Fourteen-year-old Amber Barrow, or Amber Orano as she is known on stage, wants to travel the world singing and playing music.
Having already performed during the Barbados Reggae Festival, the Parkinson Memorial Secondary School fourth former has begun to make a name for herself as a reggae artist.
She emerged as the winner when stepped out of her comfort zone to compete in her school’s inaugural Kaiso in De Pine competition recently.
Amber has been singing from the age of four and she told the SUNDAY SUN her love for music came from her mother who is a DJ.
“When she carried me to karaoke and she was singing, I would take the microphone and I would just look at her mouth and try to sing what she was singing without looking at the screen. From that experience I developed and I started to love music more,” she explained.
Amber’s first major appearance was at the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) as a member of the Parkinson band which performed a cover of Queen Ifrica’s Lioness On The Rise.
She continued to perform as a keyboardist and vocalist with the band at several shows across the country.
Under the guidance of her music teachers Sheldon Hope and Randy Eastmond, the teen made it to the finals of the inaugural interschool singing competition where she placed fifth.
A fan of Queen Ifrica, Tarrus Riley and Buggy Nhakente, Amber especially likes reggae which she says is able to lift her spirits.
In 2011, she released her debut single Fussing And Fighting which addressed the rise in violence across the world.
It was written by Amber and John King and produced by Eastmond.
Although she also likes “anything to do with computers”, Amber made it clear that music was her passion and she vowed to go “wherever it leads”.
“It helps me to be happy again. It helps me to be lively again.
“It tells my story to other people,”said Amber who has been playing the keyboard for the past four years under the tutelage of Eastmond.
“I get to express my feelings playing music and I just love moving my fingers [over] the keys. It’s actually fun,” she said.
Amber has also been teaching herself to play the guitar using videos on YouTube.
She admitted that it was “not easy” balancing music and school but said her teachers were accommodating.
“Sometimes I have to miss important assignments and that really frustrates me but I still handle it . . . . I still balance it. Whenever I have to miss work I would just tell the teacher keep it there for me and I would be able to get it done.”
She entered the Junior Monarch Calypso Competition this year but was not successful in making t through to the semi-finals. She was therefore pleased when she heard that she would get to perform her song in another competition.
“Mr Eastmond told me they had a competition coming up and I would be able to sing it, so I said ‘let me take a chance’,” she said.
Amber explained that her song I Am A Child was about “people not wanting to hear what children have to say”.
“They feel that children don’t have a say in particular situations or problems. My song is saying that people should listen to the children more, so that whenever they go wrong the children can help them and tell them they’re going wrong,” she said of the song written by Kevin Sluggy Dan Watson.
Amber has still been participating in the Crop Over season, performing and playing the keyboard in the Celebration Time tent.
Describing the opening night she said: “It was amazing . . . my first show playing with a big band and it was fun. It was a good experience for me.”
Amber said she was willing to give the Junior Monarch competition another try next year.
