The Gleamers in Papua New Guinea
TALENT PAGE FEATURE- The GLEAMERS…by David Aoneka Rupa
You wouldn’t resist hearing the beautiful harmony produced naturally by the voices of these three youngsters. They are the winners of the PNG Digicel Stars 3 competition 2012, The GLEAMERS! From thousands across Papua New Guinea who auditioned for the singing competition, several battled in the 6 (six) heats and only a few made it to the grand finale. Surprisingly, the Gleamers snatched every Papua New Guineans dream of becoming a DIgicel Star.
The group Gleamers consists of twin sisters Gracelyn and Jaylin Johnhey and a family friend of theirs; Rua Rudoq Trevor Puka. They all come from Abau Distict of the Central Province and reside in Koki Wanigela Village in Port Moresby. The trio have been singing together in church (Seventh Day Adventist) during Pathfinder programs for 3 (three) years. It all began when the choir-master would select the three of them to sing a song in parts. In church, they have a singing group called Triumphants which consists of 7 singers, three boys and four girls. Rua chose the name Triumphants for the group, when asked during an interview why Triumphants was chosen to be the group name he said “because in our day to day lives as young people, we encounter challenges and we must always be encouraged to tackle them but not to let such problems trample over us”.
The three youngsters came up with the name Gleamers specifically for the singing competition because they couldn’t compete under the name Triumphants while the rest of the group members weren’t involved. The word Gleamers is derived from the word “gleam”; it defines itself as a reflected ray of light. “We want to reflect God’s light to others that’s why we chose the name Gleamers, said Rua. He said that before they auditioned, they decided to sing gospel all throughout the competition, but due to other judging criteria’s they had to sing other genres in order for them to remain in the competition. Rehearsals have been quite
You wouldn’t resist hearing the beautiful harmony produced naturally by the voices of these three youngsters. They are the winners of the PNG Digicel Stars 3 competition 2012, The GLEAMERS! From thousands across Papua New Guinea who auditioned for the singing competition, several battled in the 6 (six) heats and only a few made it to the grand finale. Surprisingly, the Gleamers snatched every Papua New Guineans dream of becoming a DIgicel Star.
The group Gleamers consists of twin sisters Gracelyn and Jaylin Johnhey and a family friend of theirs; Rua Rudoq Trevor Puka. They all come from Abau Distict of the Central Province and reside in Koki Wanigela Village in Port Moresby. The trio have been singing together in church (Seventh Day Adventist) during Pathfinder programs for 3 (three) years. It all began when the choir-master would select the three of them to sing a song in parts. In church, they have a singing group called Triumphants which consists of 7 singers, three boys and four girls. Rua chose the name Triumphants for the group, when asked during an interview why Triumphants was chosen to be the group name he said “because in our day to day lives as young people, we encounter challenges and we must always be encouraged to tackle them but not to let such problems trample over us”.
The three youngsters came up with the name Gleamers specifically for the singing competition because they couldn’t compete under the name Triumphants while the rest of the group members weren’t involved. The word Gleamers is derived from the word “gleam”; it defines itself as a reflected ray of light. “We want to reflect God’s light to others that’s why we chose the name Gleamers, said Rua. He said that before they auditioned, they decided to sing gospel all throughout the competition, but due to other judging criteria’s they had to sing other genres in order for them to remain in the competition. Rehearsals have been quite