BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 6th December 2019) – Chairman of the St.Kitts Music Festival Damian Hobson has revealed that come January 2020, “we’ll present a new great New Year’s gift to all fans when we make the final announcements.”
He made the disclosure during remarks at press conference held on Wednesday 4th December at the Ocean Terrace Inn (OTI), ahead of the announcement of the first wave of three artistes expected to hit the stage for the first time namely Jamaican Reggae icon 71-year-old Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican Reggae sensation 19-year-old Koffee and Nigerian afrobeat sensation 29-year-old Wizkid.
The 24th annual production of the St.Kitts Music Festival is scheduled to take place 24th -28th June 2020, and is slated to return to the Kim Collins Athletic Stadium in Bird Rock for a back to back staging there.
Hobson said the second announcement of artistes will be made at Cooler Fete on Saturday 21st December 2019. Notably, in 2019, Buju Banton was announced at that fete event.
In touching on two main improvements for the upcoming festival, Hobson stated: “Based on all the feedback from 2019, we are certain that the Kim Collins Stadium is the best possible host location.”
According to him: “We were adequately able to provide parking, security and general ease of moving through the venue. For 2020, more effort will be made to ensure that no patron is disadvantaged when it comes to their preferred style of viewing performances and we intend to be more sensitive about the special needs of those who may be differently abled.”
The Music Festival Chairman also talked about “bigger and better performances” in pointing out that “2020 will see the addition of new genres and performances lasting up to an hour and a half. We’ll also feature artistes who cater to the fancies of all music festival goers- the young, the mature and all others.”
Chairman of the St.Kitts Music Festival Artistes Selection and Production Committee, Jonel Powell pointed out that the selection of the artistes is really about the availability, affordability and appeal of artistes.
“That simply means who’s available, can we afford them and how will they be received by the patrons who come to the St.Kitts Music festival, and that is not an easy job.”
“It is particularly difficult trying to book artiste this early in advance; not many of them are prepared to commit themselves almost three quarts of a year out but at the same time the St.Kitts Music Festival has grown to become such an event on the world festival stage that many artists are actually reaching out to us before we can get to them.
Powell said next year’s festival is expected to top this year’s.
“We hope that the artiste that we present to you not just this morning but even when it comes down to the final announcement will all create that St.Kitts Music Festival experience that is like no other; one that nobody forgets and one that encourages patrons to keep on coming, that encourages patrons to purchase their tickets online before they even know who the artiste are or even after only finding out who three artistes are going to be. So that along with so many other things that we will introduce to ensure that the 2020 festival is bigger and better than 2019, and I know a lot of people are saying ‘Well, how are you going to top Buju?’ Well, watch us do it.”