Several local entertainers are excited that they will have the opportunity to perform at a virtual concert to celebrate the inauguration of United States Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris.
Edwin Yearwood and Kirk Brown confirmed that they were asked to participate in the Caribbean American Action Network’s (CAAN) live virtual Caribbean inauguration party on January 17, which will be held under the theme Celebrating #CaribbeanAmericanKamala.
Toni Norville is also down to perform.
“I feel blessed, honoured, excited, a little emotional and very proud because this is history in the making. This is the first female vice-president and the first black female vice-president of the United States with heavy Caribbean roots,” Yearwood said.
“So we just want to congratulate her and wish her well. I think she is going to do a fantastic job and I think she will be a catalyst in bringing the world back together, so it is important to show her the love and respect she deserves.”
Brown, who will perform You’re My Number One, said he was hopeful her rise could put regional artistes in a better position, especially when it came to travelling to the US.
“I am pleased to be a part of it. She may not be Barbadian, but she is West Indian. And whether people want to admit it or not, this should give us hope because Caribbean people should now have a greater voice,” he said.
Joe Biden, a former vice-president under Barack Obama, and Harris, who was born in Oakland, California, but has Indian and Jamaican heritage, won the November 3 presidential election, defeating incumbents Donald Trump and Mike Pence.
Biden and Harris will be sworn in on January 20.
The live stream will begin at 7 p.m. on the Facebook, Twitter and YouTube platforms of One Caribbean Television (OCTV), and on Radio 102.9FM in Antigua and Barbuda. Then on Inauguration Day, OCTV will broadcast the event on television across the Caribbean.
The stream will also feature Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, Sir Hilary Beckles; Congressman Adriano Espaillat of New York; Barbados’ Counsel General in New York, Mackie Holder; and Dr Michelle Chester, the corporate director, Employee Health Services, at Northwell Health, who delivered the first COVID-19 vaccine in the US.
Other performers will include the Fab Five Band from Jamaica, Guyanese Menes De Griot and Shanto, and Vincentian Frankie McIntosh. (TG)
