Buddings singers, young bands and urban rappers performed live from Gorleston’s bandstand when they battled it out for the top slot of a music competition.
A large crowd gathered around the Rotary bandstand at the Pier Gardens last Sunday (August 24) to watch a handful of performers take part in the grand final of Gorleston Makes Music.
After heats earlier this year, the local talent competition was between five acts: urban duo Destination Mars, rock band Ridgeline, acoustic folk singer Becca Chamberlin, solo soprano Zaira Palumbo, and 60s-style pop and rock band The Anyone’s.
After nearly four hours of live entertainment in front of an audience, a panel of expert judges conferred and picked their winners.
In third place were Destination Mars who write and perform their own brand of rap. The pair were presented with £50 from JayJays Beach Café.
Second place went to The Anyones who impressed with their renditions of 60s covers as well as an original composition. They were presented with £100 by Jodene Barron-Alcock from 3Sun Group.
The winner, however, was soprano Zaira Palumbo who sang five classical songs and walked away with £250, presented by Hanna Biss from Vauxhall Holiday Park.
A special mention went to rising star Scott Ribbons, who didn’t compete in the talent show but performed on acoustic guitar between sets.
Mayor of Great Yarmouth, John Burroughs, attended the event with the mayoress Jenny and complimented Gorleston Rotary Club for gathering together a talented group of young musicians and giving them a local platform to perform.
Rotary club president Dr Tom Pace said: “This club does a lot of work in our community and we have identified young musicians of multi genres who have had relatively little recognition.
“We designed this event to give them a stage to show off their talents and will be developing it so that it becomes an annual occurrence.
“My congratulations to all the competitors, our four judges, all of our sponsors without whom we could not have put on this event, and I would particularly like to thank Kevin and Stuart who run the Pavilion Theatre who have been the most outstanding supporters.”
Mr Burroughs added: “In my Mayoral year I have had great pleasure in attending many functions which gives me the opportunity to better understand the enormous amount of work that voluntary groups like the Gorleston Rotary Club puts into the community, and the staggering amount of talent we have in the borough.”
Auditions for next year’s Gorleston Makes Music will take place in July 2014.
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