Fredericton’s Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival have announced their four finalists for the 2016 Stingray Rising Star competition. The competition focuses on showcasing local talents across Canada, and providing financial support in the form of a $2000 prize.
From across New Brunswick, this year’s selected finalists for the Stingray Rising Star competition are CHIPS, Kenny James, Math Class, and Tortue. The performers span a fairly wide cross-section of genres, from the dancey-side of CHIPS punk-rock, to Math Class’ funky instrumental dancepunk, Kenny James’ traditional country, and Tortue, which fit at least two genres into every song. Each band arguably deserves to be awarded within their own respective genre (while Tortue arguably could be awarded at least twice).
The final decision on this year’s winner will comprise of a round of online voting, balanced with the weighted votes from a panel of judges from the music industry. The final vote from the judges will take place following a live performance on Friday, September 16th at 2pm in the Stingray Music Barracks Tent. The performers will be judged based on talent, originality, and stage presence. The winner will be announced immediately following the competition at 4:15pm, and will go on to open for Stephen Lewis & After Funk later in the evening.
“Harvest places a great deal of important on the role the festival plays in supporting the growth of the New Brunswick music scene and we’re proud to present the Stingray Rising Stars Showcase once again to our Festival audiences for the 15th year,” says Brent Staeben, Music Director.
You can have a listen to this year’s finalists here:
CHIPS (Fredericton, NB)
Kenny James (Sackville, NB)
Math Class (Saint John, NB)
Tortue (Fredericton, NB)
Online voting is now open and can be reached here.
For more information on the Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival visit harvestjazzandblues.com and for the Stringray Music Rising Stars visit stingray.com.
Photos: CHIPS courtesy of CHIPS, Tortue by Biff Mitchell, Math Class by Sean Snow, Kenny James by Brody LeBlanc.