As plans un­fold for the stag­ing of the 30th an­niver­sary of the In­ter­na­tion­al Reg­gae and World Mu­sic Awards (IRAW­MA) in T&T, an­tic­i­pa­tion is at an all time high. Mu­sic fans and in­dus­try in­sid­ers are ea­ger­ly await­ing the host of per­for­mances for the renowned awards show as well as the ma­jor con­cert event, Reg­gae meets So­ca/Chut­ney. The pres­ti­gious IRAW­MA cer­e­mo­ny, which will be held at the Na­tion­al Acad­e­my for Per­form­ing Arts (NA­PA), on May 28 will of­fer the very best in re­gion­al tal­ent, such as T&T's very own Machel Mon­tano HD; She's Roy­al singer Tau­rus Ri­ley; and, Ja­maican mu­sic leg­ends Fred­die Mc­Gre­gor and Dean Fras­er. Pa­trons can al­so look for­ward to dy­nam­ic per­for­mances by dance­hall di­vas Mac­ka Di­a­mond and Tifa; Denise "Saucy Wow" Bel­fon; Queen Ifrica; and St Maarten's lead­ing pan­nist and ca­lyp­son­ian, The Mighty Dow.

Reg­gae icons Shag­gy and Tony Rebel will serve as MCs for this fun-filled evening. Shag­gy will work dou­ble du­ty dur­ing this up­com­ing week­end, as he will tran­si­tion from the role of host to per­former at the May 29 event, Reg­gae Meets So­ca/Chut­ney at the Queen's Park Sa­van­nah. At this con­cert spec­tac­u­lar Shag­gy will dis­play his Gram­my Award win­ning tal­ent along­side long­time co­hort Rayvon, and will share the stage with the cream of the Caribbean mu­sic crop in­clud­ing the King of the Dance­hall Bee­nie Man, reg­gae croon­er Jah Cure, Gramps Mor­gan of Mor­gan Her­itage fame, The Roy Cape All Stars with Blaxx, and sev­er­al chut­ney and so­ca artistes. At­ten­dees of these events can ex­pect two world class pro­duc­tions com­plete with a mul­ti-genre all star casts and mem­o­rable sur­pris­es. As the IRAW­MA week­end ap­proach­es more artistes will be an­nounced.

• For in­for­ma­tion on IRAW­MA, tick­ets and trav­el log on­to www.iraw­ma.com or call 312-427-0266 (North Amer­i­ca) or 868-475-1000 (Caribbean).