CX has got talent

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KNYSNA NEWS – Youth Day at the Hornlee Civic Centre was spent in a celebratory manner, with nine talented young singers, dancers and rappers taking to the stage for the inaugural CX Got Talent finals, organised by Back to Basics Musiq.

The final stage of the competition was the culmination of months of preparation that featured a preliminary audition round and one semi-final round.

Five different days were used for the preliminary auditions - 20 and 27 March at the Assemblies of God Church, 17 April at the Grace Community Church, 24 April at Revival Worship Ministries, and 1 May at the Solid Rock Church.

These auditions were used to select the semi-finalists from the various communities in the Knysna area. Two weeks after the final audition day, on 15 May, the Assemblies of God Church was the venue once again as it came time for the semi-finals.

Here, the field was narrowed to nine finalists that were due to take part in the finals on Youth Day, a symbolic day due to its historical significance.

Photo gallery: Heaps of talent in Knysna

The day holds a special place with Back to Basics Musiq as three years ago, in 2018, the organisation started as a Christian-based community project for the youth. Since then they've grown immensely and have set a long-term goal.

"Our main objective is to give the youth of our community an alternative other than - what seems to be the daily norm - drugs, alcohol and gang violence. We use music as a tool to try and reach this objective," said Back to Basics founder Jacelyn October. "We are a group of young individuals who want to make a change in the lives of others using something familiar to us, music."

Sharmell Terblanche offered up a powerful performance as a guest performer.

Thus, on 16 June, it was time for music and the youth to take centre stage at the Hornlee Civic Centre in the finals of the first CX Got Talent competition. The nine finalists competed in three categories – Dance (Lady Bugs, Spiceys, Chelsey and Curtley); Sing (Gillmore and Eutonnay); Rap (Western D Fam, Capital G and Mr Maka).

The event got underway just before 16:00, and throughout the late afternoon into the evening the limited crowd was treated to undeniable young talent. There were also guest performances by Cindy & Allistair, Sharmell Terblanche, Kyleo, Dope Gang, Ace Mclein, and ChétheMuse, spread out over the evening.

Finalists had two performances to do their best to impress the judges, but there could only be a select few winners. Capital G, Mr Maka, Lady Bugs, and Curtley Galant were crowned winners of golden tickets to the Ikamva Youth and Arts Festival.

They will also be a part of some of the films that will be filmed by Jovan Calvert for the festival. Mr Maka was handed the prize of a recording session with Ace Mclein, while Ladybugs were awarded a scholarship to the Pro Academy in Knysna.

According to October, they aim to make the competition an annual event and to see the competition grow even more.

The four winners of the competition.
From left: Ladybugs, Mr Maka, Curtley Galant, and Capital G. Photos: Blake Linder