Rhythm and Soul to jumpstart Tobago Easter buzz

Tobago Festivals Commission CEO Kern Cowan said the inaugural Rhythm and Soul Festival, headlined by Jamaican reggae icon Buju Banton, will jump-start Easter activities in Tobago.

In an interview with Newsday on December 10, Cowan promised visitors that there will be no shortage of entertainment with a hub of activities to choose from.

Apart from the Rhythm and Soul Festival from April 17-20, Cowan said the second edition of the Tobago Jazz & Music Weekend, hosted by Trinidad-based promotion company Black2Sugars, is also on the card.

He urged other private promoters to get on board and bring more exciting events to the calendar.

"Black2Sugars, they are doing their jazz event on the following weekend – that is where the jazz conversation will fit. Even with them, our intent is to create that elevation for everybody at the same time, that it becomes a hub of activity in Tobago from the weekend before (Rhythm and Soul), the weekend of and the weekend after.

"We expect other promoters would have other things happening and we want to ensure other promoters take the opportunity to advance their event within the time period. We expect the numbers during that time period would be one where people can benefit from."

Although the Rhythm and Soul Festival is being hosted by Tobago Festivals, Cowan said "there is private sector involvement in the arrangement of it, and it has been fruitful thus far."

"We saw an opportunity to host the artiste (Buju), and based on the offer made, we decided to build a new festival around it. So the date was offered to us. We didn't pick the date.

He said the event is not geared to replace the Tobago Jazz Experience, which was previously hosted by his organisation. Tobago Jazz was not held in 2024 after the commission decided to pull out from hosting it.

Chief Secretary Farley Augustine in 2023 said he believes the THA should take a facilitatory and support role for these type of event while private promoters take the initiative.

Cowan said the Rhythm and Soul Festival will cater for all musical tastes with gospel, jazz, reggae and soca among the featured genres.

Night one, which is Thursday night, will feature the Melodies from Heaven gospel concert. A headliner for that event will be released soon.

Saturday night will see the Buccoo Seafood and Jazz event, which will be followed by Fusion Night, featuring Buju Banton, which will bring the curtains down on the festival.

"Fusion night will have strong reggae representation, soca, local, and various art-forms from around the region," Cowan said.

He said conversations are under way with Caribbean Airlines (CAL) and the management of the seabridge to meet the increased demand for transport to Tobago during Easter.

"We are hoping that we can now take this (data) to the players involved as CAL and seabridge and show them that we need heavy, heavy coverage to move large bodies of people across the entire Easter period.

"That allows us to have a non-carnival boost in the space and allow for greater economic activity on the island. We want to see more visitors, general activity in the space during the entire Easter weekend."

Cowan said the usual target audience is Trinidadians, the diaspora and an international market.

Asked whether he was satisfied with Tobago's room stock when compared to what his organisation was trying to achieve, Cowan said, "The hotel association, they are doing their part. Our expectation is that there would be continued improvement so we can give that first-class service to all visitors on the island.

"It's important that we develop our room stock or else we would always be hitting the ceiling when it comes to our tourism product."

He said he was unable to give a budget for the event as yet but details will be revealed soon.