Bridgetown, Barbados, Monday May 5, 2014 – The Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) will be bringing bright new talent to the CALABASH International Literary Festival stage when Haitian artist BeLO performs on the festival’s burgeoning music night. Caribbean Export and Calabash have launched a synergistic relationship which encompasses a variety of elements for this year’s staging of the internationally renowned festival. BeLO’s performance is the second of the musical contributions that Caribbean Export has facilitated, the first of which was by Dominican Republic musician and singer, Xiomara Fortuna at the launch of the festival and the Agency’s publication, CREATE. The three-day festival is scheduled to take place from May, 30 – June 1, 2014at Jakes in Treasure Beach, St. Elizabeth, Jamaica. 

Since its inception in 2001, the CALABASH International Literary Festival has grown to become the foremost international literary festival in the English-speaking Caribbean. The festival has played host to some of the world’s most revered writers and luminaries, however those who have presented their work at the festival not only encompass some of the most prolific authors of the written word but of the word married to melody. Reggae icons such as Wayne Armond, Ibo Cooper and Steven Golding have graced the stage along with internationally known artist Mutabaruka.  BeLO represents a new generation of talent that is transcending the boundaries of traditional and local music and attempting to spread their message across the world, using cultural authentic music, in very much the same way that countless Jamaican artists have done with reggae. The spotlight of the Calabash stage will illuminate a new audience to the music of this Haitian treasure.

Jean Belony Murat may be relatively new to the English-speaking Caribbean, however, he is both well-known and well-loved in his homeland and on the world music scene. His messages of tolerance, awareness, empathy and emotional connection are transmitted through an infectious masala of jazz, rock, reggae and Afro-Haitian genres. Although his lyrics are in BeLO’s native Creole dialect, the sounds are relatable, movement-inducing music which is sure to captivate the Calabash audience.