King of So­ca Machel Mon­tano will re­ceive a life­time achieve­ment award at the first ever Caribbean Mu­sic Awards.

The event is sched­uled to take place at Kings The­atre, Brook­lyn, New York on Trinidad and To­ba­go’s 61st an­niver­sary of its In­de­pen­dence (Au­gust 31).

“This Life­time Achieve­ment Award is not just a recog­ni­tion of my jour­ney but a tes­ta­ment to the pow­er of Caribbean mu­sic and cul­ture,” Mon­tano told the Guardian.

“I am grate­ful to have the guid­ance from some of the great­est ca­lyp­so­ni­ans, so­ca pi­o­neers and even mu­si­cal leg­ends in oth­er Caribbean gen­res in my time.

“To­geth­er we’ve built bridges of joy and uni­ty through our melodies and rhythms. Let’s con­tin­ue to cel­e­brate our her­itage, in­spire gen­er­a­tions to come and share the Caribbean spir­it with the globe.

“One love, one rhythm, one Caribbean.”

Three-time Gram­my win­ner and hip-hop leg­end Wyclef Jean is set to host the pres­ti­gious event. The Hait­ian per­former spoke about the awards on NBC’s to­day show ear­li­er in the month.

“This is the Caribbean Mu­sic Awards. Au­gust 31, you all been to the is­lands be­fore, we need every­body to tune in with that same en­er­gy,” he said.

“When we want to get­away we go to the is­lands, even if you can’t make it turn on the TV.”

Jean who host­ed the 2000 MTV Eu­rope Mu­sic Awards, in Stock­holm. made a mem­o­rable en­trance on an ele­phant.

“For me what what’s ex­cit­ing is Caribbean cul­ture shared whether it is fash­ion or clothes,” he said.

“So, for me I want the en­trance to be grand. I want it to be very Car­ni­val like and I can’t give more than that.”

Jean said the suc­cess of the Verzuz episode fea­tur­ing Boun­ty Killer and Bee­nie Man in May 2022 demon­strat­ed the po­ten­tial the awards show could have.

“It re­mind­ed us how much we love the Caribbean,” he said.

The en­ter­tain­er re­unit­ed with his fel­low Fugees mem­bers Lau­ryn Hill and Pras Michel at the an­nu­al Roots Pic­nic in Philadel­phia on June 3.

The Fugees had re­unit­ed for the first time in 16 years dur­ing a show in New York City in 2021. A prop­er re­union cel­e­brat­ing the 25th an­niver­sary of their 1996 al­bum The Score was be­ing planned. The singers even­tu­al­ly can­celled cit­ing com­pli­ca­tions due to the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic.

The Caribbean Mu­sic Award has 26 cat­e­gories in­clud­ing reg­gae, dance­hall, so­ca, kom­pa and zouk. Vot­ing opened on April 6 and will close on Ju­ly 31.