By Brittany Somerset
TURKS AND CAICOS – The 4th Annual Turks and Caicos Music Festival kicked off in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos, on July 30th.
An all-star line up included, but was not limited to, musicians like Freddie Jackson, Kenny Rogers, Air Supply and Michael Bolton, whose careers have flourished for decades, in addition to Alicia Keys, John Legend, India.Arie, TOK, which rocked the house with its rendition of “I Love Marijuana,” TI, and Kevin Lyttle. Of course, there were TCI local artists like Jervon, AKA “Sounds of Sax,” Jack Nasty, Barbara Johnson, Marblez, and eclectic artists Stanley Roots, The Art of Soca and Shadow. They performed to a packed crowd of Belongers and tourists alike at Turtle Cove Marina over the course of a week.
Locals who owned boats docked them in the marina and hosted such esteemed guests as The Premier of Turks and Caicos Islands, Dr. Michael Misick, and his wife, the First Lady, Lisa Ray McCoy Misick, as well as most of the Cabinet members, who held court in their individual VIP skyboxes.
After spending a considerable amount of time partying with Sean MacKay, the entertaining captain of the double-decker boat, The Caribbean Queen, which was reserved for members of the media, I took up residence in cabinet Minister Mr. Jeffrey Hall’s skybox, which had a better view of the stage. Each cabinet Minister had his own guest-filled skybox.
When asked about what he attributes his wide-spread popularity in the Caribbean to, Kenny seemed slightly mystified and said, “Even though I am slightly more… [he paused for thought] pop than other country artists of my day, I am definitely a country artist. I think the US Military having a radio station on their base in Jamaica that broadcast throughout the islands had a lot to do with it. My generation was able to hear my music in the Caribbean from the base, long before any Caribbean radio stations were established.” When asked why he thought his popularity continued unwaveringly through the generations, considering the majority of the younger generation of Caribbean Islanders prefer to listen to reggae, dancehall, R&B, Hip Hop and Soca, Kenny ever so humbly replied he hadn’t the faintest idea.
We asked a fan the same question and he answered emphatically, “Why Kenny a popula? Cha! Kenny made us! Kenny fathad us! You know how many babies he a mek? You know how many of our parents made love listening to Kenny? Back then guys like my dad had it easy. You didn’t need to chat up or talk to a girl; you just needed to put on Lady by Kenny Rogers and you were in there!!”
In addition to musicians there were comedians like Michael Colyar and Shirley Underwood from BET, Tisha Campbell’s husband Dwayne Martin (who stars on the sitcom, All of Us, along with the First Lady), and Cedric The Entertainer, who was as hilarious in person as he is on television.
The festival also included the 37th annual Miss Turks and Caicos Universe pageant, a Little Miss Turks and Caicos pageant, and a fashion show. There was a Digicel raffle for a red Hummer, which was won by a Haitian national who, upon winning, promptly asked if anyone in the audience wanted to buy it from him.
During the festival I made several new friends, like real estate agent Tanisa Samuel, who taught me how to play dominoes, and her life partner Deryk Meany, director of Ashstrom Construction Company, the company that is currently building the Seven Stars condominiums on Grace Bay. Grace Bay, incidentally, won first place in the World Travel Awards for the world’s best beach.
My liaison at the tourist board, Kayla Lightbourne, of the prominent TCI Lightbourne family, took me on a tour of Providenciales and explained several zoning facts to me, e.g. there are no franchises allowed on the Island to ensure that local businesses flourish (cleverly avoiding the United States’s Wal-Mart syndrome where chain stores come to town and wipe out Mom-and-Pop shops). Homeowners are not allowed to remove more than a minimum percentage of vegetation on their properties, and seven stories is the maximum height allowed when building condominiums and hotels, to ensure the skyline is kept pristine.
Kayla Lightbourne directed me to Spa Sanay for a French manicure. It was at Spa Sanay that I met Karen Whitt, General Manager of The Somerset on Grace Bay, which is, in my opinion, by far the nicest, most luxurious property on the Island.
I had the pleasure of having dinner with Mr. Travis Philip, the First Lady’s cousin, who is the CEO of Turks and Caicos Island Development Group, TCIDG, who joked with me that if I wrote anything negative about TCI he would tell his cousin, the Premier, to have me barred from the Islands.
Over the past year, several new properties have sprung up and while touring the island I was dismayed at how many unsightly construction sites I encountered. I wondered if TCI tourism would grow as rapidly as the development is growing, i.e. if the demand for tourists will meet the supply of various new accommodations.
The developers of several of these new properties import laborers from Mexico and China. These foreign laborers live in barracks. Their housing and meals are provided for and they are encouraged to remain within their compounds. As soon as their construction work is completed they are returned to their native lands.
In addition to all the new properties being erected, the Premier and his Cabinet are credited with having recently paved all the roads and breaking ground on two new state-of-the-art hospitals.
His wife, affectionately referred to as L.Ray by her US fans, is credited with inviting her celebrity colleagues and friends to purchase property here, although I doubt that much encouragement was necessary due to the extreme beauty and privacy which the island has to offer.
Kenny Rogers, on his first Visit to Turks and Caicos, told fans during his concert that he went house shopping with his wife Wanda on the day they arrived. Backstage, he mentioned Providenciales was by far the most beautiful of all the island nations he has visited, and then apologized to one of the Jamaican Publicists for the festival, Roxanne Miller, hoping he hadn’t hurt her feelings.
The Festival was as unique and fun as the mentality of the people of Turks and Caicos. I am eagerly looking forward to the next year’s Festival.
