Vincentian wins international Mandarin singing competition

A Vincentian has emerged winner of a Mandarin singing competition, beating out singers from nine other countries around the world.

Jolesia Pope, an intermediate student of Mandarin, “feels good” that she emerged as winner of the Taiwan ICDF (International Cooperation and Development Fund) Mandarin Singing Competition.

St Christopher/ Nevis, St Lucia, Belize, Haiti, Guatemala, Paraguay, Turkey, Palau, and Jordan were the countries to beat in the competition and although she did not have high expectations of success, Pope managed to win the competition along with capturing the “Youtube Popularity Award.”

The competition, held on October 20, 2023, sought to celebrate language and musical diversity while fostering cross-cultural exchange. The contestants were required to shoot a video of themselves singing a song in Mandarin, and upload it online.

Then, “esteemed judges comprising experts in Mandarin language education and music” evaluated the performances and selected the top three winners.

The 18-year-old, who began taking classes in Mandarin only two years ago spoke with SEARCHLIGHT about how she feels about being the first Vincentian to compete in a competition of that nature and coming out on top.

“I guess it feels good to know that I won a global competition, not regionally, but worldwide. It feels good.”

Pope, who hails from Arnos Vale is a graduate of the St Vincent Girls’ High School and the St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Community College where she was introduced to the language by her Mandarin language teacher, Yuhui Huang.

Pope told SEARCHLIGHT that working alongside Huang was a good experience for her going into her the competition.

“She’s a very encouraging person so I had no problem. Nothing was really bothersome about preparing for…competition.”

She added that though being relatively new to the language, Huang told her that it was her pronunciation that gave her the edge of her global competition. Pope continued that in her opinion, it was also the fact that the video was well produced.

Pope’s video, which garnered over 4,200 views on YouTube as at November 20, was shot at Fort Charlotte. She said that the music video tells the story of a woman who is reminiscing on her youth and experiences love.

Pope told SEARCHLIGHT that she wants people to “just go for it” whether it may be learning a new language as she is, or competing on a global scale as she did.

“A lot of the time, fear may hold us down, but to be honest you have nothing to lose.”

The teenager was also seen performing on stage last week, opening the show at SVG’s Gospel Explosion 2023, which was held at Victoria Park.

Abigail Richards and Tansha George also represented SVG in the competition.

According to a press release, the three young women are relatively new to the Mandarin language, but have displayed exceptional linguistic clarity and impressive vocal precision.