's SOAD on myspace, but he's not living in Guyana.

15. Gospel artiste of the year (Male) Edward Neblett

16. Gospel artiste of the year (Female) I can't even think of one that has enough music out there

17. Gospel single of the year Love N Unity - Edward Neblett

18. Best RnB artiste of the year

19. Best Calypso artiste of the year (Male)

20. Best Calypso Artiste of the year (Female)

21. Best Hip Hop/Rap artiste of the year not Gialiani

22. Living legends award - Eddy Grant - do it now to bring credibilty to this awards show.

23. Cornerstone award what does this mean?

24. Band of the year BrutalJammers

25. Producer of the year

26. Media award print/internet

27. Media Award- radio/television

28. Best new artiste Ilaman for sure

29. Best music video Woman or Love you til the end - Fojo's camp did their thing here.

30. Song of the year

31. Studio of the year Brutal tracks

32. Album of the year Do artists make whole albums, the only one I've heard is Ballys new world order

33. Entertainer of the year

34. Lifetime achievement award

35. Best Dancehall artiste of the year Now this is tricky, how much of the music produced in Guyana is actually played in the dancehall?

I'll do some research and see what's up with the categories I missed.

GT Lyrics

Send me the lyrics to your favorite song by a Guyanese artist of course.
Email me @ gtmusic592@yahoo.com

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Carifesta Back to Guyana

CARIFESTA stands for the Caribbean Festival of Arts. It is the region's roving, multidisciplinary, mega arts festival which attracts a wide range of creative artists from various Caribbean and Latin American Countries. CARIFESTA was the culmination of the idea that started in 1970 when participants at an Artists and Writers Convention in Guyana complained about the absence of an outlet to showcase the rich cultural heritage of the Region and at the same time give recognition to its outstanding artists and art forms.

That's from the offical Carifesta X website. The events will be held from August 22nd-31st. I won't be there. Form reports around the internet, it doesn't sound well planned. Lots of artist that you read about here will not be exhibited. The major bone of contention is copyrights!! Will these artists creation be protected, will they benefit financially from it?

Here's the theme song by Ilaman, Gialiani, Celeste David and Tamika Marshall and Roger.