BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – TWO of the Federation’s finest entertainers, Shakki Starfire and the Small Axe Band, were nominated for the 2012 International Soca Awards (ISA) scheduled for June 29 at the Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.
Shakki has been nominated for three awards - Best New Female Soca Artiste, Best Groovy Soca and Best Up Tempo Soca-Female - while the Small Axe Band was nominated for Best Overall Soca Band.
They were nominated along with some of the soca industry’s top acts including Faye An Lyons, Destra Garcia, Alison Hinds, Krosfyah and Machel Montano HD.
“We’re grateful and humble to be recognised,” said Gary Thomas of the Small Axe Band. “And we want to encourage everyone to go on the website and vote for us. The band is very excited about this nomination.”
The band recently celebrated the 60th Anniversary of the St. Thomas Carnival and has some gigs scheduled for the rest of the year including the Atlanta Carnival on May 24 and the Miami, New York and Houston Carnivals.
Shakki said she is happy and looks at the nominations as a motivation for her to continue with her career and music.
The artiste said that she is also equally excited about being nominated with some of the top females in the soca industry.
It was also recently announced that Shakki would be performing on this year’s St. Kitts Music Festival, and she wants everyone to know that it is nothing but energy comes that Thursday night (June 28).
She said that she is hoping to release music for the upcoming Culturama celebrations in Nevis and plans to release an album for this year’s National Carnival.
Her Manager, Wallis Wilkin, said that the nominations also reflect the hard work she has been putting into her music and he is hoping the nominations would open more doors for her.
Shakki won the Groovy Soca Monarch last December with her explosive performance of ‘Party Plenty’.
Fans are encouraged to log on to the website www.socaawards.com and vote for their very own as their votes will influence the outcome of the winners.
In 2003 the enormous fan base of the Nu Vybes Band International helped them to win the Best Overall Soca Band Award which they tied with Krosfyah of Barbados.
The ISA was held in St.Kitts for the first time in 2008 and Kittitian music icon Ellie Matt was recognised with the shows’ Lifetime Achievement Award.
This year will mark the ISA’s 10th anniversary.
