The return of live music: Italee and Quiz's show at Village picks up speed

Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

A band, an artiste and a microphone create the formula being used by Italee Watson and Carrie 'Quizz' Sigurdson to redefine live music in Jamaica.

No stranger to the entertainment world, host, promoter and entertainment aficionado Quizz teams up with long-time friend, singer and songwriter Italee to form RPM Promotions.

Every Tuesday night at the Village Blues Bar in Barbican, Italee, Quizz & Friends redefine 'Live'. Having kicked off on May 4 with performances from Juss Ice, Singing Sweet, Gabriel, Tami Chynn and Chino, 'Italee, Quizz & Friends' season one has gained momentum.

Since then, the likes of G-Whizz, Laden, Kimberly Main, Ras Penco, Marcus I, Wasp, T.O.K, Timberlee, Tifa, Natalie Storm, Chi Ching Ching, Terro 3000 among others have graced the Village stage.

Quizz told The Sunday Gleaner recently, "Italee and I have been friends for 15 years. She's been recording and travelling in Europe and the States for the last six years but we've always wanted to do something like this together and we've finally got the opportunity since she's come back. We've done so under RPM which stands for Revolutionising People's Minds Through Music, and we have a lot of ideas."

redefining

Quizz was part of the first team of promoters to start Tuesday Night Live a few years ago at the Village and this time around, she wants to redefine and inject mainstream commercial dancehall, reggae and rock into the mix.

Season one ends July 27, and, according to Quizz, there are more stellar performances to come including next Tuesday's line-up which will feature No Madzz, Alaine, Bramma and Italee.

"We have a whole list of artistes so we shuffle dates and mix them up, these are artistes that we know well and we know appreciate music, who want to bring back that good vibe. It's all about the music, not the hype," explained Quizz.

Part of the musical experience provided by Italee and Quizz includes music provided by DJ Richie Ras every week and the RPM Live Band. The band features five teenagers from the Edna Manley School of Music who came together for the show and have since worked with some of the hottest acts in dancehall.

"We want Italee, Quizz & Friends to be big. We want to bring live music to the streets because the masses move with the music and we want to make the music positive. We plan to take over the country wid this RPM thing and it's a whole lot of work."

Season two, Quizz explained, will hopefully kick off in October and will be the first of a series of projects to hit the stage.