Youth wins adult singing contest

Sara Kanutski has talent.
Despite being a youth, the Lake Helen band member recently won the adult-age So You Think You’ve Got Talent competition at the Intercity Shopping Centre in Thunder Bay.
“I felt kind of out-of-place but it also felt kind of cool that I could actually go into the adult (category),” said the 11-year-old Ogden Community School student. “It was kind of nerve wracking to think that I was going against people who had been singing for quite a while.”
Kanutski was placed in the adult category of the March 18 contest because her father Ron Kanutski and Robin Ranger were playing guitar and upright bass for the song she sang, Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.
“I focused on the song and after a while I kind of got the hang of it and I stopped being so nervous and went with the song, smiled and looked at the crowd and walked around a bit,” Kanutski said. “Having my dad up there felt way better.”
Kanutski has been talking about being a singer since she was a young child.
“In the last year she used to say she wants to be a singer, so I said you can be like a lot of kids and talk about it, or you can actually do it,” Ron said. “If you want to be a singer you have to sing. That means you have to practice and you have to take the time to learn things.”
Ron and his wife Sharon are actively supporting Sara on her music path.
“We give her opportunities to play and grow with it,” Ron said. “She played at Gargoyles on Saturday, a couple of songs. She’s been asked to sing at the Folklore Festival coming up in April and she’s also been asked to sing at Aboriginal Day.”
Kanutski has a strong voice for the blues.
“She can sing pop-rock and she can sing gospel, but she does the blues really well,” Ron said, adding that Ranger was amazed she could sing seventh notes naturally in between the major chords. “He said that’s a natural. That’s just having an ear for it.”
Kanutski’s winning performance is posted on YouTube.
“I practice all the time and I sing whenever I have the chance,” Kanutski said. “I play guitar too and if there is somewhere to go to get my voice heard, I just do it.”
Kanutski has taken guitar lessons and she learned about singing from a music teacher at her school. She is now looking to write and record her own songs, put out a CD and record a music video in the future.
“I’m actually planning to go on The Next Star on YTV,” Kanutski said, noting the program is for Canadian youth 15-years-old and under with auditions being held in cities across Canada. “I’m going to the Winnipeg audition May 7.”