Bridgetown, Barbados. November 15, 2007. The Hit Island camp releases Hit Island Volume 1, the highly-anticipated compilation by the Christ Church-based studio.

September 20, 2007.  St. Lawrence Gap comes alive as fans of the 2-membered alternative band Kite crowd their way into Jumbies for the release of the band’s second album Thirteen Degrees North.  The album’s title is a reference to Barbados’ geographic coordinates (13°N, 59°W). 

 
In the 1990s Barbadian singer Wesu Wallace (seen in this Khalil Goodman image with band Nexcyx) survived early, ego-bruising trials in the Richard Stoute Teen Talent Contest, and a more successful stint on the local night-club circuit as a member of the now defunct band, "Crush". And during his five-year sojourn in the UK, he placed 32nd out of 21,000 contestants in the 2003 Pop Idol UK.

Ten years after turning a love of partying into a serious venture, Baje International boasts the hottest summer fetes, sold-out bands and in 2006, the first ever appearance of a local band onto the Trinidad Carnival stage. I sat down with three of the friends who manage the band — Richard Haynes, Val Bridgeman and Corey Knight (missing were Jason Cozier and Tundé Mottley) — as they shared the details on the Baje beginnings, challenges and goals.