Birthday bash as Erphaan Alves turns 31

Soca artiste and songwriter Erphaan Alves had much to celebrate on December 3 as he marked his 31st birthday surrounded by fans, friends and fellow performers for his first-ever EA BDay party at the Sound Forge production house, Christopher Samuel Drive, Mucurapo.

Alves has traditionally celebrated his birthday with a Grateful concert every November 22.

In 2020, when covid19 restrictions prevented live events, Alves produced and performed the concert live and it was streamed via TTT and Digicel's D Music App.

Speaking with Newsday after the event, the So Sweet hitmaker said the decision to change the format from a concert to a birthday party was to provide an experience more consistent with his style.

He said the atmosphere gave fans a sample of things to come for Carnival 2023, as artistes performed their new tracks.

"During the pandemic, I did some self-reflection and through the meditation, I realised I needed something that was more synonymous to my brand, which is the EA brand. So I decided to keep the Grateful as a charity aspect of what I do, geared towards supporting the Erphaan Alves' St George's College Music Fund. Alves is a past student of the school at Sixth Avenue and Tenth Street in Barataria.

"This birthday celebration here marks the start of Carnival, because the people got to see some of their favourite soca artistes bringing some brand new songs. So this is a lesson to them, to show what they can expect next year, touching some of the older heads. There's no VIP (section), a general crowd and I'm heading out to vibe and love up the crowd."

By 10 pm patrons packed the Sound Forge auditorium, where they were kept entertained by mixes from DJs and giveaways.

Commenting on the turnout, Alves said he was heartened by the support of his fans, noting that the appetite for soca was particularly high with the approach of the Carnival season.

"This was a beautiful turnout. I appreciate the crowd and we're going to carry this energy, because this spirit is going to flow straight into Carnival.

"I'm going to continue spreading that love, because at the end of the day, my mission and my goal is to take soca global, so these little events here, outside of the Carnival season, show we can still pump soca and give people a nice event.

"At the end of the day, that's what my dream was: to be busy, to be working, to be presenting myself to the public as they want me. So you know, as a child, my dream was to be a soca star, and today I'm grateful for that. But the only reason I'm a soca star is because of all the people in the crowd who paid their money to come and support Erphaan Alves."

His longtime friend and fellow artiste Preedy, who also performed, wished Alves a happy birthday and praised his contributions to developing soca music as a genre both at home and abroad.

Preedy, whose real name is Akeem Chance, also said the turnout and energy at the concert were indicators of what people can expect for Carnival 2023.

"I came into the industry seeing Erphaan already established as an artist and it's definitely been an honour to still be considered a friend through all these years and then continue to work closely with him. To be here, surviving a global pandemic, to see him putting in even more energy than he put in before the pandemic is amazing.

"I consider him to be one of the pillars in the industry to me, and I'm just happy to be a part of that journey and story and movement.

"This event is a testament to how amazing the energy of the people is, Everyone is ready, the music just has to soak in. So by January 1, the energy will skyrocket, there will be fireworks."

Alves' vocal range and prowess as a lyricist was pushed to the max as he performed new and old songs, to the delight of patrons, who repeated his lyrics word for word.

Using strobe lights, pyrotechnics and a fog machine to provide the full fete experience, Alves' on-stage antics also kept patrons entertained, and some even joined him on stage at one point.

Also performing were Sekon Sta, Viking Ding Dong, Shal Marshall and others.