The Trinidadian band Kes The Band (KTB) says it will host its “IzWe” event series with five nights of live, socially-distanced concerts celebrating soca and calypso music and Trinbagonian culture during the traditional run-up to Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival.
According to the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, the series, which will feature surprise special guests each night, takes place from Feb. 9 to Feb. 13 at the spacious, open-air venue theatre Sound Forge in Port-of-Spain, the Trinidad and Tobago capital.
The Guardian said on Monday that each night of KTB’s performance will be open to 300 patrons, strictly in compliance with the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 Theatre Guidelines (50 percent capacity).
The culminating performance on Feb. 13 will air live on CNC3 in Trinidad & Tobago and on affiliates across the Caribbean, the Guardian said.
It said local fans can also view a live stream on Guardian Media’s platforms as part of its virtual Carnival 2021 series, “We inside!”
Fans outside the region can view the live stream of the concert at KES’ website, www.kestheband.com.
“This year, with Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival festivities on pause, the band decided to re-brand and extend its Carnival season event to multiple nights of live music in order to accommodate more fans while keeping within the maximum gathering size, strictly in compliance with the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 regulations,” the Guardian said.
Kees “Kes” Dieffenthaller, frontman for Kes the Band, told the Guardian that “IzWE is a presentation of we culture in all its different aspects.
“We’ll be celebrating the essence of who we all are as Caribbean people,” he said. “It all began with drums and fire and, out of the revolution of our ancestors, Carnival which came to be the sweetest revolution. As such, we are celebrating our light in these dark times.”
“The cancellation of Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival this year, along with Carnival celebrations across the Caribbean this past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has impacted Caribbean entertainment and, by extension, our culture,” the Guardian said.
“Kes has sought to fill this void as best he can with a series of live specials, aired on TV locally in Trinidad and Tobago and across the Caribbean, and live streamed worldwide, under the banner, ‘We Home,’” it added.
