International Band Competition in China: Northern Governors won 100 000 $(hkd)!

The Northern Governors won the 3rd prize at the international band competition in Macau, China! TNG was selected among 183 bands that applied for the competition.
The 12 finalists represented an impressive pool of international talent from Hong Kong, Taiwan,Brazil, India, Portugal, France, the Philippines, Mozambique, the U.S.,Finland and Hungary.Highly skilled musicians from around the world sent in more than 180 applications to the competition’s selection committee; the diversity and quality of the applicants made the decision to choose 12 finalists a tough one – setting the stage for an exciting and entertaining competition that played out in front of enthusiastic crowds of festival attendee. The Cotai Jazz & Blues Festival 2014 came to an energetic and successful close Sunday night, crowning the winners of its exciting Jazz & Blues competition,as crowds of enthusiastic revellers enjoyed the festive Mardi Gras atmosphere at The Venetian® Macao’s lagoon area. Supported by The Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao S.A.R. Government,the festival awarded four talented winning bandseach a share of the competition’s HK$550,000 cash prize pool. From Thursday through Saturday, judges Xu Kui,Antonio Cabrita,Michael Cloeren and Tomos Griffiths watched the competition’s 12 finalists each perform 30-minute sets in front of appreciative festival audiences, assessing them on style, improvisation, technique, musicality, performance and audience response.Sixbands were then shortlisted to perform a half-hour set each in Sunday’s final round of competition: Trio Ricardo Special(Hungary), AfroJazz(Brazil), The Monreira Project(Mozambique), The Northern Governors(Finland), Soulmate(India) and Old Style Sextet(USA).
The four winners of the Cotai Jazz & Blues Festival 2014 competitionare:
First Place         HK$250,000        The Monreira Project (Mozambique)
Second Place     HK$150,000        Old Style Sextet (USA)
Third Place         HK$100,000        The Northern Governors (Finland)
Secial Recognition Award    HK$50,000    AfroJazz (Brazil)