DEVON Webster, known by his stage name ‘Maestro Kaiso,’ is looking forward to his visit to Guyana and his performance at the 11th edition of the Emancipation Jazz and Soul Concert on August 4 led by popular Guyanese musicians, Bonny Alves and his wife, Charmaine Blackman-Alves.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Devon, a 33-year-old violinist, has native Guyanese parents, and in an interview with Pepperpot Magazine a few days ago, he shared that his curiosity about his Guyanese heritage has grown with each passing year.

He has been playing the violin for 20 years, but, professionally, he has been doing so for 10 years. “I started playing at weddings and parties and fundraisers, corporate events; I built a lot of my skills just by playing at the subways and spending hours and hours playing for strangers,” he expressed.

“The beautiful thing about music is that it created so many different opportunities for me to make a living, network, have fun, all the while expressing myself, and I am finding as I am getting older, my curiosity of where my family is coming from has been increasing,” he shared.
Raised by his Guyanese immigrant parents, Devon was actively supported along his musical journey. At the age of six, he was enrolled in piano lessons after demonstrating a natural aptitude for music and being able to play by ear. Devon would go on to learn the violin and play in his high school orchestra.

During this time, he earned a scholarship to take private lessons at the Bloomingdale School of Music in Manhattan. Starting in 2012, while at Brooklyn College, Devon would begin taking work performing at private events.

In 2016, Devon began to freelance and perform in the subways around New York City, wanting to expand as a professional musician and create more opportunities to build his network. He continues to do so, having been featured as one of New York’s prominent street performers on the Kelly Clarkson show in 2023. Outside of street performing, Devon still primarily plays at private events and is embarking on a new journey to compose music for video games and film scores.

With this opportunity to come to Guyana, Devon said he is hoping to do a lot of sightseeing. “And to just open my mind and learn about my heritage and listen to old-time stories as they say. My mom is coming along, and it will really be a good opportunity to bond and increase my awareness.”

Ssignal Productions, led by Alves and Blackman, is all set to produce the 11th edition of the Emancipation Concert, which they started in 2013 at Umana Yana.

Mr. Alves, in an interview with this publication, said that after observing the decline of jazz music for a number of years, he wanted to do something to rejuvenate his interest in polyrhythms and blues.
“At one time, it was very popular,” he reflected, adding, “Side Walk Café did a good job keeping it going for a number of years. But then that died too, and I always wanted to resuscitate jazz music.”

He decided that hosting an annual concert was the best way to keep the jazz melodies swinging and the best time would be in celebration of Emancipation, where Afro-Guyanese artistes would be allowed the stage to share their talents.

It is anticipated that the concert will see about 500 patrons. According to Mr. Alves, many are looking forward to this year’s event as there has not been much jazz activity in the country.

He said the show will be different this year in that it will feature Devon, the violinist. “He is very good and a violinist playing jazz music….it would be a treat to come and hear him play.”