Saturday mid-afternoon showers provided a cool setting for students of the Alpha Institute to showcase their musical talent to an audience of appreciative corporate executives and politicians in a relaxed atmosphere at the Colm Delves Centre at the institution.

The students stirred souls of those who disregarded the showers with ska, reggae and rocksteady as their target listeners rocked and danced to the melodies of mainly instrumentals.

Enticing hors d’oeuvre and cocktails kept the evening’s mingle going for approximately two hours with the live music, provided by students from both the Alpha Vocational Trade Programme (AVTP) and Alpha School of Music (ASOM), adding to the mood of the occasion.

The Alpha Institute includes the AVTP and ASOM. At the AVTP, students get vocational training in woodwork, carpentry, landscaping and music, while the ASOM is specifically for music, with the students being able to get an Associate Degree in Music.

Alpha Institute, formerly Alpha Boys’ Home, is credited with starting ska and was the home of many of the genre’s stalwarts. After the institution’s transformation, Digicel Foundation decided to honour its late former CEO Colm Delves by building the Alpha School of Music in his memory.

According to Digicel Foundation’s CEO, Charmaine Daniels, the event served a dual purpose of tying in with Apha’s yearly musical tribute to Delves as well as providing Digicel Business with a corporate mingle.

“We wanted to bring some corporates out because we want them to see the good work that Alpha is doing. Digicel Business wanted to do a mingle for some of their corporates and so they would have selected the guests that were invited.

“We are just coming out of COVID so these are like the first events to get the feet wet. We will be having more events here and what we want, we want corporates to really see the work that Alpha is doing,” Daniels said.

Gay Magnus, bandmaster at Alpha School of Music stated that the experience was invaluable for the students with many performing in this type of setting for the first time. She said they usually perform in front of friends, family and other members of the institution.

“I think the students did very well. This kind of opportunity for the students to play at this kind of event, this kind of production value, is invaluable. A lot of them, this is the first time they are doing this kind of thing.

“We are glad that we at Alpha can provide them with real-world experience while they are still in school so that by the time they leave, they will have some experience under their belt. It’s not just about the bookwork, but they actually have some hands-on experience,” Magnus said.