On 17 November 2023, Elizabeth “Juss Lizz” Waldron, a MusicTT Spotlight alum, emerged the winner of the Richès Karayib Vocal Challenge competition. She went on to represent Trinidad and Tobago in Martinique at the Riches Karayib Voices – ‘The Great Gathering’ which took place in December 2023.
The Great Gathering included winners of the vocal challenges across the Caribbean going to Martinique to participate in the Business of Music workshops, songwriting sessions, and recording sessions where the final outcome was an original song contributed by each winner towards a Caribbean music compilation album to be distributed worldwide. Richès Karayib is a collaborative project that aims to make the Caribbean cultural richness shine and exists to promote the cultural industry. MusicTT was the Trinidad and Tobago partner for the Richès Karayib Voices Song Challenge alongside Vibes Promotions Ltd., 360 Events and MITTCO.
Juss Lizz, is a music artist of many genres. Her music career began in 2013 where she started off in the Hip Hop field, following in the footsteps of her influences such as Lauryn Hill and Eminem. Juss Lizz was also a member of cohort 3 of MusicTT’s Spotlight Programme, that seeks to identify artistes and instrumentalists who have the potential to advance in the music industry and equip them with the knowledge and tools to leverage their creative talent on the local and worldwide market.
When asked about her experience in Martinique, Juss Lizz responded, “There were other participants from Martinique, St. Lucia, Anguilla, Barbados, Jamaica, Haiti, Guadeloupe and Dominica. We met with experienced coaches from Jamaica, Canada, the US and Martinique, to name a few. A noteworthy highlight for me was the studio session with Martinique’s Fred Jean-Baptiste. He was professional, talented, and able to get work done quickly and smoothly.
I was also thrilled to be a part of a Caribbean album with a common song called “We are the Stars of the Caribbean”. I did my unreleased song “Sauce” and was also fortunate to collaborate with all of the Caribbean artistes.”
“On the day of the Final Show, I felt like I was getting ready to perform at the BET Awards. The performances were great and the crowd thoroughly enjoyed it. What made that night so enjoyable for us was being able to entertain a crowd of people who didn’t speak the same language as some of us but were still able to connect with them through the music.”
Juss Lizz concluded by stating, “I think that meeting other artistes outside of Trinidad and Tobago opened my eyes to the struggles or similarities in struggles we all face here in the Caribbean. We are all fighting for a place to be heard. We all want to be great in our own way and we all speak one language through music. Every country has their issues, but projects such as these truly help to showcase Caribbean artistes like myself. I am also very grateful to MusicTT for always giving us local artistes the space to be involved and providing avenues for us to represent T&T.”
For more details on Juss Lizz’s experience at Riches Karayib, visit www.musictt.co.tt/blog. To keep up to date with MusicTT news, follow @musicoftt on Instagram and Facebook.
