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SINGING sensation Elena Shokry is stepping towards stardom and eagerly awaiting the televised broadcast of her appearance on one of the world’s leading talent platforms.
Elena will perform on the Middle East’s version of The Voice Kids, a spin-off of the popular reality programme The Voice which has encapsulated music fans in countries across the globe. The adult American version is currently being screened in Bahrain and attracting huge viewing figures.
The 14-year-old, who was born in Spain but moved to Bahrain when she was three, saw a casting call for the show and decided to apply via a voice note.
After getting no response for weeks, disillusioned and ready to give up hope, she suddenly received a call back.
“I hadn’t heard from them for a while, so I was starting to doubt whether I’d been successful,” she explained. “Then my friend who auditioned at the same time as me got a call and was rejected, so I definitely thought it was bad news when my phone started to ring.
“I couldn’t believe it when they told me I had been successful, and that I was to go to Egypt for a full audition. After returning home to Bahrain I was asked to send even more videos before I made it through to the actual televised auditions in Lebanon.”
Although Elena is sworn to secrecy about how she got on and can’t even discuss which song she sang on the opening night, readers will be able to see for themselves when it is broadcast sometime soon on MBC.
While preparing for her 60-second performance in front of celebrity judges Nancy Ajram, Kadem Al Saher, and Tamer Hosny, Elena imagined that she was simply walking out on stage as she had done many times before.
She explained: “I wasn’t nervous in a scared way, just really excited because I was going to meet new people and sing in a different way. I was just happy throughout!
“Admittedly, it’s a different experience to sing in front of professional judges from the industry rather than the audience in a local performance. I know they were focussing just on me rather than the show as a whole. However, I perform my best in front of a crowd, and feel more comfortable when people are enthusiastic and care about what I’m singing, so it prepared me for the judges.”
To prove the point, Elena won the Seef Junior Superstars Season 2 performing arts competition, wowing shoppers and judges at the mall with her vocal range in 2014.
Elena, a student at the French School of Bahrain, first took an interest in the performing arts at the age of seven when she joined a local choir. Realising she had the stage bug, she began to take private lessons and branched out into theatre productions, and already has musicals such as The Lion King, Peter Pan and Oliver! under her belt.
She said: “Everyone used to tell me that I was talented and should pursue it as a career … so I did! I love acting and singing at the same time, but also dancing. I don’t like focussing on just one aspect as performing arts encompasses so many exciting disciplines.
“My dream is to be on Broadway and win Oscars! My main inspiration is Jennifer Lawrence because she has a remarkable spirit and her acting is full of life. She won an Oscar at a young age too so it is possible if you put your mind to it. I know they are lofty aspirations, but you have to have those in this business, and the confidence to succeed.”
Proud mum Faten, herself an ex-ballerina and choir singer in Egypt, believes that Elena has the ability to reach the top in a highly-competitive industry. She explained: “Elena started performing when she was really young, was always singing at home, and we pushed her to practice and take part in classes and competitions.
“Her greatest strength is how focused and determined she is. I think she has the talent to go as far as she wants if she puts her mind to it.”
Elena’s initial target is to secure a university place in Paris and obtain her performing arts degree before moving to New York, but her immediate future is focussed on The Voice Kids.
Local audiences got the chance to see her perform in one of the lead roles in the recent theatrical extravaganza CATS put on by director Lydia Martin’s Inspire Bahrain and its subsidiary MASK, a show choreographed by Elena’s mum.
Elena took on the role of Rumpleteazer when Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic was staged at the Bahrain Rugby Football Club in front of packed nightly audiences and she received a rave review in GulfWeekly.
