July 12th, 2016 -- The First Annual St. Kitts Gospel Festival was an immense success, organizers say in a press release this week. The Festival, organized by the Unleash Youth Ministry and St. Kitts-based gospel music record label JIFE Music, featured gospel artists from around the Caribbean including local artists from JIFE Music and other ministries. The overseas artists are part of the Caribbean Gospel Music Tour, founded five years ago by Trinidad and Tobago gospel artist Curtis Jordan.
The concert held recently at the Newtown Football Field opened with debut performance from rising Kittitian gospel artist Ikena. She sang her two new singles “You Made Me Who I am” and “I Give My All” to the delight of the attendees, some of whom were singing every word. It’s her first major performance since releasing her single under the JIFE Music label. She is not yet a signed artist but is under the tutelage of JIFE Music and is expected to be signed before the year ends.
Following up Ikena’s performance was local rapper M1 who took the stage by storm with a gospel remake of Rihanna’s “Work.” That was followed by a slew of his original songs which resonated with the crowd. Then JIFE Music’s Dominic Brookes came on stage to perform some songs from his soon to be released debut EP including a free single “Lonely,” which he released on social media just a mere days before the Festival. The song speaks about his trials as a Christian and feeling being ostracized for his beliefs. He rounded out his performance with an original soca song which will also be featured on his EP due out July 24th on the JIFE Music label entitled: “Where Would I Be.”
Then came JIFE Music’s President and chief producer Nyquan. He started out with his big single “Don’t stop your praise” infused with pulsating soca rhythms, arousing the crowd’s musical taste buds. He rounded out his performance with his new single: “Crazy Dancing” featuring Trinidad and Tobago artist Nigel Lopez who was also one of the headline acts for the concert. Their performance was well received.
The local performances were rounded out with appearances from gospel bands Radical Praise and Tehillah, while the overseas acts did well to keep the crowd entertained in the wee hours of the morning. These included Curtis Jordan, Di Furnace, Nigel Lopez all from Trinidad; Shawn J from St. Maarten, Di Anointed Vale from Jamaica and Shawn English from Guyana. Di Furnace was highly anticipated from the crowd, having been introduced to the St. Kitts public last year at the Caribbean Gospel Music Tour. His was the last performance which had the crowd jumping to his every move.
The plan is for the Festival to be held every year and for a committee to be established to organize the event. The Festival this year was sponsored by Ocean’s Edge, The St. Kitts and Nevis Development Bank, NAGICO, Dominion Radio, Freedom Radio, ZIZ and DIGICEL.
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