Caribbean Music Awards to host landmark weekend celebration in Trinidad

AFTER three years of celebrating Caribbean excellence in New York City, the Caribbean Music Awards (CMAs) is coming home. For the first time since its inception, the awards ceremony will be staged on Caribbean soil, with Trinidad and Tobago selected to welcome artistes, industry stakeholders and music lovers for what is expected to be a landmark celebration of regional sound and culture. The move will also usher in a new era for the CMAs as the event will move from a single celebratory evening to an immersive weekend featuring networking, industry discussions, cultural showcases and opportunities for fans to engage more closely with the people behind the music.

For Paige de Leon, regional public relations strategist for the CMAs, the expansion reflects the steady growth of an event that has increasingly established itself as a credible platform for Caribbean talent. Paige de Leon, regional PR strategist for the Caribbean Music Awards “I think that when you’re building a movement like this, you are going to find that if the quality of the offering and your product is really solid, and there is authenticity in your intention, you are going to see growth,” she said. One of the things that I most appreciate about the Caribbean Music Awards, as a Caribbean woman, is that it is an intuitive entity that seeks to respond to the needs of its audience — the Caribbean Diaspora.

That speaks very highly of its founders, and now to the fact that it will be held in Trinidad and Tobago.” Since its launch, the CMAs has sought to provide a dedicated stage on which the breadth and diversity of Caribbean music can be recognised. Its growing reach was underscored last year when the awards were broadcast on BET, introducing the ceremony and its honourees to an even wider audience. Having strengthened its footing internationally, de Leon said the time had come to ensure that the people who live within the region and continue to fuel its musical movements could experience the ceremony for themselves.

“We’re bringing it to Trinidad because we want to make sure that the people of the Caribbean have the opportunity to experience the ceremonial splendour of their music in this way,” she explained. “We have spent the last three years or so building the event, and last year the CMAs were shown on a major network, BET, and that was a very significant moment f…