IzWe – Homecoming for Kees Dieffenthaller

Kes the Band’s flagship concert Tuesday on the Rocks has evolved into an all-out music festival and will not only feature Kees Dieffenthaller’s myriad of soca hits, but also an array of artistes from multiple musical genres; both local and international.

This year’s edition, entitled IzWe 2023, is designed to showcase the nation’s multiculturalism and artistic versatility through music, food and craft.

Additionally, this will be the first year the annual show is being held in south Trinidad, at Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba, on February 14.

Lead singer Dieffenthaller, who hails from Palmiste, San Fernando, “dreamt” of one day, hosting his concert “back at home” in the southland.

Since its first annual concert in 2014, which bore the namesake of its song, Tuesday on the Rocks, the concert was always held in north.

On bringing his musical spectacle to south, Dieffenthaller said, “It’s surreal because we spent a lot of days in south dreaming about travelling the world with music and taking over town (Port of Spain) and all kinda thing.

“To really make full circle and have an opportunity to do our major flagship show in San Fernando is an honour to really come back and give south something special. People usually go to Port of Spain but it’s great to have the opportunity to come back down south. We coming home.”

Dieffenthaller said the last time he held a “major show” in south was during his Presentation College San Fernando days, over two decades ago, where he and his friends put on a concert in the school’s auditorium featuring a mixture of musical genres.

“It’s nice, it’s nice to go full circle and come back to where it started, take stock of what work we put in throughout the years and have fun with it now, in Sando.”

IzWe 2023 will feature two stages and three zones – Courtyard (the village/immersive concert experience), VIP Under the Stars (ultimate feteing experience) and VVIP Garden of Eden (premium concierge experience) – for patrons.

On his transition from Tuesday on the Rocks to IzWe 2023, Dieffenthaller said the band, collectively, wanted to expand on their aspirations for the concert.

“We kinda wanted to grow out of the Tuesday on the Rocks aspect; it being just about the song and Kes the Band.

“Although it’s our flagship concert, the idea and the aim to really develop it further into a festival, where it’s more than just our music, but what we present. We want to touch all the aspects of TT’s music which is not just soca.

“The two stages can cater to a range of sound, and be able to expand the sound in a way that, if you’ve never experienced Trinidad’s music before, when you come to IzWe, you’re going to get a range of music, not just what’s popular for Carnival.

“We want to get people to have a collective experience, not just through the performers, but the food, the layout, what’s going to be for sale, all of it,” he added.

So far, two-time Grammy Award winning artiste Shaggy (Orville Burrell) and multi-talented Jamaican compatriot Busy Signal (Reanno Gordon) have been confirmed to headline the cast alongside Kes the Band and the lengthy list of yet-to-be-announced local, multi-genre artistes.

For the 2023 Carnival season, Dieffenthaller teamed up with Shaggy for the first time to produce the feel-good, groovy track, Mood.

He also joined lyrical forces with dancehall reggae artiste Busy Signal and New York-based Haitian deejay and record producer Michael Brun to create the track, HoneyComb, which was officially released on February 3.

On partnering with Shaggy, Dieffenthaller said the collaboration was long overdue since the pair had been working together for some time now.

In 2014, the duo recorded individual tracks on the Calabash Riddim but “always kept in touch and spoke on different things.”

During the pandemic, Shaggy approached Dieffenthaller with Mood.

“I told him it was an amazing song but I felt like it could come for Carnival because of the sentiment. We had a great demo and I said all it needed was a little ‘liki tiki’; some more Trinidad flavour.

“When I got it, I went to Mad Men Productions and we tinkered with the Laventille Rhythm Section. We talked to them and they loved it and they kind of took some of the elements and sort of added it to the track and I added my calypso scene to my vocals and it was swinging nice and started to feel Carnival.

“To me, this is like another application of soca and calypso where it is part of the Carnival but could also be part of the world, part of summer, and part of all of it.”

He confirmed Kes the Band’s aim is to create songs that could be across the board; welcomed home and welcomed abroad, not one or the other.

“I think Mood was one of those. Shaggy is an amazing performer. I’m really looking forward to sharing the stage with him and promoting the song because Trinidad is the first leg.”

For the season, Kes the Band also released collaborations with Patrice Roberts (Feeling It) and Tano (Jub Jub). They’ve also been making tidal waves on the Carnival scene with tracks such as Fuh Spite and arguable favourite, Mental Day.

Dieffenthaller and soca veteran Iwer George are reigning Road March champions, having decimated the competition in 2020 with their power-collaboration Stage Gone Bad. Just after that, covid19 hit and shut down Carnival until 2023.

On a possible Road March title defence this year, Dieffenthaller said, “Whatever people wanna jam to. We just release Fuh Spite which we love. I’m for the people, if they love a certain song and run with it, I’m good with that. I’m not trying to actively compete with anyone or anything, for any prize.

“So far, Carnival has been good. It’s a special and unique season so it’s interesting how it unfolds every year. This year was especially special for us coming out of the lockdowns and coming back to life after covid19.

“Carnival takes its own time to do that. I’m doing what I have to do but just observing how it unfolds.”