Chloe Antat, Shereen Laporte and Hubert Jean-Baptiste are the grand winners of the first MAZ Youth Talent, a singing competition of Creole songs only, for young people.

The MAZ Youth Talent 2021, organised by MAZ Millions, was held at the International Conference Centre (ICCS) in front of a large crowd.

The aim of the competition is to help promote our Creole tradition, especially among the young people.

The competition, dominated by female participants, was divided into three age groups: 12 -15 years, 16-20 years and 21-30 years. The participants had to sing two songs which included a one and a half minute traditional song and another Creole song in another genre which they had to sing in full.

The first prize winners received R25,000, a recording contract and a trophy. The runners up received R15,000 and a trophy while the third finishers received R10,000 and a trophy as well. There were five participants in each of the three age categories. The competition was judged by a five-member jury panel made up of well known artists and FM radio presenters.

The competition was tight in the 12-15 years category, especially between the two top finishers, where Chloe Antat scored 820 points to take first position ahead of Hannille Lucas who scored 818 points. Alessandro Evenor took the third place with 545 points. The other two participants were Elle Wirtz and duo Maeve Esparon and Azarelle Ragain. For her traditional song, Chloe sung ‘Sous les cieux’ – a romance – and ‘Lekstazm’ by Jany as her second song.

“I feel proud and happy taking into account that it was a very tight competition. I came from very far and I am glad I made it,” said Chloe, who is thinking of recording her first song.

It was the same scenario in the 16-20 years category for the two top finishers where Shereen Laporte managed to score 873 points which nudged Bellestania Azemia into second position with 872 points. In third place was Yanick Hermitte with 824 points. Angelic Bastienne and Sutra Florentine were the other two participants in the category.

Shereen sang ‘Leokri’ by Janny for her traditional participation and ‘Enranplasab’ by Clive Camille as her second song.

“I had so much fun but frankly I was not expecting to win first prize. Even if I did not win it would not have mattered much to me as I was here for the experience and I am very happy I made it. I think we are all winners. All of the participants gave their best and I thank them for providing the competition among us,” said Shereen.

With 900 points, Hubert Jean-Baptist was way ahead of Marie Lourde Ogony and Brigitte Pillay who scored 810 and 805 points to settle for second and third places respectively. The other two participants were Ginny Jupiter and Emile Chetty. Hubert sang ‘Moutya Karenm’ by Brian Matombe as his traditional song and ‘Lavi Rezete’ by May Cecile as his second song.

“I was expecting to win a prize but not the first prize. But it has happened and I am very happy. There are no losers in that competition. We are all winners. I said that because we helped and supported each other throughout and for me that was amazing,” said Hubert who has experience in such competitions.

MAZ Talent organiser, Marie France Macgregor, said she was very satisfied with the event and with the number of participants who registered for the competition.

She noted that the event will be on the calendar of MAZ Million along with some other activities that will be announced in due course.

The MAZ Talent competition, which was launched in October 2021, was supposed to have been held on December 2021 but it had to be cancelled as a result of Covid-19. There were over 100 participants who registered for the competition where ten participants, from each category, were chosen in the first audition and in a second audition the fifteen young artists (five in each category) were chosen for the grand final.

During the competition the participants were asked on why they participated and how they felt about our Creole culture and on what they can do to promote it.

During the show Bennet Accouche and Verna were honoured for their contributions in the field of entertainment, especially with regard to children.

Source: Seychelles Nation