Kes The Band Launches New Single With Busy Signal and Michaël Brun, Ahead of IzWE.

Last Thursday, Kes The Band unleashed its latest collaborative single. The track, ““Honey Comb,” features Jamaican artiste, Busy Signal and Haiti’s Michaël Brun. The dancehall-inspired track premiered on BBC1Xtra with Seani B.

Both Busy Signal and Michaël Brun are set to join Kes as they ring in the return of Trinidad Carnival at the IzWE Festival. That’s happening on happening Tuesday, February 14th at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba Jamaican reggae and dancehall artist, Shaggy will also be a part of the event. The internationally acclaimed entertainer recently collaborated with Kees on the single, ‘Mood.’

A couple weeks ago, Kees, speaking during a digital media conference, said the show will also feature acts like 91-year-old calypso legend Lord Nelson, and Trinidadian trumpeter Etienne Charles. Soca acts like Nailah Blackman, Olatunji, Iwer George, Erphaan Alves, Mical Teja, Viking Ding Dong, Rikki Jai and Ravi B are also billed to bring fans of Caribbean music, tremendous excitement and fun.

The festival, which falls on Valentine’s Night, will showcase the diversity of music from Trinidad & Tobago and the broader Caribbean, with two alternate stages, dubbed Sun (mainstage) and Moon (auxiliary). While the Sun stage hosts Kes The Band and other headliners, the Moon stage will showcase alternative acts outside the norm of what is typically presented during Caribbean Carnival, including Keshav, Coutain, Annalie Prime and Orange Sky. 

Adding to the event’s pan-Caribbean flavor are Haiti’s JPerry, Barbados’ King Bubba FM and St Lucia’s Teddyson John, as well as Laventille Rhythm Section, whose instrumental “engine room” sound is the ultimate expression of Trinidad Carnival culture. “For the concert, I tried my very best to expand the sound beyond the soca,” said Kees. “I want to carry people through a bit of the journey from where we came,” he explained.

IzWE Returns

Kes launched IzWE (pronounced “Is We”) in 2021 as a series of five, socially-distanced concerts during what would have been Carnival Week 2021. The intimate, limited-capacity shows were the first sanctioned live music events held in Trinidad & Tobago following the start of the pandemic one year earlier. 

Kes has since exported IzWE to New York City and Toronto, in 2021 and 2022, respectively, with some 8,000 fans attending each event. With IzWE 2023, the band is set to bring the show back home to Trinidad on the Tuesday before Trinidad & Tobago Carnival — the same calendar spot where Kes held its annual Carnival season concert from 2014 to 2020.