MONTEGO BAY, St James — A ‘guru’ in the local entertainment business, Loyal Haylett is among a group of local and international professionals in the music industry who recently established Music Republic, a company dedicated to staging large festivals across the Caribbean.

“Music Republic’s vision is to bring together the Caribbean’s leading industry professionals to design and produce large scale festivals and concerts, as well as smaller scale musical events and “Broadway style” shows,” Haylett, who is a director in the newly-formed company, told the Jamaica Observer West.

Apart from Haylett, other directors of the recently formed group include:Ian Hemming, managing director and CEO, Robert Stewart, director of technical productions and Damian McGann, director of planning.

Music Republic will stage its inaugural concert, dubbed Rock and Reggae Festival 2013 in the Cayman Islands on Friday, July 12, which will feature fast rising reggae singer, Chronixx and seasoned reggae ambassadors, Third World. Internationally acclaimed Air Supply and Brave Yesterday are the two billed rock acts.

The event will be staged at Camana Bay.

Haylett says all the stakeholders of Music Republic are upbeat over the staging of their first event.

“We are very excited over the staging of our first event since the company has been formed. Everything is now in place and we are looking to have a great time in Cayman next week,” Haylett told the Observer West.

He noted that the company is expected to put on two other events before the end of this year.