SAO PAULO, BRAZIL (Top40 Charts/ ASTRANOVA Records) - One of the most respected international songwriting contests, The
John Lennon Songwriting Contest, gave Honorable Mention in World category to Brazilian artist Roney Giah for the song "Amar com E" from his second CD, "More days on earth." The Twelve-Year-Old contest, created by Brian Rothschild,
David Sonenberg and Yoko Ono with judges such as
Carlos Santana, Wyclef Jean,
Fergie (Black Eyed Peas), John Legend, Al Jareau,
Bob Weir (Grateful Dead), Lamont Dozier, and
Natasha Bedingfield has twelve categories - Rock, Country, Jazz, Pop, World, Rhythm & Blues, Hip Hop, Gospel/Inspirational, Latin, Electronic, Folk and Children's - and two annual sessions.
Also this year, Giah signed a record deal with British Label ASTRANOVA Records for the release of a CD compilation entitled "Yesterday's tomorrow." Promoting the compilation, ASTRANOVA released podcast shows reaching 1000s of subscribers in 107 countries. "Yesterday's tomorrow" includes seven tracks from "Semente - Seed" - (1998), six tracks from "Mais dias na Terra - More days on Earth" - (2006), one teaser-track of the yet-to-be released "Na mira do coice" - (2009), including a bonus track exclusively produced for the compilation. The record company's interest started when Roney Giah's compositions "Amar Com E" and "A Chuva," from second CD "More days on Earth," were selected for garageband.com's "Track of the Day," which is an American site that has Sir George Martin, Beatles former producer, as chairman of their advisory board. The invitation to be part of the label's team came from executives Scott Hill (CEO) and Alex Catillo (A&R) who were deeply impressed with the originality of Roney Giah's music.
In addition to the compilation, Giah's composition "Translate the world" was featured on the soundtrack of the American production "No pain, no gain," a movie exhibited in 250 movie theaters in the United States, and recently launched in Brazil.
The CD "More days on earth" was pre-selected for 2006 Brazilian TIM Award, and 2006 Latin Grammy, and Giah's 1998 debut album "Semente" (Seed), largely instrumental, was nominated for Brazil's 1998 Sharp Award. As a guitarist, he was finalist at Brazil's 1998 Visa Instrumental Award and won a second place at the Berklee / Souza Lima Festival in his hometown Sao Paulo.
