Spice to headline Kurrent Fest with Nailah Blackman

Dancehall Queen Spice is expected to have her first performance in Kingston in about five years, as she headlines Kurrent Fest with Trinidadian soca sensation Nailah Blackman.

"We are going big with production. We can't have Spice's first performance in Kingston in over five years and it's a small thing. We are actively working with our production partners ... to execute one of the largest stages, world-class production, as well as the J'ouvert element being done in a very interesting and interactive way," Kurrent Fest promoter Nathan Davis told THE STAR.

Spice last performed in Kingston in 2019.

Creating a Caribbean musical fusion while delivering the best of both worlds - dancehall and soca - is one of the event's main aims, and Davis said there was no better way to get "bumpa jumping" at a vibrant J'ouvert party than to handpick both genres' "most energetic" females.

"We wanted to stand out with performances that are not typical or have not been seen in the event space for a while. Additionally, we wanted to focus more on entertainment that would provide an upbeat push that just continues to escalate the energy of partygoers; not to execute a stage show, but a 'Kurrent' - which speaks to energy, and we want to keep the energy going all night," said Davis. "So we thought [about] the most energetic and festival-worthy performers we could get to headline this event; who other than the Grammy-nominated Queen of Dancehall and the soca sensation who has had the number one soca song for the past three years?" Noting Spice's absence from a Kingston event in recent years, he said, "...we saw it as more motivation to get her on this line-up".

Kurrent Fest is set to take place at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre on July 13. Other surprise main artistes will be announced.

With the event formerly dubbed 'Kurrent' under the Yardii Teenz brand in 2021, the team later renamed it Kurrent Fest, following a staging last December. Due to the massive support and a change in the event's demographic target - which started out catering predominantly to 16-to 18-year-olds and college students, they decided to go big on rebranding.

"We decided to move 'Kurrent' into the college space as the audience was ageing. We wanted to create a more mature atmosphere for our patrons, and we were strategic in bigger marketing campaign and changing the name to Kurrent Fest. I believed that I needed to capitalise on the audience that we had built over the years, and continue to meet and surpass their expectations, as the brand and our audience got older," Davis stated.

He opined that creating a musical spectacle infused with a Caribbean vibration was the best move in achieving that.

"These two genres (dancehall and soca) have the potential to make a fusion that will bring different people together in one space, having the time of their lives. With this particular spectacle, we want to officially execute this event as an actual festival and solidify our brand in the festival space as a biannual extravaganza that persons eagerly await," he said. With several other events scheduled to take place around this time, Davis said he is quite unbothered as his unique twist to a dancehall/soca J'ouvert will be "the ultimate J'overt experience with an infectious energy".