PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – The long-awaited African Flavor Night at the Festival Village has come and gone and organizers, the African Flavor Entertainment Foundation, have expressed satisfaction with the outcome.
For the first time during Carnival in St. Maarten, people were able to dress in their African outfits and come out to a show that featured one of Africa’s best singing sensations, Bracket, who performed on the island for the first time.
The line-up also included Trinidad’s soca maestro Benjai, in his first stage show in St. Maarten, as well as home-grown talents Oswald and King Timo, whose only performance at this year’s Carnival was at the African Flavor concert.
“We want to thank the people of St. Maarten for their encouraging support,” said foundation president Melissa Webster.
“We also want to thank all the artistes, including Roxy and the Nirvana dancers as well as DJs D’Arsenic of Godfather Sounds and DJ Jack, the Hot One and the sponsors. We have learnt quite a lot from this first show and promise to give St. Maarten an even more exciting, and wonderful touch of African flavor should we have the opportunity to organize a show like this again,” she continued.
“And oh, about the palm wine, as we announced, only the first 100 men could have gotten a taste of it. It looks like next time we will have to bring in a container-load to satisfy the thirst for this unique African drink,” Webster stated.
Revelers went straight from the African Flavor concert into J’ouvert morning for what many consider the largest J’ouvert ever on the island.
“Carnival is a time to free up and celebrate our culture. This is why we are happy that those who attended our concert were able to enjoy themselves and also jam in J’ouvert,” Webster concluded.
