Shaggy gets in Carnival 'Mood' for Iz We

KES the Band’s Iz We event will transform into a music festival headlined by international Grammy award-winning reggae artiste Shaggy, on Valentine's Day (February 14), at the Brian Lara Stadium, Tarouba.

At the virtual media launch on Tuesday morning, Kees Dieffenthaller said the event will reflect the energy, celebration and the love for the art.

Kees said the show will not be a concert nor a fete, but an experience.

The intent to host the event in San Fernando, unlike his previous Carnival events, is part of returning to his musical roots.

“We grew up in south and a lot of our dream were in our minds and manifested while we were in San Fernando. For us to come back is symbolic for the message of the show and for Kes the Band because it’s really our story,” Dieffenthaller said.

Versions of the Iz We event have been hosted in Toronto, New York and in Trinidad and Tobago during the pandemic.

Iz We evolved from Kes’ Tuesday on the Rock concert.

The upcoming event will take the form of an interactive global village, with two stages and highlight an array of genres from a range of artistes.

“Those two stages will give that experience. The interactive village will allow people to experience food and craft and really get a feel of us as an artist’s community.

“Soca music is playing a pivotal role in bringing people together. Our mission has always been to break and cross borders without music...”

Kees will share the stage with Shaggy to perform their new single Mood; a feel-good soca produced by Shaggy.

Mood was written during the heights of the pandemic. During the media briefing Shaggy said he is excited to be in TT for Carnival.

“I’m definitely looking forward to this one, Kees and I have spoken about it and I have heard so much about it from my Trinidad and soca friends. I have heard so much about it. I think it will be epic and I’m looking forward to being a part of history."

Shaggy said he has always admired Kees’ style and his evolution over the years. “His music is a song-singy kind (of) vibe, it’s like a calypso kind of vibe mixed with soca. What I like about his music is that he likes to think outside the box and that was attractive to me.

“There's a magic that happens. He brings it to a whole other place and you’re like ‘Wow’ and he brought that wow-fact to that. I really love that.”

Mood is one of a series of songs in an upcoming soca extended play (EP) album.

EP is a recording that has more tracks than a single but fewer than an album.

Shaggy said he has started a journey to tap into the soca industry. But this isn't his introduction into the soca industry. In the past, Shaggy featured Bunji Garlin in his Nothing Like the Holidays.

He was also featured in Machel Montano's 1998 single Toro Toro and the remix of Montano's Remedy in 2015.

The upcoming EP will feature Patrice Roberts, Skinny Fabulous and Bunji Garlin to name a few.

Shaggy said, “It’s a hybrid style, it’s really a feel good record and a soca record because they are all hybrid style soca infused songs that are coming on this EP and we are doing it in a joint venture...”

“I think there is a good feeling for it out there. In my opinion, everything I’ve always learned from my experience in music and taking music to global level that the hybrid is where it is. There is no music in its natural form that really won’t break through barriers unless you fuse it with something else.

“When I did Oh Carolina, which was confusing to a lot of people because the beat was different and it was hybrid. It’s was a new thing that attracted another market."

Throughout his career, Shaggy said he has been “criticised for doing what's known as water music or doing not authentic dancehall (for) which we now have a crossover success and ... now they are calling (it) authentic dancehall but it is very much a hybrid.”

“To me, having a track that is soca-infused raises the bones of the soca but then its hybrid sound is definitely the recipe that you need to break barriers and cross over. And you see more of that happening now within the soca genre where it is moving towards the hybrid, so yes I think it has a very strong chance right now.”