ST. CROIX — When the sensuous quelbe sound of Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights playing traditional holiday songs echoes through the valleys during the early morning hours, St. Croix residents know the annual Crucian Christmas Foreday Serenade has arrived.
Throughout the past 20 years — following its revival in 2006 — the serenade has grown into one of the island’s most beloved community events that is synonymous with Christmas.
What began decades ago as an intimate connection between residents and a small, free-roaming scratch band has transformed into a massive, multigenerational celebration of music, tradition, and St. Croix pride.
While the TSK members used to drive through neighborhoods in a small truck and walk into homes playing acoustic instruments to spread holiday cheer in the 1970s and ’80s after picking up the serenade tradition from other musicians, it is now a multiday event that features the band traversing the island on a mobile stage. A motorcade of supporters follows, making planned pit stops with the band at residences along the way to socialize and eat before culminating with a tramp in town.
Kendell “KC” Henry, who plays congas with TSK, described the serenade as a staple event that has grown over the past two decades into a cultural celebration.
“Crucians of all age groups have come out and enjoyed the serenade,” he said. “It’s not one dynamic age group that is affected. It’s open to all age groups, and they come out and they have a good time.”
Henry said TSK enjoys serving the community on a cultural level, adding that the band loves bringing joy to residents.
“Christmastime is a time of joy, cheer, laughter, and I think quelbe music brings that out in all age groups and all Virgin Islanders,” he said.
Gilbert Hendricks Sr., TSK bass player for 31 years, said the serenade provides TSK with an opportunity to give back to the community during the holidays.
“We do this because we love it, and we know that the general public loves it, and it cheers them up for the season,” he said. “When you play music, you want to see people happy and enjoying themselves. So, you know, we do that for that reason, so people could enjoy the Christmas season.”
Dr. Olaf Hendricks, saxophonist and longtime TSK member who played his last gig with the band in 2023 due to physical demands, described the serenade as a transformative experience.
“It was a phenomenon that touched so many different layers, so many different aspects of our life here — not just a bunch of crazy guys in a truck at a ridiculous time in the morning,” he said, noting the serenade became a highlight for Crucians who moved away when they returned for the holidays. “These were some of the people that were the most excited to see us and hear us and join us.”
With a history dating back to the 1950s, TSK did not start the serenade tradition.
Stanley Jacobs, the only TSK founding member who is still with the band as it celebrates its 55th anniversary this year, recalled hearing the sounds of the serenade when he was a child.
“I think it was people that just got together to do it — to sing,” Jacobs, the band’s leader and flautist, said. “There used to be a lot of singing. They had instruments too, but mostly they used to be singing Christmas carols.”
Jacobs discussed how different the serenade was when the band picked up the tradition immediately after forming in 1970. He said TSK drove around in a small truck as the band played music in the streets, stopping to perform for friends and family along the way. He pointed out there was no motorcade at that time.
“Everything was acoustic in them days, so we had the capability to actually go into people’s homes with the instruments and to play inside their home,” he said, adding that the promise of guavaberry motivated them to make the house visits.
TSK continued the tradition for about two decades. It did not last, though, as repeated police shutdowns over the noise forced the band to stop serenading entirely in 1992. Jacobs said, however, that the serenade was reborn in 2006 thanks to community insistence and the support of WTJX.
“WTJX was instrumental in starting it back again because we had decided that we were finished with it since the police had stopped us so many times,” he said.
Tanya-Marie Singh, WTJX chief executive officer, said the serenade was held in 2006 to document a tradition that seemed irretrievably lost. She said, however, the positive response from the community, including senior citizens who called the station tearfully expressing gratitude and parents who were excited to share the tradition with their children, resulted in its revival on an annual basis.
“The band was especially thrilled by the community’s support,” she said. “It was reclaiming a tradition that outsiders were instrumental in disrupting.”
Singh said that is why the serenade is still going 20 years later.
“It is an expectation,” she said. “It is a warm hug in the middle of your slumber. It is that knowledge that you’re on St. Croix. You are home during the Christmas season.”
After initially stopping the serenade in 1992, the Virgin Islands Police Department has led the motorcade since its revival in 2006.
Sergeant Arthur Joseph, commander of the Traffic Investigation Bureau, recalled that the bandmates specifically requested that he lead the serenade or they would not do it.
“I was really taken aback because I know that I supported that band for the better part of my good, young life, but I didn’t think they saw me as that important to the whole process,” he said. “So, I was honored in 2006 to start to do the serenade with them. It was a wonderful journey from since then.”
As TSK prepares for this year’s serenade, the band will be performing without its lead singer and banjo ukulele player Austin Eldred “Edgie” Christian Jr., a founding band member who died on May 24 at the age of 83.
Jacobs said he misses Christian terribly.
“He has left a big hole in the band,” he said. “His voice has been the sound for the Ten Sleepless Knights for all these years.”
Henry spoke of the impact Christian has had on other musicians in the Virgin Islands.
“We have a lot of musicians and singers right now who started to sing because they saw Edgie singing, so we will definitely miss his unique voice, his leadership, his presence, and we will be doing this in his honor,” he said.
Henry is now the band’s lead singer.
“I am tasked with filling those gigantic shoes,” he said.
Christian’s son, Kevin Christian, will be strumming the instrument his father played — the banjo ukulele.
For the 20th anniversary of the serenade, the band will expand the celebration from two days to three. The three-day serenade will be spread out over two weeks as it will take place in the early morning on December 11, 19, and 23. The band and motorcade of revelers will also make additional stops for food and fellowship along the way.
The first day of serenade will be on the west end, culminating with a tramp from the Frederiksted Post Office to Aquaholic Beach Bar & Grill. The serenade will stay mid-island on the second day, passing through such neighborhoods as Strawberry and Bonne Esperance. The third day will be on the east end. The serenade will conclude on the third day with a tramp from Sunday Market Square to WTJX, where participants can anticipate a surprise. The band will begin each morning of the serenade at 2 a.m. from Kevin Christian’s home in Estate Ginger Thomas. Revelers can keep an eye out for the official flyer that will provide more information.
In addition to Henry, Jacobs, Gilbert Hendricks, and Kevin Christian, the band’s current ensemble includes Lauren “Larry” Larsen, Herman “Junie” Thompson Jr., Kenneth Henderson, and Shelton “Shelly” Shulterbrandt.
While the serenade has become a major community event, the band’s goal has not changed.
“Our mission is to preserve our music and to preserve our culture,” Jacobs said, adding the band supports the continuation of serenade. “The hope is that other bands will do the same. We have always tried to get other bands to do this, to join into the serenading. It shouldn’t be just us alone serenading during Christmas.”
