By: Drizel Hanley and Precious Mills
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Sunday 1st July 2018)-The recently concluded 22nd annual St.Kitts Music Festival has ended on high note with an enthusiastic and eclectic mix of artistes taking to the stage.
The three nightly concert which was staged from Thursday 28th to Saturday 30th June at the Warner Park Cricket Stadium saw a sizzling mix of national, regional and international acts taking to the stage for creating a diverse blend of flavours catering to music lovers from all walks of life.
While addressing reporters shortly after the end of the Festival, Minister with responsibility for Tourism Lindsay Grant described the three days as “electric”, with it being “efficient and innovative”.
“We are going to have difficulty in 2019 to top this,” Grant said.
Last night (Saturday), Rhythm of the Beat band-comprised of musicians of St.Kitts-Nevis roots, many of who reside overseas- opened show with a bang and rocked the crowd by dishing out a number of songs from the seventies while the big screens showed images from that era.
Grammy Award-winning God-mother of Soul, Patti La Belle, took the stage next and commanded the audience’s rapt attention from the moment she entered the stage dressed in a shimmery purple dress and high heels.
The 74 –year- old music icon also introduced stellar performances from members of her band.
She performed her timeless hits such as ‘Lady Marmalade’ ‘If Only You Knew’ and ‘On My Own’.
Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, rapper and actress Ms. Lauryn Hill did not disappoint Festival goers belting out favourites like ‘Everything Is Everything’ and ‘Turn Your Lights Down Low’.
Bringing some old school flavour of The Fugees, she dished out tunes like ‘Killing Me Softly’, ‘Ooh La La’ and ‘Ready or Not.’
American rapper and song writer, Fetty Wap- who rose to prominence after his debut single ‘Trap Queen’- ended the festival. That hit song was hit of the night along with other Hip Hop jams like ‘679’ and ‘Toast Up’.
A spectacular show of fireworks, put on by the Festival’s organisers, signaled the official end of this year’s musical explosion.