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Carnival TV streams Tobago Jazz Festival 2013

Arturo Tappin, Etienne Charles star as Carnival TV streams Tobago Jazz to the World

A When Steel Talks Exclusive

 
At the Tobago Jazz Festival 2013
At the Tobago Jazz Festival 2013

Global - Carnival TV has quickly established itself as one of the leading organizations for streaming music entertainment content out of the Caribbean. For those who are unfamiliar with Carnival TV, they are the media broadcast company that has been providing the internet stream of the annual Trinidad and Tobago steel orchestra music national panorama competition for the last three years.  This time around they took on the challenge of delivering the performances of the 2013 Jazz Festival to the world over the internet. Carnival TV is no stranger to the sometimes daunting task that is layered with unsuspecting  technical, human and natural minefields  - where the only thing you can depend on - is that there will be issues in broadcasting a live show over the internet.

Tobago Jazz Crowd
 Crowd at Tobago Jazz 2013

This year an inordinate amount of rain was thrown into the mix. In fact Friday night’s performances were cancelled. Scheduled to perform on that night’s show under the banner of ‘World Music Night’ were Grammy Award winner Melanie Fiona, Liane La Havas, Bunji, Fay-Ann and Asylum.

On Saturday, Carnival TV delivered a steady stream throughout the day’s presentations once they got past some of the beginning  ‘sound’ jitters. From about 12:00 noon to 8:00 p.m. there were hours of continuous streaming.

Gangnam Etienne Charles & Kaiso
Etienne Charles & Kaiso

The video stream and camera work were quite good. The only shortcoming was that at times, the sound was very uneven, particularly between bands. But overall Carnival TV captured and delivered; most importantly - they were able to capture the energy of the people and the musicianship of the performers.

NJ30 from Barbados opened the show; they were followed by the Errol Ince Group. Next up was guitarist Clifford Charles who really woke up the show as he performed true jazz interpretations of some of Trinidad and Tobago’s great soca hits like this year’s runaway hit and Carnival theme, “Differentology” by Bunji Garlin, Destra Garcia’s “Call My Name” and last year’s carnival sensation “Bacchanalist” by Kerwin Dubois.  His band was straight-up tight. He truly embraced the spirit of a Jazz festival. This observation was not lost on this writer, as the live audience called for him to continue after the end of his set.

Arturo Tappin
Arturo Tappin

Clifford Charles and company were followed by the gifted trumpeter Etienne Charles & Kaiso, who definitely stretched calypso jazz margins - all the while truly engaging the audience as they stood transfixed, packed in front of the stage while the group delivered cuts from his upcoming CD.  Back in February, Etienne also co-hosted Carnival TV’s broadcast of the National Panorama Finals for the second year running. The audience was also treated to the stalwart vocals of veteran musician Keith “Keet Styla” (formerly “Designer”) Prescott as he delivered tracks such as the Mighty Sparrow’s “Maria.” Prescott is truly one of the great vocalists of the Caribbean. He was also on the musical radar this Panorama season, singing such songs like “Culture Rise Up,” “Splinters” and “Coye: Pan Religion.”

Saxophonist Arturo Tappin was the closing act; he simply wowed the crowd with a little of everything - from Michael Jackson‘s “Bad” to “The Brazilian Wedding Song.”  The torrential downpour seemed to have little or no effect on the dancing crowd, lost in the midst of the musical passion generated by Tappin’s scintillating performance - which, by the way, included great vocals by the man himself!

Carnival TV caught it, produced it and streamed it all. Thumbs up. By all accounts the stream was a success and many posted that they wished they were there in person, or that they would not miss next year’s events.

Here is a small sample and some direct quotes by some who witnessed today’s stream. 

The Tobago Jazz Experience 2013 continues - tomorrow, Sunday April 28, it’s the legendary Dionne Warwick.

Carnival TV website -- http://carnivaltv.net/  

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