Singers highlight Commercial Music show

Samyuktha Vellaiyan, Staff Writer

With a performance deserving of a larger audience, the members of the Diamond Bar High School Entertainment Academy brought the works of such artists as Bob Marley and Bruno Mars to life during the Commercial Music Showcase.

The Nov. 16 show opened with the program’s advisor, Daryl Hernandez, introducing the concert with a welcoming speech about the tremendous amount of effort put into the music. The first song, “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley, was catchy, despite a few inharmonic moments. The same could be said of  the songs “I Shot the Sheriff” and “Is This Love,” sung by junior Samantha Hersh and senior Ariel Cardona, as the outcome was  very entertaining and a great overview of Marley’s music. Most of the songs in this section of the concert were performed by the beginners, while the others were played by the more experienced seniors.

However, when the seniors started performing, I was awestruck at their take on familiar  tunes such as “Just the Way You Are,” by Bruno Mars and “This Love,” by Maroon 5. The audience was engaged in the performance and the musicians played with increasingly more energy.

Not only was this a show to perform music from different eras, but this also gave the seniors a chance show off their amazing talent. During the song “Right Where You Want Me,” Jack May was able express his electrifying sounds while playing the bass guitar. Drumist Jeremy Kim provided fascinating beats to supplement the song “Troubled I’m In.” In contrast, Fayleen Ho supplied soft melodious singing in the song “Just the Way You Are.”

In particular, Jacob Corletto received many cheers as he sang “Viva Satellite” while playing the drums, a performance specifically dedicated to DBHS French teacher Tony Tietz.

A special touch to the stage setting was the lighting. It complimented the singing, with the colors of the spotlight matching the mood of each song.

One issue that marred the performances was the instrumentalists music overpowering the singer’s voice. Yet despite the uneven allocation of sound, from what I heard, the singer’s voices were incredible. In particular, Ho and Cardona had astonishing voices that deserved to be heard over the loud background music.