Sing when you are winning
With four out of the nine regional finals now decided, the competition to win this year’s Travellers Got Talent is hoting up. From Plymouth to Cambridge, Gypsies, Roma and Travellers or all ages are have grabbed the opportunity to show off their singing, dancing and musical skills.
The finals kicked off in Plymouth on June 4th, where Roma organiser Toby Gorniak arranged a well-attended final at his breakdance school the Street Factory Studio. “There were hundreds of people there,” said Toby “including many Gypsies and Irish Travellers, which proves that history month really works to bring us together. The winners from the South West final were breakdancers Alan Laszczak (13) and Lincoln Gorniak (9); the runner-up was breakdancer Adrian Andrasz, (22).
Plymouth’s breakdancers will perform alongside winners from the other finals that have been held so far. The winner and runner-up in the London final for English Gypsies and Irish Travellers were singer Chloe McDonagh who sang at the launch of the Gypsy Roma and Traveller History Month in London (see below) and singer Stacy Marie Mongan. A separate London final for the capital’s massive Roma population will be held on June 28th
Epsom’s Bourne Hall celebrated the town’s long connection with the Romany community with its annual Gypsy Day on June 19th. 15 competitors sang and played in front of a 200 strong crowd of local Gypsies and Travellers to produce an almost identical result to last year’s Travellers Got Talent. A text based voting system which will be used to decide the national final in Stowmarket in Suffolk on July 9th declared singer Scarlett Lee (see below) the winner. Joint runners up were singers Johnny Gregory and Jimmy Connors. Singer Sherry-Marie Smith came third, but the scores were so close that the judges decided to send all 4 young people to the national final.
The national final of Travellers Got Talent will be held from 6:30pm onwards on July 9th 2010 as part of the Gypsy Arts Festival.
Museum of East Anglian Life
Crowe Street
Stowmarket
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