Ebony Steel Orchestra performing at the launch of SXM Festival at Hommage Hotel on Tuesday. (Robert Luckock photo)
MARIGOT--Mighty Dow’s Ebony Steel Orchestra stole the limelight at Tuesday’s press conference in Hommage Hotel launching the fifth edition of SXM Festival in Happy Bay today, as his band of young musicians gave a captivated audience several samples of their techno-infused steel pan music.
The project conceived by festival organiser Julian Arbia to blend steel pan with techno as a way to bring local culture to the forefront of the festival has been a very successful collaboration of Dow and the organisers, the first time the festival has taken this direction.
Some of the main stakeholders were present for the press conference, including representatives of the two respective tourism offices, and the French side’s Club du Tourisme. President of the Dutch side’s Parliament Rolando Brison was also in the audience.
“This is a very exciting comeback for us,” said Krystel Arbia in her introduction. “We’ve worked really hard with government officials and all of our economic partners and suppliers on the island to make it happen. Helping us prepare have been over 70 local companies and over 95 workers. We hope we will have 7,000 participants. We continue to dream big.”
She said the festival takes a full year of preparation and during that time the island is being constantly promoted.
“We want St. Martiners to take possession of SXM Festival,” she added. “We want to show the world how friendly and happy we all are here. Our video and camera teams are testament to that as they go around the island interacting with the population. They have been welcomed with an open heart.”
Krystel said residents of the island get a 50 per cent discount at the entrance with proof of residence. Festival-goers will be required to adhere to the mandatory COVID-19 sanitary protocols and will be checked for vaccination certificates and other acceptable documents at the entrance to the festival ground, where a testing centre for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and antigen tests will be set up and run by certified nurses.
As well as Happy Bay, Boho in Baie Nettle is one of the new party locations for the festival.
Dutch St. Maarten Tourism Bureau director May Ling Chun emphasised the “positive economic” impact the festival brings to the island while her counterpart Aïda Weinum applauded the organisers’ determination for “not giving up” and continuing to support the island.
A co-founder of the festival, Nick, who works for a UK-based magazine called Mix Mag, an original dance music and DJ culture magazine started in the 1980s, disclosed how the electronic dance music actually originated in Jamaica in the 1940s when pioneers at the time experimented with the music.
“Without a doubt, SXM Festival is considered one of the best festivals in the world,” he said. “Every time the festival is announced I get inundated with calls from DJs who want to come to the island. And the level of international press coverage we have received over the years has been incredible.”
Julian Arbia thanked all partners for the tremendous effort made in building the festival this year in half the time it normally takes due to the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic.
