The Cayman Islands flag flew high across Lincoln Center in New York City as ‘Cayman’s cultural guardians’, Swanky Kitchen Band, delivered a showstopping performance at the 2024 Globalfest ‘Summer in the City’ concert on 3 Aug.
Their performance was part of several stops on their first multi-city tour of the US, from 26 July-8 Aug., introducing traditional Caymanian music to new audiences and across new stages.
The band cooked up some traditional kitchen dance music, and grooving with the audience to their Caribbean mix of songs. Among the appreciative listeners at Lincoln Center were about 100 Caymanians. Videos of their performances were also shared across their social media pages.
The band consists of Samuel Rose (fiddle), Nicholas Johnson (guitar), Paula Scott (grater/shakers), Lammie Seymour (bass), Devon Edie (Sax/harmonica), Christopher Seymour (lead guitar), KK Alese (vocals), Jeffrey Wilson (vocals), Jared Tibbetts (drums), and Beneil Miller (keyboard).
During the kick-off concert of their East Coast tour at the Dalrymple Boathouse lawn in Roger Williams Park in Providence, Rhode Island, the band received a special citation from the state for its “contributions to cultural heritage and their efforts in promoting Caymanian music”, according to a Swanky press release.
Their Rhode Island gig was part of the FirstWorks Summer Beats concert series, whose executive artistic director, Kathleen Pletcher, presented Swanky with the Rhode Island Citation on behalf of the state’s Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos.
Among the tour highlights was the band’s performance at the US Library of Congress in which they recorded the first Caymanian music to be archived as part of the US National Recording Registry, deeming the band music, “culturally, historically and aesthetically significant”.
One of Swanky’s founders, Nicholas Johnson, reflected on the Lowell Folk Festival performance in Massachusetts on 27-28 July, the longest-running US folk festival.
“I’m still on a high. I’ve never been in front of an audience that large, our band. As far as we can remember I’ve never seen that many people looking back at us, so I’m just still here in disbelief…so cool, such a great experience,” Johnson said in a video on the band’s social media pages.
The group also took part in a cultural workshop which included Cyril Neville (of The Neville Brothers), Joe Hall and the Cane Cutters, and Afro Dominicano.
Caymanian cultural traditions
Jon Lohman, founder and executive director of the Center for Cultural Vibrancy, which produced the tour, spoke of how Swanky is a cultural ambassador for Cayman.
“We made a video with them all about Caymanian culture, kitchen band music and how it came to be and the importance of it. We’ve started an apprenticeship programme in Cayman as a response to what I saw with so many aspects of culture, not just the kitchen band music but certain crafts, storytelling and food traditions…
“These traditions are in danger of dying out without a conscious effort and energy to keep them going. Bringing Swanky to the States is part of the effort. This music is something that people can respond to all over the world,” he told the Compass.
Lohman said he hopes that the international reception will “reverberate back to the island to see we have something special to cherish, nurture, to get young people into it, and this is not something we want to lose”.
Swanky’s East Coast tour wraps up on Thursday, 8 Aug. at the Blue Ridge Music Center, Galax, Virginia. The band returns on Saturday afternoon, 10 Aug.
To follow the band, check out their Facebook page.
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