New calypso artiste Christian “Kalpee” is taking his peers to Austin, Texas for the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival to perform on its first Caribbean stage. Nailah Blackman, Jimmy October and three members of Freetown Collective – Muhammad Muwakil, Lou Lyons and DJ Jayron Remy (Rawkus) – are among the musicians from TT who will perform on the Island Wave stage on March 18.
Jamaican artistes the Emmy-nominated Tessellated and Jaz Elise will also perform.
The annual ten-day festival runs from March 11-20 and will feature conferences and stakeholders from the entertainment and tech industries. The hybrid event will be held at the Flamingo Cantina nightclub in Austin.
Kalpee, who co-founded the Island Wave stage with his manager, who goes by the name Miss Vivianna, said, “We want to treat the stage as a way to bridge the gap between Caribbean music and the international industry,” in a phone interview with Newsday last Friday.
[caption id="attachment_945303" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Freetown Collective lead vocalists and founders Lou Lyons, left and Muhammad Muwakil. (Photo courtesy Abigail Hadeed) -[/caption]
Reggae DJ Ras Kwame will host the Island Wave stage during SXSW. Highlights from the performances will be posted on Island Wave’s YouTube page.
The Island Wave Stage is a digital platform created to showcase Caribbean music on international stages. Its mission is to “secure performance opportunities and funding to power the stage to help bridge the gap between the international music markets and the Caribbean diaspora.”
Creating SXSW history as the first of its kind and the official home to Caribbean music, it first featured as Island Stage in the festival last year. In the virtual event, Island Stage performances were captured in Kingston, Jamaica, and ranked as one of the top-watched shows of the festival.
This will be Kalpee’s third performance at the festival. Freetown Collective, Blackman and October will perform there for the first time.
What is "new calypso?"
[caption id="attachment_945300" align="alignnone" width="724"] Kalpee -[/caption]
In an interview with Newsday, some artistes shared their definitions of the phrase.
Kalpee said: “New calypso is a way for TT artistes to brand themselves internationally, and it can be a fusion between Trinbagonian roots and other genres like pop and rock music. We may have different genres, but to the outside world, it can be confusing. 'New calypso' was a way to identify with TT’s culture and show listeners that there’s something new and different. “
Lyons of Freetown Collective said: “Calypso is any musical expression that is indigenous to TT, regardless of its sound. New calypso is us reflecting our contemporary musical influences while still being ourselves as Trinbagonians.”
Blackman described new calypso as "storytelling and the basis of calypso has always been storytelling. It's unlike the vibe that soca brings to the table. New calypso bri
