Making Lovely Music at EFC

Lovely Ehimen Imiemoho outside EFC 

An EFC students who only picked up a guitar for the first time two years ago has spoken of his shock at being chosen to perform at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games and courted by a range of record companies.

Lovely Ehimen Imiemoho, who lives in Epping, performed as part of the “I Love Music” Festival at the Epping Forest District Museum in Waltham Abbey on Saturday (27th September) as part of a busy schedule.

Lovely, 17, enrolled on the Level 3 Extended Diploma in Music at Epping Forest College last year as a vocalist. After performing at the college’s “EFC’s Got Talent” competition last year, Gina Binazir, the College’s Learner Engagement Manager, encouraged Lovely to enter the Youth Music Voices auditions.

Mrs Binazir said: “It was obvious to the EFC Enrichment Team that Lovely had a fantastic singing voice, so we decided to help him apply for the competition.”

Youth Music Voices is providing the UK’s most talented young vocalists with the opportunity to join in and help promote the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games through singing.

After auditioning at the royal Opera House in Covent Garden, Lovely emerged as a tenor for the choir, chosen from a pool of over 1,500 entrants. Lovely now takes part in a monthly 18 hour long practice sessions around the country in preparation for the Games.

Lovely said that the choir would be performing a range of pieces by contemporary composers from around the world as well as a specially-composed piece by composer Richard Frostick for the opening ceremony.

“We have met some of the composers who wrote the pieces and it was really interesting to discuss their work with them.

“They sometimes thought we should be performing their work differently or wanted us to change parts and it was very interesting to be involved in those rehearsals.”

At the same time as this, lovely has also risen to prominence as a performer in his own right. After picking up a guitar for the first time last year, Lovely began performing at local pubs and clubs.

Although he had little experience of songwriting, he found that his tutors support invaluable. “The course was great for my songwriting, as I was now exposed to different sorts of music. I learnt about artists like Seasick Steve and Michael Buble. Ed Sheeran was another whose performance style has had an impact on my songwriting.”

To date, Lovely has sung at the Camden Roundhouse and Rich Mix Cinema in Bethnal Green, and at Kings Cross St Pancras as part of the “Station Sessions” event.

He said: “I always knew I could sing and one day I just decided that I had to do music. Since then it seems that every time I perform I have people coming up to me and giving me opportunities.

“There are so many people who want to be professional musicians and I did not think everything would happen so quickly. It is a little bit of a shock.

“I am just so excited about performing in the Olympic Games opening ceremony because I never thought that I would get this far. “
 
"Some of the people I will be performing with at the games are world class classical singers and I am learning so much from them at the minute,” he said.