Machel, Rudder and Despers for Obama in Trinidad

Machel Montano, Ella Andell, Arrow, David Rudder and even Stephen Marley are a few of the big name acts who will be performing during the official opening of the Fifth Summit of the Americas which will take place from April 17-19 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain.

"There will also be dancers from all over Trinidad and Tobago and the show will last a full 45 minutes," said masman Brian Mac Farlane of the cultural showcase.

Trinidad and Tobago culture will be served up yet again at the Prime Minister's Official Summit Dinner and Cultural Show.

Here, Witco Desperadoes will perform for heads of State from 33 countries participating in the Summit.

The event will be hosted by the Prime Minister Patrick Manning and his wife Hazel Manning at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

While Despers will be among those performing, they will be in no way THE STAR of the night however, says music arranger and artist, Pat Bishop who has the responsibility for the night's musical performances.

Bishop said the Prime Minister's band, Divine Echoes and the National Steel Symphony Orchestra will be major entertainment acts at the dinner.

Also to perform at this function are the Prizgar Lands/Kelly Village folk performing group, saxophonist Arturo Tappin, the Sandra Sookdeo dancers, the Krishna Soogrimram Tassa Drummers and the Xavier Phillip African Drummers, and, of course, the Lydian Singers and Lydian Steel.

Several acts from Tobago will also be represented at the event. For the closing ceremony of the Summit at 11am on Sunday, all the dancers, singers and instrumentalists will join together to perform the "Hallelujah" chorus and bid the delegates farewell.