Diamond-selling, Grammy-Award Winning Jamaican star, Orville “Shaggy” Burrell says that the world is ready for Soca music and “Soca-inflused hybrid songs”; he is currently working on a Soca EP, which will feature contributions from some of Soca music’s biggest and most accomplished acts.

Shaggy addressed the media yesterday during a virtual press conference hosted by Kes to reveal all the information and details surrounding the band’s annual concert event dubbed “IzWe” and scheduled for February 14 at the Brian Lara Stadium in Toruba, San Fernando.
Asked by Journalist, Aba Luke during the conference about his reasons for collaborating with Kes now and for recording Soca music again, Shaggy revealed that he has a full Soca hybrid EP in the works and that his song, “Mood” with Kes is just the first of many to come. He said:
“I think there’s a good feeling for Soca out there right now in my opinion. From my experience in making music and taking music to a global audience: the hybrid is where it is! Theres no music in its natural form that will break barriers on its own unless you fuse it with something else…
“To me having a track that is Soca infused with a hybrid sound is definitely the recipe you need to break barriers and crossover – and we’re seeing more of that happening now within the Soca genre, where the music is moving toward the hybrid – so I definitely think it has a strong chance right now!”
Prior to Shaggy’s appearance on the zoom call, Kes’ lead vocalist, Kees Dieffenthaller confirmed wanton speculation that the Boombastic-singer will be their special international guest act at IzWe 2023.

Questioned by conference host, Jason Williams, Shaggy affirmed that he is looking forward to attending and being a part of Trinidad Carnival 2023. He said:
“I have not been there for Carnival since long before the pandemic, so I’m definitely looking forward to this one and I’ve heard so much about it from my Trini friends and my Soca friends over the past few months especially leading up to it, so I think it will be epic and I’m looking forward to being a part of history, so to speak.”
Shaggy also revealed that his Soca EP will feature collaborations with Vincentian, Skinny Fabulous, as well as top acts, Patrice Roberts and Bunji Garlin, among others. The song with Kes entitled, “Mood” was officially released last Friday January 13 and more scenes for the accompanying music video will be shot during our Trinidad Carnival celebrations. Dieffenthaller revealed that the IzWe concept is more of a festival aesthetic and is designed to create a “village” type atmosphere with a separate stage for younger acts to showcase themselves and a cultural village complete with local products, art, merchandise and other memorabilia on sale at the venue.

“Aside from Shaggy,” said Dieffenthaller, “we will have people like Jimmy October, our friends from Haiti, Michael Brun and JPerry as well as ‘all our friends’, so those who are familiar with our collaborations can think back and figure out who we’ve worked with before and expect to see them represented in the village in one way or another.”
Kes’ 2023 Carnival season kicks off in earnest this weekend with their first official full band shows happening on Saturday night at the Hillview College Old Boys Association’s  fundraising all inclusive dubbed “Soca with HOBA 5” to be held at the Centre of Excellence and the ultimate ultra all inclusive event known as “Gateway To The World” happening at the South Terminal carpark of the old Piarco Airport.

For more information on IzWe 2023, please visit www.kestheband.com