Fresh from reigniting the Carnival energy across the Caribbean region, the band of brothers known as Kes is taking soca to new places and spaces as they kicked off an 11-city US tour in New York last week Friday.
Post-pandemic carnival celebrations across the Caribbean have returned in earnest and, after claiming the highest accolades just prior to the global lockdown, Kes has been and continues to be billed at the heart of the Carnival resurrection.
‘We definitely needed-and I think a lot of people appreciated-the pause that Covid gave us,’ said Kes Dieffenthaller on New York’s HOT 97 Ebro In The Morning programme last week Friday, ‘but that just means that the people are all charged up now, and every show we’ve done recently, been crazy out-of The past two execute a whirlwind performances across carnival Barbados, Anguilla, Martinique, Washington, Houston, Toronto However, the band’s upcoming not be staged in carnival spaces, audiences to experience frenetic and more carnivalenergy illustrious and iconic theatre venues on the east coasts of America.
‘This is a segment of the dream coming true,’ said Dieffenthaller, ‘and it’s a vital part of the process and a sign of the progress that’s being made within the genre and throughout the industry…
We had all become accustomed to pressing buttons and making things happen instantly, but we were reminded by the pandemic that good things take time to manifest and great achievements often take evenlongerbut usually worth the wait… and the effort.
‘Figuring out how to translate soca to unfamiliar audiences took time, and now taking it to new ears and eyes will take time and energy-but the process is in motion, and there are now enough of us pushing forward on a professional level to open doors and make the industry take notice!’
Last week Friday, Kes kicked off the New York Labour Day weekend festivities with a headlining appearance at Hot 97’s On Da Reggae and Soca Tip Live at the Coney Island amphitheatre in Brooklyn. Staged by the popular hip-hop station, the annual concert is one of the staple live-music events of what has long been established as New York City’s traditional Caribbean carnival weekend. Due to the growing popularity of Caribbean music and culture in recent years, along with the increasing influence of DJs embracing their Caribbean heritage, such as Seani B, Young Chow, Norie and others, urban stations such as Hot 97 have been including soca songs in their playlists and programme rotations more regularly.
The Liki Tiki tour was named after Kes’ latest single and reconvenes next Thursday at the Theatre of Living Arts in Philadelphia, with included dates in Boston, Washington, DC, and San Diego before culminating on October 2 in Berkeley, California. The band will be joined on these dates by Haitian music star-and Kes’ ‘Liki Tiki’ collaborator-Jonathan ‘JPerry’ Perry, along with Trinidad’s L’shun ‘Jimmy October’ Emmanuel, who appeared with Kes on the 2020 single, ‘Magic’.
Following this initial thrust into the US mainstream, Kes is also set to perform at the Belize Soca & Culture Fest on 20, and Dominica’s World Creole Music Festival on October 8.
The tour follows an action- packed summer for Kes, which included a main-stage performance at the Essence Festival of Culture in July, where the band performed for one of its largest audiences ever on a bill with Nicki Minaj, Nas, The Fugees and Machel Montano.
Last week, Kes returned to the UK for the first time in over four years, kicking off Notting Hill Carnival weekend with a sold-out show at Troxy in London. Kes also returned to Canada for the first time in three years in July, for the first Toronto edition of IzWe, a concert series and Caribbean culture celebration the band launched in Trinidad and Tobago last year. Some 8,000 fans attended IzWe Toronto, which received national media coverage from outlets including CBC and Breakfast Television.
Kes is currently putting the finishing touches on their upcoming full-length album, Man With No Door. The roll-out began in January with island-pop smash, ‘Jolene’, followed by ‘Liki Tiki’ their region-spanning, multilingual collaboration with Haiti’s Michael Brun and JPerry. Vibe magazine premiered the official music video, which Jams, BET Soul and Revolt gone on to top two million views on Youtube.
TOUR DATES
| Sept 15 | Philad Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of Living Arts** |
| Sept 16 | Boston Boston, MA – Underground at Ink Block** |
| Sept 17 | Silver Fillmore** |
| Sept 20 | Belize Soca & Culture Fest |
| Sept 28 | Anaheim, CA – House of Blues |
| Sept 29 | House of Diego, CA – Music Box** |
| Sept 30 | St. Luis Obispo, CA – Fremont Theatre*** |
| Oct 1 | Sacramento, CA – Ace of Spades |
| Oct 2 | Berkeley, CA – Cornerstone** |
| Oct 8 | Miami Carnival, Miami, FL – One Fete Carnival* |
| Oct 28 | Roseau, Dominica – Creole Music Festival* |
For more on Kes, follow kesthebandofficial.
