Former Fugees star to headline World Music Night

The Haitian rapper, whose former band member Lauryn Hill also graced the Tobago Jazz Experience stage last year, will perform tonight alongside Jamaican dancehall legend, Shabba Ranks.

Jean attendance at Tobago Jazz Experience comes after the original headliner, American R&B and Neo Soul singer Michael ‘D’Angelo’ Eugene Archer pulled out due to the death of his grandfather.

In a brief interview with Newsday, chairman of the Tobago Jazz Experience committee, John Arnold assured that Jean would be coming and that he was expected to be in TT by 1 pm today.

Jean is also expected to share the stage with local band, Kes the Band tonight.

Jean became a popular artiste when the Fugees first achieved widespread commercial success with their second album, The Score in 1996.

The Fugees’ musical career spawned hits such as Fu-Gee- La, a re-make of Roberta Flak’s Killing Me Softly and Ready or Not among others.

In 1997, Jean embarked on a solo career after the Fugees disbanded that same year. He released his first solo album known as the Carnival, and has since worked with a number of artistes, among them Colombian singer Shakira.

Although, Jean was not initially the committee’s first choice as a replacement. Arnold told Newsday, “It is not an easy process but it worked out… The negotiations took place and we were able to contract the performer….” When asked if he was the initial choice after D’Angelo, Arnold said, “no.” He said, however, that everything is okay for today’s World Music Night.

The Tobago Jazz Experience is in its ninth year and will feature other performers such as Boo Hinkson, Arita Edmund, Chromatics, LLettesha Sylvester, Elan Trotman and Akinola Sennon.

The closing night of the Tobago Jazz Experience will headline Grace Jones at its Beach Jazz Fiesta. The festival ran from April 22 to 30 this year, and its opening night at Speyside saw reggae group Morgan Heritage performing.

There were some changes to this year’s festival with its budget being cut by TT$3 million [the festival received a $12 million budget this year] and the change in a third night, which was replaced by this year’s Sun, Sea and Jazz at Pigeon point Heritage Park. Before there were also performances on the Saturday night of the event.

This year’s line-up drew mixed reactions from members of the public. It remains to be seen if Wyclef Jean’s coming will change things for some.