You may have heard his seductive vocals on the radio, or seen him performing live with the roots-rock band, Cabezon, but Stuart "Teknique" Silva is a relatively new artiste, so this is the time to get familiar with him. Trinidad Carnival is the ultimate showcase opportunity and for a young music lover, part-time DJ and enterprising artiste like "Teknique", it's the perfect time to explore his passion and share his talent.

"I started off doing music while I was still in Secondary School," he explained. "I went to St Augustine Community College and dancehall music was my passion at the time, so we would be in the library pounding on the desk and creating a jam session, chanting, free-styling and doing everything except studies really..."

Fresh out of school and obliged to choose between a career in football and one in music, Silva chose the former and played for Joe Public's U-20 team for several years, before the music bug bit him once again.

"I played for about three years and trained with their Pro League Team," he recalled, "and then in 2006, I linked up with a producer and did my first recording at 2IG Studio with my cousin, Richardo – we had a group called New Breed at the time... So when the Reggae All Stars like Isasha and they broke out into the mainstream, our song "Look Into Their Eyes" got some love on 96.1 and made the Heineken Hit List – which was a big deal for us as new artistes... It gave us encouragement to continue to pursue music as a career."

Following up their reggae single with a soca track called "Bruk Loose", Silva and his cousins Ricardo and Mark then formed a DJ group called Imperial Mindz. But while his relatives eventually choose to remain behind the mixing console, Silva opted to visit different producers and studios and experiment with different styles of music.

"I guess because I had a passion for music from since before I decided to take it seriously," he said, "it really stuck with me and I really feel like it's something I need to explore and to give my all... The whole idea of taking a word or a melody and transforming it into a whole song and then sharing that song with lots of people and having them appreciate it and seeing how it brings joy to their lives – that's a really great feeling, as any musician or artiste will tell you – it's a creative power like no other."

More recently, "Teknique" has been working with noted producer, Keshav "LAZA Beam" Singh and has released two songs for Carnival 2012. The first is entitled "Rotation" as voiced on LAZA Beam's "Tong Step Riddim" and has been receiving a lot of airplay on popular radio stations such as 96.1 WEFM, Boom Champions 94.1 FM, NEXT 99.1 FM, 104.7 MOR FM and RED 96.7 FM. The second release "Tribal" on the 145 Riddim – is a collaborative effort between Singh and a UK-based producer called, Interface, which also features songs by "MX Prime" (formerly Maximus Dan) and "M1" (formerly Menace of 3Suns).

"I took the name Teknique because I'm a very methodical kind of person," he explained, "and where I work at Advance Commercial Equipment Ltd, I'm a technician also... So I found it to be a professional-sounding name that suits my image and style and what I intend to bring to the industry. I took the time to study the craft and did vocal training and all sorts of exercises to strengthen my voice – when I played football professionally, I learnt the importance of being prepared mentally and physically for whatever match or task lies ahead, so now I'm in a position where once I get the ball or the mic, I will know what to do with it and be able and capable of scoring/achieving my goals."

To help "Teknique" score goals, check out his videos on YouTube, log on to his Facebook Fan Page, myspace.com/teknique1, follow him on twitter @tekniquedaboss and request his songs on your favourite radio station. Look out for more music releases, performances and appearances from this rising star throughout 2012.