August Emancipation Festival is in full swing.
The Mighty Rockey Calypso Festiville has been lively during the past week, and the pace will only accelerate this weekend.
Friday and Saturday are expected to be the best-attended nights at the village, leading into the holiday next week.
In Road Town, the Festival Village will be open until Monday, when the celebration shifts to East End for three days. Then the three-day Carrot Bay Cultural Fiesta will kick off next Thursday.
TODAY
DANCE
About 20 groups and individuals are expected to take the stage during the first BVI Can Dance Competition at the Mighty Rockey Calypso Festiville tonight. The event will use a similar format as the reality television show “You Think You Can Dance,” according to Neil Blyden, whose company Neil Blyden and Associates sourced the Festival entertainment.
MUSIC
After the dance competition, Harella, a female performer known for soca and calypso, will perform, as will Virgin Islands soca groups Boss HD Band and Xtreme Band.
FRIDAY
FOOD FAIR
A food fair featuring local cuisine and drinks will be held at the Noel Lloyd Positive Action Movement Park from 10 a.m.
MUSIC
Later, get your flags, rags and dancing shoes ready for International Reggae Night, typically one of the best-attended concerts of the Festival season. The performances are scheduled to start at 8 p.m. with the VI band CP4.
After the crowd has been warmed up, Jamaican artist Garfield Spence, known as Konshens, will take the stage. The reggae-dancehall performer is known for hits such as “Pretty Devil,” “Gal Dem Ah Talk” and “Represent.” The deejay-turn-singer — who collaborated with reggae artist Tarrus Riley in the song “Good Girl Gone Band” — released his first full-length album, “Real Talk,” in 2010.
Another headliner tonight is Maxi Priest, a British singer of Jamaican descent whose style mixes reggae and R&B. Mr. Priest, who has been performing since 1982, is known for songs such as “Close to You” and “Just a Little Bit Longer.”
After the reggae acts, VI groups Showtime Band and Rock City are scheduled to take the stage, bringing the night to a close.
SATURDAY
SOAP BOX RACE
The BVI Motor Sports Association will hold a Soap Box Competition at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College. There will be activities and games for the whole family.
MUSIC
Later at the Festival Village, thousands of fans are expected to attend International Music Night, where artists from around the region will perform soca, chutney, fungi and other music styles.
The evening is to kick off with The Lashing Dogs, a VI fungi band known locally for its performances of “Supposing,” “Let’s Get this Party Started” and “Man Like You,” among other songs.
The United States Virgin Islands soca group Sweeter Band will take the stage next, paying a tribute to other USVI bands.
The pace will pick up when Trinidad and Tobago’s Ziggy Ranking takes the stage. Mr. Ranking sings mostly soca, but has several reggae and dancehall songs as well. His hits include “Miserable Life,” “Love How Yuh Wining” and “High Grade.”
Later, two of Mr. Ranking’s countrymen will take the stage to sing chutney, a style originating in Trinidad that combines soca and traditional Indian music. The first, Adesh Samaroo, became famous for the song “Rum Till I Die” in 2002, the same year he released an album with the same name.
The next chutney performer, Guyana’s Terry Gajraj, is the voice behind the songs “Guyana Baboo,” “Bay Lay Roti” and “Sumatee.” Mr. Gajraj, who got his start as a child performing at public events, was the first Caribbean artist to perform at the Indian Music Awards.
Another Trinidad and Tobago headliner, Patch, is sure to be a crowd pleaser when he performs “Pipe,” the soca hit that has been a party favorite since the beginning of the year. His other hits include “Rum and Roti” and “Tall Gone.”
Also on the lineup tonight is Sanelle Dempster, the second woman to win the Trinidad and Tobago Soca Monarch title. Her songs include “Chocolate,” “Anything For You” and “Heat.”
DJ Jam Session will bring an end to the night’s performances.
SUNDAY
FREEDOM MARCH
The Emancipation and Freedom March will start at 3 p.m. at the Sunday Morning Well, one of the locations where the Emancipation Proclamation was read on Aug. 1, 1834. Participants will walk through Road Town and back to the well. A service is to follow at 4 p.m., with guest speaker Reverend Tommie Mims of Tennessee.
PAGEANT
In the evening, five contestants will take the stage for the Miss BVI Pageant at the Multi-purpose Sports Complex: Riiva Williams, Ciara Christian, Abigail Hyndman, Shanette Browne and Washeema Guishard.
MUSIC
The USVI’s Cool Session Brass Band, which has been around since 1980, is scheduled to perform at the Festival Village tonight. The 12-member band sings calypso, zouk, soca and reggae.
MONDAY
RISE AND SHINE TRAMP
Starting at about 3 a.m., there will be live steel pan music on the street in Road Town, followed by the Rise and Shine Tramp at about 4 a.m. During the Tramp, bands playing in truck-beds will lead a rowdy march from the Port Purcell roundabout to the Festival Village.
