BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE British Virgin Islands (BVI) Music Festival, which is scheduled to be held at the Cane Garden Bay grounds in Tortola, had its lineup of artistes recently released at a launch party.
The lineup was revealed at Quito’s Gazebo last Friday (Apr. 16) and the major acts for the festival will include the 2004 American Idol, Fantasia, Jamaican Reggae singer Gyptian and The Spinners.
The festival will also feature the BVI’s very own international artiste and Hip-Hop sensation Iyaz, who is signed to Sean Kingston’s Time Is Money Entertainment music label.
The BVI has a large Spanish-speaking community and has included such act as the Latino group, Nina Sky, along with a host of local artistes.
The festival will run from Friday, May 28 to Sunday, May 30, and the acts for the Friday night, which is a mixture of Reggae and Soca artistes, include WCK, Gyptian, Harella, Jalena, and Aaron.
The Saturday night lineup will feature Co Co Tea, Nina Sky, Iyaz, Imo, Maccabee, Empress Ruth and Sister Joyce, while the final night will see the performance of Fantasia, The Spinners, Mash the Run Way Fashion Show, Ghost from the United Kingdom, and the BVI’s MBJ Baltimore.
However, the festival, which will be celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, is so far being perceived as a disappointment to many persons because they feel the lineup is lackluster.
Comments from persons on the BVI News Online website about the lineup shows the majority of persons is disappointed and expects more for this year’s celebration.
Utter Rubbish stated: “Man I am so disappointed, I invited my friends from the States and when I tell them the lineup tonight they say they going Memorial Day thing and I can’t blame them, this is crap. I anticipated the 10th year to be a blowout and for these guys to make good on their grand promises but my gosh what a sad thing.
“They need lashes for this rubbish, how come after months of planning and negotiating this is what we have, of course I want hear Iyaz and support de local artistes, and yes Gyptian ‘Hold u’ song big right now but a lot is missing, WCK been here already, why not bring Kassav.
Hey we Haiti crazy right now just a suggestion it is the 10th anniversary and you seem to want to do zouk this year. what about the sunday night who is the big name and dont say its in coming because that makes no sense. Man I am so sad and hurt by this cause I planned big, this is bad,” said Utter rubbish.
Another person who went by the name of Boring stated: “I goin to support some of my friend Imo, Ruth, Harella, afterwards home. You would think for the 10th, they would have the best of the best… ANDDDDDDD you would think that after seeing the crowd that show up for Spanish night they would do it again…LAME.”
Another disappointed person known as ‘Well’ stated: “I remember reading a statement released by the committee this past summer that, in 2010, they were going to “bring something never seen before in the BVI” and “it was going to be big”. Well, I don’t see it.
The line-up is good – not the greatness I was anticipating, especially for the 10th anniversary of the festival. I know you can’t please everyone but the 10th anniversary warranted something out of the ordinary. I’m glad it features local artists like IYAZ but the line-up is mediocre at best.
I think this young committee is finding out how hard it is to put on a festival and is still going through some growing pains. Let’s hope the production goes much better this year. I wish them luck in future events.”
‘Wack Wack Wack!!’ stated, “This line up stinkssssssss!! I’m not paying my money to go to this wack crap!!”
In the past, the festival had featured renowned artistes such as Lucky Dube, Tanya Stephens, En Vogue, Damian “Junior Gong” Marley, the Drifters and Daddy Yankee.
The festival is being sponsored by the Virgin Islands Government, BVI Tourist Board, Road Town Wholesale, LIME, Heineken, Dasani and ZVCR.
