?Tha Underground? is Bermuda?s newest music awards and they will be going above ground, with a gala awards ceremony, next month.

Originally scheduled to take place this week, promoter Jonathan Talbot has moved the event to November 6 with a red carpet arrival and reception at 6.30 p.m. and showtime at 8 p.m.

He promises the event will be like nothing ever seen before in Bermuda.

Mr. Talbot has been involved in music management for many years and he decided to set up a website (www.thaunderground.net) last October dedicated to promoting the talents here in Bermuda. But what he found was that the website has attracted a host of other artists from Canada and the United States.

?I decided to develop this website just to see what it would generate,? he said.

?It is offered as a tool for artists who want to promote their work.

?So, it has songs, bios and pictures, producers. I never advertised it, the growth has just been by word of mouth.

?A couple of kids here got wind of it as well as a few kids in New York and Canada and they started submitting stuff. During December and January I didn?t really do much to the site and when I looked I saw that the hits were going up and up and up.

?So, between February and May we were averaging between 100 and 150 hits a day. I tried to make it an interactive site for people who wanted to test it out. We also have a song of the week and site goers can listen to the songs and say whether they like or don?t like them.?

With his newly found confidence in the world wide web, Mr. Talbot decided to expand his operation with a feature called ?Can You Rip It??

?After that we had a couple of battles and people would vote on which song they liked the best,? he said.

?Then we had different types of interactive features by getting the producers involved. We got producers to submit a track and the artists would have a week to get the track off the site, record their vocals on it, and send back in.

?We had about ten to 13 people and then we had a vote for the best one at the end of the week. We had two of those ? Can You Rip It I and Can You Rip It II.?

In June, he held Tha Underground Playoffs.

?I had 16 artists send their stuff in and like basketball east and west with two in each bracket,? he said.

?People voted on them each week and the highest would move onto the next week until we got down to the final two.?

In the beginning he found that some of the music that was being submitted was substandard, but in the last year he has seen a steady increase in talent.

?At first some of the stuff wasn?t up to par and people were like ?this is crap?. But now people are submitting good stuff and people are actually developing their skills.

?The thing about the entire site is that it is a tool and how they choose to use it is up to the individual artist.?

One reason that he chose the Internet was that it is world-wide.

?We have people from California,? he said. ?And Halifax (Nova Scotia) has a big following.

?Even someone from Russia has logged on and made comments.?

All this activity has culminated in the awards show scheduled for next month.

?October is the first anniversary of the site and I thought I would try an award?s show,? said Mr. Talbot.

?I wanted to try it now because it is a smaller group of artists and I could control it.

?So, right now I am in the process of promoting it, getting sponsors and getting the ball rolling.

?We have one guy, Guru, who is an engineer/producer at Def Jam Records and he has done stuff for Jay Z. He is looking forward to coming here and if he likes it, would look to invest in it next year.

?We also have a couple of Spoken Word artists coming from England Phase One and we have a female DJ who is coming in to co-host the show with another local emcee.?

But the highlight of the awards show is that there will be something rarely seen in Bermuda.

?We are going to do an all out red carpet affair and even if the weather is bad we will put it inside of Ruth Seaton James.

?But that is geared up to give the artists some of what they see on TV?s BET Awards, Soul Train Awards, and the Grammys.

?The show will be pre-recorded, edited and then sent back out to TV. But the red carpet will have a big screen with music videos, behind the scenes footage and sponsor?s ads.

?It will be a whole event and the awards will be given out to the artists who are on the site, rappers, singers, producers and we are about to launch the Spoken Word page.?

As with new up and coming musicians/artists, people who laid the groundwork will also be recognised.

?The lifetime achievement award will be awarded to someone who is not necessarily on the site, but has been influential with music and often gets overlooked,? Mr. Talbot said.

?Even like an audio sound person who has done every show and everyone feels, ?oh, thanks very much?. Those are the type of people who could be the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

?The other one will be an Honorary Award for someone who may have passed away, like Hubert Smith or someone of that genre.

?The aim is to bridge the gap between the old and the young. As the years go by we are going to add on different categories.

?It is not the first time that there have been award shows in Bermuda, but I think in this genre of music ? the R&B, Hip Hop, the spoken word ? it is.?

With the technology today everyone has a computer and these kids are just pushing out music, said Mr. Talbot.

?So, we are looking to expand on it and through the year leading up to the next awards we plan to have workshops and things of that nature,? he said.

?It is all about educating. If young people in Bermuda are looking at taking this business seriously then attending award shows is part of their curriculum.

?Learning how to speak properly, how to conduct themselves, and also performing on the whole.?

In the 1990s, the Government ran a programme similar to the Grammys and Mr. Talbot?s artists won on two separate occasions.

He said: ?I managed local artists when the Government had teen talent contests and I had my artists in the show.

?Two years in a row my artists came first. It was Tiny T and her prize was an article in Right On Magazine.

?The second year was two guys who later became my partners Lamont Robinson and Dan Herbert and their prize was performing at the Teen Summit.?

Mr. Robinson, Mr. Herbert and Mr. Talbot then formed Jakoma Entertainment.

?We did fashion and talent shows that were really successful,? said Mr. Talbot.

?We then went separate ways ? no hard feelings ? but I was more focused on the music side and I went back to my company J Rock Communication and got back to developing music and talent.?

Part proceeds will be donated to the Sunshine League.

Tickets $35 are available at Music World, Bermudiana Arcade, Mary?s Fashion, Cedar Parkade, and Hose?s Fashion, in the Paget Plaza. For more information visit www.thaunderground.net.