Details:
genre:
location:
St Augustine St George, Trinidad & Tobago
bio:
KeKeRe (aka Mauri K Hall) originally hails from Canada via Trinidad since the age of two, moving to Tobago at the age of five.
He started in music at the early age of seven, under the sobriquet, Calypso Massive, performing his own composition at Shaw Park, Tobago, for an NJAC calypso competition. Later he took the name KeKeRe (pronounced Kay-Kay-Ray, meaning youth or small or child of secret in the Yoruba language) and went on to perform in numerous other competitions and talent shows in the following years, including but not exclusive to; he was a runner up to the Junior Tobago Calypso Monarch at the age of 9, he was a winner in '12 and Under' at the age of 11 and a Tobago winner in 'Scouting for Talent' at the age of 14. At the age of 10 he recorded his first single, Sense and Understanding, his own composition.
During the recording sessions for this work the producer/arranger Calliston Pantor and the mixing engineer Robin Foster insisted that he should be called 'the rebel'. Hence they changed his performance name to KeKeRe the Rebel in compliance with the tradition of how names are given to calypsonians.
At 15 he went to Canada and learned to play the guitar. By the time he was 18 years old, after experimenting with rudimentary recording equipment given to him by his uncle Dennis 'Sprangalang' Hall, KeKeRe started work as an engineer/producer at KMP Music Lab in south Trinidad with ace soca/calypso musician and producer Kenny Phillips.
Vengeance Crew
Later he moved back to Tobago and formed his group Vengeance Crew and with them he produced his first complete CD of several songs, "DOH STICK". This work gained air-play in Tobago on Tambrin Radio 92.7FM and the group gained local recognition for dynamic 'live' performances.
In early 2003 KeKeRe decided it was time to further his recording engineering skills and so he enrolled in the prestigious digital arts college, Recording Arts Canada in Ontario, to further his studies in audio engineering and acoustics.
Upon returning from the cold KeKeRe got an opportunity to work with the legendary soca/calypso star Machel Montano and Xtatik. KeKeRe has done the installations for video screens for live shows, as well as recording, mixing, song writing and making beats at Machel's Ed Gordon Studio in Port of Spain.
KeKeRe performed in the 3canal show "Jab In The Box" for 2005, a show which aired on Synergy TV for the 2005 Carnival season. In 2007 he performed in 3canal's "The Bachanal Show" the acoustic version of his new song New Generation, garnering good reviews, with a performance called "Sterling" by Paul Richards of 96.1FM.
For the 2008 Calypso Season in the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival KeKeRe performed with the Glow Calypso Tent in Tobago. He was able to place second to Princess Adana in the Tobago Groovy Soca Monarch Competition and fourth after Tobago Chalkie, Squeeze and Calypso Prince in the NJAC Tobago Young Kings Competition. Towards the end of the short season he spent the last week performing at Queens Hall, Port of Spain in The 3canal Show, "SHINE".
For 2009 KeKeRe appeared in the Trinbago United Calypsonians Organisation (TUCO) Calypso Tent in Tobago and made appearances opening for the B-Mobile Soca Spree staring Machel Montano HD and Shurwayne Winchester & Y.O.U., for Peter Ram at The Shade Disco and recently for Shurwayne Winchester's Children Show. He also did a week long stint in Port of Spain at JOY + FIRE, The 3canal Show for their 2009 season.
website:
http://www.kekere.com