He’s already a celebrated Manly Corso mainstay but 12 year old busker Taiyo Marchand is finally getting some national attention too.
The Northern Beaches Secondary College student has won a national award to recognise his talent and help continue his music dreams.
Taiyo is the winner of the 2022 Edstart Achievement Awards and has been awarded a $1,500 grant to help him with his next studio recording.
Starting out as a one year old, Taiyo’s mother would often find him using chopsticks and a bowl as a drum kit. He was dancing to the tunes of young buskers on the Corso as soon as he could walk, and then went on to start busking himself at the age of six.
Taiyo explains that seeing those teenagers playing music in the street was what really inspired him.
“Now I am the one busking on weekends on The Corso and kids are dancing to my tunes,” said Taiyo.
When performing in public wasn’t possible during the pandemic, he recorded his first album in a professional studio after raising the funds on Kickstarter. He took this as an opportunity to spread a positive message to young people facing hardship over the period.
The national awards program by education payment provider Edstart is designed to recognise student ambition and contribution across a range of disciplines including arts, technology, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and sport. Winners were selected by an independent judging panel of education leaders out of thousands of nominations from across Australia.
With his Edstart grant, the Year 7 student plans to use his second album with a message to help others who are starting high school and feel anxious about it.
“I am currently writing a second song about being proud of our weaknesses and not feeling intimidated on the school grounds by bullies,” added Taiyo.
About the awards
The Edstart Achievement Awards Program aims to acknowledge talented students from across Australia in six categories including technology, entrepreneurship, sustainability, sports and arts. For more information, visit https://edstart.com.au/award.
