Nass­er Khan

Pri­or to form­ing Kes the Band in 2005 with broth­ers Jon, Hans and Ri­ad, Kees Di­ef­fen­thaller was a front­line singer in the band Im­ij and Com­pa­ny. A per­former for most of his life, with a wide vo­cal range, a com­mand­ing and en­er­getic stage pres­ence along with good looks, Kees has be­come a sought-af­ter artiste lo­cal­ly and in­ter­na­tion­al­ly. The re­cent­ly mar­ried 2011 Groovy So­ca Monarch King (Wot­less) has, along with his band, re­leased sev­er­al al­bums, with more than a dozen tracks mak­ing it in­to the top ten of ma­jor Caribbean charts.

Q: Your 'Olympic' song/video. What in­spired you to com­pose it?

A: Well, we're all aware that this is a big year for Trinidad and To­ba­go. We're cel­e­brat­ing 50 years of In­de­pen­dence cou­pled with our rep­re­sen­ta­tion in the Olympics! Mu­sic is def­i­nite­ly the medi­um need­ed to tie all of this to­geth­er and it's the best way we know how to rep­re­sent the red, white and black. I have to thank bpTT for reach­ing out to us to work on this project, pay­ing trib­ute to the team that was about to em­bark on this jour­ney. I re­mem­ber it was dur­ing Car­ni­val this year my team came to­geth­er and we penned the track at Mad­men stu­dios. I drew from my ex­pe­ri­ence at World Cup 2006, the pride and joy I felt see­ing our team climb those moun­tains; as well as the jour­neys we all have in our own lives. The con­quer­ing of our own fears that hold us back from mov­ing for­ward.

Q: Who were the peo­ple who have in­flu­enced you the most (out­side of your fam­i­ly), in your ca­reer and in life in gen­er­al and how did they? Was Kees 'dis­cov­ered'?

A: There are many, those who helped me along the way and con­tin­ue to do so. One is nev­er more sig­nif­i­cant than the oth­er. Our an­gels come to us in many ways, through many peo­ple in many forms. I'm just thank­ful that I can hear and see them.

Q: What ad­vice would you give to any­one con­tem­plat­ing a vo­ca­tion such as yours?

A: Know that mu­sic is a way of life, it re­quires your mind, body and soul to be in align­ment. There are no short­cuts.

Q: What in­spires you to do what you do?

A: Love. I al­ways wish that the joy my team feels do­ing what we do is trans­ferred to oth­ers.

Q: Where were you born and where did you grow up?

A: Born in La Ro­maine, grew up in Palmiste, Block 2, Ma­habir Cres­cent! San Fer­nan­doooooo!

Q: At which schools/in­sti­tu­tions did you re­ceive your ed­u­ca­tion?

A: Cedar Grove Pri­ma­ry School, Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege, San Fer­nan­do, St Mary's Col­lege, Port-of-Spain, and the school of road sense.

Q: What jobs did you do be­fore be­com­ing an en­ter­tain­er on a full-time ba­sis?

A: Mu­sic has been my full-time job for over a decade now...ah! Dur­ing my school days I worked one sum­mer at Ish­mael Khan and Son's, Cof­fee street, loved the staff, got enough to go Great Fete...but pack­ing books wasn't my thing. (Lol again)

Q: What was the most dif­fi­cult de­ci­sion you ever had to make?

A: I'd have to say choos­ing mu­sic as a ca­reer. While at­tend­ing school I had a few op­tions be­ing aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly in­clined. Vet­eri­nary sci­ence was the biggest pos­si­bil­i­ty. Mu­sic, how­ev­er, was so alive in me that I knew if I didn't give it a shot I would have al­ways won­dered. I'm pleased with my choice but who knows what the fu­ture may bring.

Q: What is an in­ter­est­ing facet of your per­son­al­i­ty that most peo­ple do not know about?

A: I have a very qui­et side. I guess it bal­ances the side that is on stage.

Q: What else would you be if you weren't an en­ter­tain­er?

A: Most like­ly I would have been a vet in a clin­ic some­where, or I would have run away and joined a roam­ing cir­cus.

Q: Who was your hero or idol grow­ing up, fic­tion­al or re­al or both, and why? And who do you ad­mire most to­day?

A: Nev­er re­al­ly looked up to just one per­son you know. I have to say my big bros have al­ways been there guid­ing me and I al­ways look up to them. The sto­ry of Bob Mar­ley is a great in­flu­ence to me as well.

Q: What dai­ly mot­to/cre­do do you live by and in three words, your recipe for suc­cess?

A: Live in the mo­ment of the now. Three words-Pa­tience, de­ter­mi­na­tion, love.

Q: When and how did you get in­to en­ter­tain­ing?

A: Since I was five I've been per­form­ing. Get­ting in­to en­ter­tain­ment was a grad­ual jour­ney, there's al­ways an­oth­er door to open, an­oth­er height to reach for.

Q: Of all your ac­co­lades, ac­com­plish­ments, prizes and awards which do you rate as ex­treme­ly spe­cial?

A: Well, do­ing what I love for a liv­ing is some­thing I trea­sure. Be­ing on this jour­ney with my fam­i­ly is an­oth­er and the fact that our mu­sic is be­ing lis­tened to and ap­pre­ci­at­ed around the world is some­thing we are all en­joy­ing.

Q: What were your dreams of fu­ture when you were a kid?

A: You know kids we're al­ways dream­ing up the next thing to be or do! Mu­sic, how­ev­er, was al­ways in the mix.

Q: Where do you see your­self in five to ten years?

A: I wish for my­self that I'm con­tent­ed and hap­py in what­ev­er I'm up to at that point in time.

Q: What is/are the most im­por­tant les­son/s you've learned in life?

A: The truth is the truth.

Q: What ad­vice would you give to the young peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go?

A: Get to know and love the spir­it of your coun­try. Know where we've been and where we want to go.

Q: Your pet peeve? Your favourite form of re­lax­ation?

A: Any form of self­ish­ness and greed. Re­lax time for me is en­joy­ing the sim­ple things in life, like cook­ing or spend­ing time with loved ones.

Q: What are you up to these days and what are your plans in­to 2013?

A: Well, we're con­stant­ly defin­ing and re­defin­ing our­selves as a unit through our mu­sic and ap­proach to our art. Our aim is to have a cat­a­logue and stage show that can fit any­where in the world.