The Konmité Pou Etid Kwéyol (KEK) in collaboration with the Cultural Division will be launching a Bèlè folk music album of the Tradibelle Bele group from Grand Bay on Wednesday May 11th at the Alliance Francaise. The function is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
The album is the result of a collaboration between KEK, the Cultural Division, the University of Bedfordshire and the Arts & Humanities Research Council in the UK. The late Dr. Violet Cuffy, who worked at the University of Bedfordshire, played an important role in sourcing the funding for the project.
The album contains nine (9) of the bèlè songs which have been made popular by the Tradibelle group.
The launch on Wednesday, will feature remarks from the President of KEK, Raymond Lawrence, the Acting Chief Cultural Officer, Earlson Matthew, and also the leader of the Tradibelle group, Adriana Henderson. Presentations of the Bèlè flashdrives will also be made at the function.
The event forms part of DOMFESTA this year and the 40th anniversary celebrations of KEK. KEK turned 40 on June 1st last year and the one-year observation of this significant anniversary culminates this month.
KEK is currently planning to hold its 12th Primary Schools Kwéyol Spelling Bee competition on May 18th and its annual general meeting on June 1st 2022. Other projects which KEK is currently working on include a new creole dictionary, the publication of a basic guide to learning kwéyol and an awards cocktail evening later this year.
… let’s in our celebration, remember Sonia Magloire-Agpa, Joyette Rodney, Marcel D’Jamala Fontaine, Felix Henderson, Gregory and Sinky Rabess, Shalyn Massicott, Philbert Aaron, and others who gave life to a KEK.