Written by Gloria Vitaly When I asked the group about where they find their inspiration, one of them told me: ‘‘we find our inspiration in Matt’’ with a sarcastic tone. It was clear that the chemistry in the group was good. ‘’Well, the world is our inspiration’’ says Matt.

Norway, Iceland, South Africa and now Kingston is lucky to have Groove Academy visit. The band has traveled a lot of places and one of their greatest memories so far has been Norway. The music school was invited to Norway by the Norwegian orchestra ‘’Viva’’, where they played at a festival. Only ten of the school members got the opportunity to go there. The trip left such a good impression on the group that one of them told me: ‘’I would love to move to Norway’’.

Fluttering dresses, lively music and roasting sun, Groove Academy performed funky music with unusual outfits. ‘’Is there a special reason why you are dressed this way?’’ I asked the performers. “We dress according to what we are performing.’’ The young artists filled the empty spaces at Eagle Brewery Wharf by playing funky music this time. Usually they focus on one genre, but this time they performed many different musical genres.

Because of the big group containing around 40 talented artists, they usually split in smaller bands. All members are students of the award-winning community school, Groove Academy. The age of the members in the huge group is from 10 to 19.

Don’t miss the marvellous band performing today at 2.30pm at the Eagle Brewery Wharf, on the riverside by The Ram.

Based on information supplied by Matt Gleinig.

 

More news from this year's Kingston International Youth Arts Festival: