BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – WITH over a dozen local, regional and international artistes set to electrify thousands of patrons at the 2014 St. Kitts Music Festival, Machel Montano, Chronixx and Tyrese Gibson are the most anticipated acts for this year’s edition.
SKNVibes Entertainment went through the streets of downtown Basseterre and conducted a survey to find out exactly which local, regional and international artistes slated to perform next week at Warner Park were most favoured by people in St. Kitts.
During the assessment, one of the factors that came to light was that with all the hype about selection and participation of local acts for this year’s Music Festival, a large number of respondents preferred the international and regional acts.
During a media briefing held two weeks ago at the St. Kitts Marriot Hotel, Tourism Minister Richard Skerritt told reporters that the Festival celebrates not only local acts, but also international and regional artistes who patrons travel from near and far to see at a low cost.
“Unfortunately, it’s an international Music Festival. The same 1 500 visitors who come in, they not only come for St. Kitts experience by large, but they come because they are going to be entertained by international artistes who they can see at this low price…So the answer is to definitely not to go more local. We don’t have the large number of local acts who can bring people through the gates.”
The survey however revealed that 70 percent of the respondents between the ages of 16 to 30 were interested in seeing and hearing Machel Montano performs as against the 20 percent who picked Skinny Fabulous. The other 10 percent went to the ‘sweetest band in the world’, Small Axe.
Still on the opening night scene, 40 percent of the respondents between the ages of 30 to 45 also preferred Machel Montano as compared to 20 percent of who were excited about Destra Garcia. The other 40 percent did not have a favourite.
In terms of Thursday night’s attendance, the ‘Jump Up Night’, the survey realised that although many patrons would encounter some degree of hassle pertaining to work on the following day, the anticipation of the Soca king’s performance would worth the sacrifice.
“I most definitely have to see Machel without a doubt. I was in Antigua a couple of years ago and I saw him in action. He is never a disappointing artiste, so I know what is going to go down Thursday night,” one interviewee told SKNVibes Entertainment.
Friday is considered the most-attended night of the Festival and, as such, the survey showed that 60 percent of the respondents believed that Jamaican Reggae sensation Chronixx is the most-anticipated artiste for that night, as against 30 percent who favoured his fellow Jamaican, Taurus Riley.
The other 10 percent were undecided, but the more mature respondents favoured Taurus Riley as against Chronixx who is the younger generation’s favourite. Hi-Light and the AZ-1 Band were the two favoured local acts for Friday night by both mature and young respondents.
American actor and Grammy Award winner Tyrese Gibson along with Jamaican Reggae artiste Tessane Chin were the two most-anticipated acts for the Soul and R&B night. Eighty percent of the respondents favoured the two acts as against 20 percent who chose Paul Perez and local Rapper SMI.
What are your thoughts about this year’s Music Festival? You may also leave a comment on which artiste you are most excited to see at the three-night event.
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