The past month has seen the local genre-bending music band travel east to west Trinidad, then to Lowlands, Tobago, and most recently to the Naparima Bowl Courtyard in San Fernando on the third edition of its Tight Spaces Acoustic Tour.
On June 19, the Labour Day holiday, the tour returns north to St James for the finale at Sound Forge. A venue well-known to Freetown followers, fans can look forward to the transformation of the space towards a relaxed, off-stage, up-close atmosphere.
For the Freetown Collective sextet, rounded out by percussionist Sheena Richardson, also known as "Ajibola" and keyboardist Odelle Daniel, the mission is simply to connect with fans, delivering engaging, accessible performances over a series of five intimate concerts in as many weeks.
In typical Freetown fashion, this year’s tour has been tapping the wider circle of the Freetown family of performers, so far making space for three-time National Poetry Slam Champion Alexandra Stewart at Beyond Yoga Studio on May 29 and Tobago’s hip hop/soul artiste Xav at Beverly’s Oasis Suites on June 6.
The 2024 Tight Spaces Acoustic Tour is flanked by the May release of the group's latest single Rainy Morning (a collaboration with producer Dwala) and the band’s hotly anticipated headlining performance on June 29 at the UK’s world-famous Glastonbury Music Festival.
[caption id="attachment_1090250" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Freetown Collective lead vocalists Muhammad Muwakil and Lou Lyons share a moment at Naparima Bowl Courtyard performance. -[/caption]
According to lead vocalist Muhammad Muwakil, “Reconnecting with the audience at home before we head off to spaces like this helps us ground ourselves in our purpose, the ‘Why’ behind what we do. It’s also an opportunity for us to reacquaint ourselves with the music, to see how it feeds people, allowing them, in turn, to feed us before we go out into the world.”
Freetown Collective counts itself among a younger generation of TT artistes affixing their distinctive sound to the banner of "new calypso," as coined by Jimmy October.
Amidst its busy performance schedule, the band is also preparing to release its second album, Beyond the Machine, later this year. Its first album, Born in Darkness, was launched in June 2018.
Tickets for the Sound Forge finale are available on islandetickets.com. For more information and to keep up with the band, follow @wearefreetown across social media channels.
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