A number of talented Anguillian students are doing exceptionally well in realising their potential in song-writing, production and recording – thanks to the Anguilla Music Academy (AMA), and the Grammy Museum of the United States, which hosted the third annual Music Revolution Project in Anguilla from July 8-20. The students attracted much applause from the audience.
The 2018 musical event, on Thursday evening, July 19, came on the heels of the successful and widely-admired performance of Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers who won the 2018 Miss Universe Great Britain Pageant; and Hasani Hennis, the first Anguillian in 19 years, to win the John T. Memorial Race.
The well-attended musical event highlighted the growing success of a number of positive-thinking Anguillian young people, waiting opportunities to perform at their best. The function was held at the just-refurbished Italia Restaurant and Club House, at CuisinArt Golf Resort and Spa, following a brief period of local training at the Anguilla Music Academy at Lower South Hill.
The students, largely from the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School, gave various performances of songs written by them with arrangement and production assistance from both the Anguilla Music Academy and visiting musicians from the Grammy Museum.
The Anguilla Music Academy, a centre of learning, was founded in 2015 by Mr. Darius James, a Caribbean national now residing in Anguilla and self-employed as a musician and music producer/engineer. The AMA is committed to educating students in the art of production, mixing and mastery in music recording with opportunities to “learn by doing”.
The Academy also teaches individuals to play a selection of instruments from the beginner to advanced level – thus developing the music industry in Anguilla. The AMA has teamed up with the Grammy Museum which is made up of musicians and recording engineers, in various parts of the United States, to further its goals by assisting with the annual Music Revolution Project.
The event commenced with the invocation by Pastor Philip Gumbs of the Church of God (Holiness). He was grateful that, following last year’s hurricane, there had been a resurgence among the young people who seized the opportunity to continue to develop their musical skills. He was also thankful that a number of instructors in the music industry had undertaken to use their expertise to invest in the lives of the children.
Mr. James, who chaired the programme, welcomed the large audience and expressed the hope that parents and other members of the public would enjoy the various song presentations, music genres and commercials done by the students.
Chief Minister, Mr. Victor Banks, congratulated the young Anguillian musicians for their hard work, and for what they had achieved within a short period under the direction of their tutors. “I had a long day, but I could not resist getting here to participate in this event and to witness the great talent we have in Anguilla,” he told his listeners. He was also grateful to the AMA for its hard work and dedication in training the young people, and to the Grammy Museum for its support.
Mr. James McKinney, a member of the Grammy Museum, told The Anguillian newspaper that the musical presentation had followed two weeks of hard work, and intense pressure on the students in teaching them song-writing, the music business, recording and performing. “They are now performing the songs and commercials that they wrote,” he proudly stated. “They learnt their skills from the team of the Anguilla Music Academy and us – the team that came from New York, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Florida and Washington DC. We are all talented producers, musicians and engineers who have come from the United States to train them as part of the Grammy Revolution Programme.”
Mr. McKinney said that executives of the Foundation which supports and funds the programme, and who have been visiting Anguilla each year, fell in love with the island and its people and met Darius James whom they befriended. “They asked him what he wanted to do and he had a vision,” Mr. McKinney explained. “That’s how we have been coming here to build the Music Academy and to integrate the Grammy Museum Foundation into the programme to do this Music Revolution Project.”
Many Anguillian students have benefitted a great deal from the project since its inception. They, and Anguilla, owe a debt of gratitude to the Anguilla Music Academy, the supporting Grammy Museum and Grammy Foundation.
