For singer Joel Dudhnath being one of the ten winners of the recent Guyana Talent Search show has served as a springboard to jumpstart his career. Three years ago Joel began dreaming of performing on stage to showcase his talent but did not have the will to make it a reality, so when he learned of the competition, he felt that was his chance.
“Winning feels so unreal. One day I was dreaming about singing and the next day I got through as a contestant,” said an elated Joel.
The 18-year-old shared that while he has always loved singing, it was not until three years ago that he became more passionate about the art form. A year ago, he grew more serious about singing and began honing this new talent by doing vocal training. However, he had issues being social and outgoing. It was the arrival of the life-threatening coronavirus that made him realize how fragile life is and that one should make time to do the things that matter.
When he was at Annandale Secondary School several years ago, two of his female friends pointed out that he had a good voice and he began paying more attention to how he sang and realized they were right.
Joel, who was employed with Giftland as a customer sales representative, shared that he spent a great deal of his time working in the bond and as a way of passing time, he would sing. A work colleague had learnt of the talent search show and encouraged him to audition; he did.
It was also around this time that he learnt he was ill and needed to have a medical procedure done. He recalled getting out of the hospital on a Thursday and receiving a call from the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports the following day to be available to do a live audition two days later. The young man shared that at this point he was just starting his recuperation process, but did not want to pass up the opportunity. It was more than a month after he auditioned via video and had assumed that he was not being considered for the competition, so when the call came through for a live audition, he was shocked.
Battling stage fright, and still in the healing process from the medical procedure, he recalled standing onstage with his eyes closed and singing his One Direction cover. It was enough for him to go through to the next stage of the competition.
When he entered the competition, his idea was to sing Pop song covers of the boy bands from the ‘90s. However, this changed following his one-on-one mentoring with one of the judges. Judge Poonam Singh, he recalled, asked what other genres he liked singing. Joel shared several including Reggae, Pop, Gospel, Chutney and Western. Singh’s ears perked up as Western seemed a unique genre for a Guyanese and requested that he sing one of his Western songs. Joel gave a small performance of Josh Turner’s “Your Man”. The judges, he said, were astonished at his deep baritone and pushed for him to stick to singing Western.
In the first airing of the show, Joel gave a phenomenal performance of “Your Man” that drew many comments from the ladies.
“The experience was a really great one. I made some really great friends. I learnt how to get out of my box and interact. I learnt new singing and performing techniques. We went into that competition as strangers and came out as a family,” shared the singer.
Joel received criticisms from the judges along the way, but noted that they were only trying to help. In between showings, he tried to find his mistakes, and learn from what was told to him. Nonetheless, it was a great experience for the singer.
Since the competition, there is no going back for Joel who has decided that he wants to record music. Currently, he is working on several songs he hopes to release later this year or early next year. His new venture is learning to write songs which he began a month ago. So far, so good, the prospective songwriter said of this new skill. “My aim is to be an international artiste coming out of Guyana and to do this, it entails a lot of work but I am willing and ready to put in the work to accomplish all the goals that I have set,” said the singer.
Though it was pointed out in the competition that the Western genre suits him well, he intends to dabble in others until he finds the one he is most comfortable performing. Joel said that at this stage he is fascinated with mixing genres to create a unique blend and gave an example of wanting to do a fusion of Western and Rap genres.
As it pertains to academia, he said that later if he decides to go to university it would be to pursue music. His new quest for a career in the music industry provides him limited free time as he is constantly practising, but when he can, he likes to cook and workout at the gym.
Among his inspirations are Josh Turner, Brett Young, Randy Travis, Kenny Rogers, Michael Jackson and some of the boy bands from the ‘90s.
“I want to say thank you to my family and friends, all of my supporters for believing in me and believing that I will get this far. Look out for bigger things from me,” Joel enthused.
Since his win, Joel was contacted to do a gig with Channel 80 in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. This engagement he noted is expected to be aired on the mentioned channel in the coming weeks.
The singer can be followed on Facebook and Instagram @Joel Valenski.
