M.E. Exposed

September 21-23, 2011 marked the time for another annual Caribbean Cultural Music Conference (CCMC) in NYC.  I was honoured to be asked to be a panelist on a panel about Marketing and Brand building, which was perfect because I feel like that’s what most indie artists spend their lives doing, and for sure I dedicate a lot of my time to it.

Life is a funny lickle ting, because I remember seeing the promotion for last years conference and thinking it would be a great thing to be involved in, and the law of attraction clearly was in full effect, because here I was not only a panelist but also asked to perform on the artist showcase. 

The conference was unfortunately not as well attended as it could have been, but extremely insightful, with good topics and presenters.  Even a music business buff like myself learned many new things.  I would definitely recommend it to artists, managers, or anyone else in the music industry, and most importantly even to persons outside of Caribbean music genres.  This was definitely as good as any other music conference, as it had all the general information you would expect, but also a Caribbean perspective which is uncommon to find in such an event.

Overall I was just very honoured to be a part of this event, and to get an opportunity to showcase my abilities to a predominantly Caribbean audience, and for them to experience my Reggae-Soul. 

Mario Evon at The Studio at Webster Hall - Photo by Karim Kiffin

The After party on Friday night had amazing performances by Ed Robinson and Ghost to name a few, and I got to close the show, which was a little crazy, because I performed after the legendary Ghost, who I’ve looked up to as a Jamaican artist for a while.  Here are some highlights from my performance:

Very special thanks go out to Junior Forbes, Simone Harris and the rest of the team involved in the planning of this conference.  Conferences are a huge undertaking, and they did a good job, and still managed to keep the event FREE, and created a forum to educate and unify the Caribbean community in NY.  Great job y’all!! Also a huge thank you to my dedicated supporters…luv y’all, and mad love to my amazing band members - Enrico de Trizio (keys), Serghio Jansen (Guitar), Jonathan Rappaport (Bass), Shane ‘SF1’ Franklin (Percussion), Shawna Corso and Simone King (Background Vocalists).  This is just a bunch of amazingly talented and down to earth individuals.  Blessed to have a chance to perform with them.

Here are some more pics from the event:

Mario Evon in action - Photo by Karim Kiffin

Ed Robinson - Photo by Karim Kiffin

Ghost - Photo by Karim Kiffin

Mario Evon & Copeland Forbes - Photo by Tracy Smith

Enrico de Trizio (Keyboard player), Simone Harris and Kamau Amen, Music Business Consultants - Photo by Tracy Smith