Cocoa Tea, Konshens and Small Axe Band Join Music Festival Lineup

Cocoa Tea

BASSETERRE (26th April, 2011): Excitement for the 15th Annual St. Kitts Music Festival rose to new levels with the announcement that Cocoa Tea, Konshens and the sweetest band in the world Small Axe Band, have joined the lineup for the Festival, which takes 23-25th June, 2011.

Reggae veteran Cocoa Tea has been making top notch reggae music since the early 1980’s, he is now nearing the completion of his third decade in the music industry. Cocoa Tea is the personification of reggae music, owing his roots ultimately to both the dancehall and the roots side. He has an identifiable voice, which is incredibly laid back, powerful when it needs to be and seemingly capable of melding itself to any “riddim” over which he chooses to record. Cocoa Tea has released a multitude of studio albums, with such hits as Lost My Sonia, Rocking Dolly, Good Life, Young Lover, Hurry Up & Come, She Loves Me Now, Love Me, Who She Love, Pirates Anthem, Tune In, Tek Weh Yu Gal and Save Us Oh Jah.

Konshens has been dubbed as the new face of reggae/dancehall music. Konshens exploded onto the musical scene with Pon Di Corner, which became an international success, particular in Japan. Konshens then followed it up with Winner that caught the reggae/dancehall scene totally off guard, due to its gritty hard hitting and controversial lyrics. Other popular songs include Rasta Imposter, This Means Money and Good Girl Gone Bad with Taurus Riley. Konshens has performed on almost every major Reggae show, such as Sumfest, Irie Jam in New York, Reggae on the Hill in Barbados and Rebel Salute.

Konshens

The Small Axe Band is known through out the Caribbean as the “Sweetest Band in the World” with such hits as Shub back on de Iron, Dance the Masquerade, Candy, Show Me Your Muscles, Creep Up, When Last You Tek a Back Shot and recently the most popular song for the 2010-11 St. Kitts National Carnival, Rum. Due to their energetic and pulsating sweet musical style of jamming, Small Axe Band has repeatedly performed on the St. Kitts Music Festival, since performing in the inaugural Music Festival in 1996. The band has performed with the likes of some of the Caribbean’s top bands like WCK, Krosfyah, Burning Flames, Jam Band, Imagination Brass and many others and even backed the Calypso King of the World, The Mighty Sparrow at a concert in St. Kitts some years ago.

Other artists in this year’s lineup include Ali Campbell’s UB40, Maxi Priest, Yellow Man, the Grammy Award winning musical group The Commodores and reggae icon Bunny Wailer.

Now in its 15th consecutive year, the festival attracts both locals and visitors alike. It features various musical styles on the popular market, including R&B, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Reggae, Soca, Calypso, Gospel and Contemporary music. Past artists have included such prominent acts as John Legend, T-Pain, Michael Bolton, K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Wyclef Jean, Ne-Yo, Air Supply, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, Dionne Warwick, Billy Ocean, Sean Paul, Boyz II Men, King Konris, Stephen Marley, Regina Belle, Maxi Priest, Biggie Irie and Lord Nelson.

Small Axe Band