BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – DESCRIBED as a historical event, the St. Kitts Music Festival, for the first time, held a special ceremony to officially sign the first local artiste for this year’s show.
At a press conference held yesterday morning (Apr. 8) at the St. Kitts Marriott Hotel in the presence of Minister of Tourism Richard Skerritt and Chairman of the Music Festival Faron Lawrence as well as local media representatives, Infamus, whose real name is Kervin Benjamin, officially signed the papers for his performance at this year’s Music Festival.
In his opening remarks, Lawrence said that in a very short time frame Infamus was able to generate a huge fan base, capturing audiences from the young to the older generations with his charismatic appeal and thought-provoking lyrics.
“He’s a household name on the national circuit and continues to increase his fan base with each new performance. No one can disagree that he has captivated local and regional audiences, ushering in a breath of fresh air amidst all the foulness and slackness that has been creeping into our popular music.
“I speak of our very own Infamus, and the St. Kitts Music Festival is proud to be associated with him and his music, and we would like to encourage other national artiste to strive to raise the bar to maintain a professional approach to their music. Two thousand and ten promises to present a kaleidoscope of music which we can assure you will appeal to ever musical taste, however diverse,” Lawrence said.
Infamus (21) will be performing on the Saturday night (June 26) of the festival and said that ever since he was a little boy and looking at artistes performing onstage, he longed for the day he would be a part of it.
“I was always looking forward to being signed,” he said. “I will assure you that you can look forward to a great show on June 26.”
The artiste, who resides in Cayon, said that he would be taking a break from local performances to prepare for this year’s festival.
“I will be taking a break and coming back with a bang, I want to be there to represent every single local artiste on the festival,” he said.
Infamus said he got his break in the entertainment industry from fellow artiste Lynchel ‘Shakal’ Peets and that he admires other local artistes including C-Money, Masud Sadiki, Crucial Bankie and Hi-light.
“They have been doing their thing before me, and I admire them for what they have done because it’s not easy,” Infamus said.
Skerritt, referring to the young artiste as a future national hero, said that Infamus is clearly a special talent.
“It was very important to me and the ministry that the first signing of the Music Festival be a local act. That has been the policy that we have instituted for the past four years. This is the 14th festival in 15 years and we’ve had 75 performances by Kittitians and Nevisians for 14 years on the festival.
“None have been more exciting and gifted than Infamus. We’ve had others before him who have all done great jobs but this year we’re really pleased; and well in advance the committee has been able to sit down with him and put this together. And I’m confident that we will see the fruits, of this. I’m really excited to be a part of this…good luck to another exciting and entertaining experience for the 2010 festival experience,” he said.
The minister also spoke of another venture that took place with Infamus and the Ministry of Tourism.
Skerritt said that Infamus’ management team approached the ministry about being involved in the development of his career in terms of sponsorship.
He said this is not something that the ministry does or has the budget for, but its involvement in this venture is indicative of how much they respect the artiste’s God given talent.
Infamus and his management team will journey to Canada and Jamaica for a one-month (Apr. 28-May 28) stay to record music for his upcoming album with the help of Canadian-based Ivan Berry, who has been successful in developing popular artistes in that country.
“We don’t do this with local acts. As far as I have been Minister, we don’t have the budget for it, we don’t get involved in sponsoring local artistes, but we felt so strongly that Infamus has that potential that we have broken through our boundaries to be supportive, particularly with this major step to go abroad,” Skerrit said.
He continued: “I just want to say how happy I was to be able to put one package together that brings the Ministry of Tourism into being a sponsor of his appearance at the festival and the other exciting aspect of what would be happening prior to the festival,” he said.
The Minister said that St. Kitts is a very tiny market and would not be able to provide for him the opportunities that his talent deserves.
“St. Kitts and Nevis alone cannot provide the type of income and commercial backing that he requires if he is really going to move out into the bigger times. We’ll all keep our fingers cross, keep praying and keep backing him,” he said.