SERVICE
For a quieter atmosphere, a Sunshine Service is being organised by the Heritage Month Committee, to be held at 5 a.m. at the Central Administration Building.
PARADE
The August Monday Parade is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. The event usually gets going a few hours late, but organisers have promised an on-time start this year. About 50 troupes and floats are expected to participate in the procession, which starts at Prospect Reef and ends at the Festival Village.
EAST END CEREMONY
As the August Emancipation Festival rounds off in Road Town, the East End/Long Look Festival will kick off with an official opening ceremony scheduled for 8 p.m.
MUSIC
Tonight the village in East End will host a mix of local and regional soca, calypso and reggae performers.
DJ Commodore will be behind the turntable before VI Band, a five-member soca group that formed last year, takes the stage.
The USVI group Imagination Brass is also on the lineup, after a successful performance at last year’s Festival. The band is known for soca and calypso songs including “Zoom Zoom,” “Drive and Wuk Up” and “Theresa Rocking,” among others.
WCK will also play. The group, which formed in 1988, is known for its “bouyou” songs, a genre of music similar to zouk that originated in WCK’s native Dominica. Among the band’s songs are “Best Wuk Up,” “Hold Dem” and “Rolling.”
TUESDAY
MUSIC
Tonight at the East End village, several soca singers from around the region are included on a lineup headlined by Jamaica’s Busy Signal.
Early in the night, DJ Turbo will be behind the turntable before VI soca group Xtreme Band takes the stage.
Jamesy P, a VI resident who hails from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, is also scheduled to perform. His songs include “Nookie” and “Ants in Your Sugar Pan.”
Later in the night, Trinidad and Tobago’s Shal Marshall will take the stage. He likely will perform recent songs including “Police” and “Don’t Drag the Flag.”
Dominica’s 2009 Calypso Monarch, King Karessa, is also on the lineup, as is Lava Man from Grenada. Nicole David, who won the Road March title for the St. Lucia Carnival in 2005, will perform as well.
Scheduled VI bands include Shine I, a reggae singer who released his first album last year, and Heritage, a reggae and dancehall singer whose songs include “Living the Life.”
Tonight’s headliner, Busy Signal, is known for songs such as “Night Shift,” “One More Night,” “Jail,” “Unknown Number” and others. Shortly after his first hit, “Step Out,” in 2005, his songs were topping dancehall charts in the Caribbean and the United States.
WEDNESDAY
TRAMP AND PARADE
East End’s version of the Rise and Shine Tramp will proceed through the neighbourhood early this morning, starting at about 4 a.m. A parade will follow in the late morning and early afternoon.
MUSIC
After the parade, the festivities will return to the village, where the VI fungi band Leon and the Hot Shots will serenade attendees.
Later, Grand Masters Band from St. Kitts and Nevis will perform soca songs such as “A Want Whale,” “Bodda Bodda” and “Car Back,” among others.
The USVI’s Sweeta Band will close the East End/Long Look Festival.
AUG. 4: CARROT BAY
FISHING
Hours after the East End/Long Look activities wind down, the Carrot Bay Cultural Fiesta will kick off next Thursday with the Winston Molyneaux Fishermen’s Tournament.
PROCESSION, MUSIC
A torchlight procession will follow in the evening, starting in lower Carrot Bay and ending at the village, where the opening ceremony will be held. Afterwards, entertainment will be provided by the USVI’s Cool Session Brass Band and Daddy Jones and Crew.
FRIDAY, AUG. 5
GAMES
This afternoon, the village will be the staging grounds for cultural games such as tug-of-war, egg-and-spoon and donkey races.
MUSIC
After the sports activities in the day, the Adikshun Band will play, along with other VI groups including Xtreme Band, Harella and Jamesy P.
Later, Vincentian soca artist Fireman Hooper will take the stage, followed by Dominica’s Triple K. Besides soca, Triple K is known for calypso and zouk, with songs including “Fencing,” “Colours” and “Wood Dem.”
Trinidad and Tobago’s Kes The Band will perform tonight as well. The group’s recent hit “Wotless” has been a hit at parties this year.
SATURDAY, AUG. 6
The season’s festivities will end with a bang at a show that promises to draw a large crowd to Carrot Bay.
Poison Band, Showtime Band and K Victoria are on the lineup, as is R&B singer Verse Simmonds. Born in Puerto Rico and raised in the USVI, Mr. Simmonds is known for songs including “Buy You A Round,” “Boo Thang” and “Work it Out.”
Later, Jamaican-American reggae singer Tarrus Riley will perform. Mr. Riley has been a fixture on the reggae scene since his 2006 breakthrough album “Parables,” which included the Jamaican-chart-topping hit “She’s Royal.” Mr. Riley’s other songs include “Good Girl Gone Bad” and “Superman.”
The Barbados soca group Krosfyah will bring an end to the night. The band, whose first album came in 1994, released another last year: “The Experience” includes “Neighbours,” Sugar,” “No Cheating” and other songs.