TEDxPortofSpain 2018 Live Performers

Arielle John is looking towards the West Indian future. As writer, arts educator and cultural researcher, she shifts often between Trinbago and its diaspora, attempting to discern her [generation’s] role in navigating a quick-shifting planet. Through poetry, performance and disability studies, She works to make sense of her postcolonial positioning, by attempting to translate how Caribbean people have adapted to and survived their subjection. A Callaloo Fellow, Goldsmiths Alumna and youth mentor within the international Brave New Voices Network, her most recent piece of labour looks at the ritual performance of divine femininity within the Trinidad Carnival, as well as launching the Atlantic Futures series between The 2 Cents Movement and The Little Carib Theatre in Port of Spain.

 

Kyle Hernandez (23), is a Trinidadian based creative bent on utilising absurdism and the performance arts as vehicles for discourse. He has toured five major cities in England with his craft, and was featured at The Roundhouse “Talking Doorsteps Program” in London as one of only two Caribbean poets. Hernandez, is a two time 1st Runner Up for the First Citizens National Poetry Slam, and works predominantly as a teaching artist, poet and director. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre with First Class Honors from the University of the West Indies. Kyle also works with The 2 Cents Movement, where he uses his platform to engage with thousands of young people across the country; leading conversations in youth development and other social justice issues.

 

Clarice Beeput is 16 years old and attends St. Joseph’s Convent, Port of Spain. She has been singing since she was seven years old, and has loved music ever since. She plays multiple instruments, including the Djembe, Guitar, Steel Pan and Trap Set Drums. She realised her love for singing classical and operatic pieces when she was taught the “Ave Maria” by Franz Schubert when she was ten years old. She is a developing operatic soprano, and wishes to become a professional opera singer and composer in the future. She has won competitions such as the Scholarship Competition of Talented Teenagers in 2017, where she also won the award for “Best Vocalist”, the Gretta Taylor trophy for first place in the Girls’ Vocal Solo (ages 13-15) in the Biennial Music Festival 2018 and the “Operatic Aria” category in the American Protégé in 2018. In December 2018, she will be performing at Carnegie Hall in Manhattan, New York, in a winners’ recital for the American Protégé.

 

Marge comes from a revered musical clan – The Blackmans; who are to Trinidad what the Marley’s are to Jamaica.  Her Father The late Ras Shorty I is the Inventor of two major genres of Trinidadian music, namely Soca and its Gospel infused sister Jamoo. So music is definitely in her blood.

For most of her musical life she has been part of an ensemble cast, alongside her father, mother and her siblings as a member of the family band, The Love Circle. She has contributed both as a singer and songwriter on several critically acclaimed Love Circle albums such as Homegrown, The Gathering and Children Of The Jamoo Journey which each feature memorable songs by Marge namely Oshay, Like a Flower, and Moment To Pray. Marge has also toured extensively with the Love Circle to Europe, America and Africa.

With the recent release of her song BE, produced by Sheriff, Marge has again redefined Jamoo and carved a musical space all her own and promises and Album of depth and colour. In October 2017 Marge will release her contribution to the Carnival 2K18 Season, a collab with the two time soca monarch winner, VOICE. An infectious collision of vocal melodies, with a touch of Jamoo that is sure to captivate.

With all the that has been seen, it is clear that 2018 will be a very promising year for one of the rightful heirs to the Blackman Throne.