Tag Archives: Wyclef Jean

Hear Here! VersoFest’s Groundbreaking AI Jingles

Posted on March 22, 2026 | 2 comments

In just 5 years, VersoFest has gained a great reputation for its celebration of music, media and creativity.

This year, those 3 elements have reached new, um, records.

Verso Studios — the Library’s media hub — has created a promotional jingle. They’re playing at other Library events, and will be heard at VersoFest too. The 4-day show begins Thursday.

There are 4 versions of the same jingle. Each emulates the styles of major artists in this year’s lineup.

The one inspired by Wyclef Jean has an R&B flavor. The Thing‘s version is inspired by garage rock. Susanna Hoffs‘ is melodic pop rock, while Ani DiFranco’s suggests a folksy vibe.

Wyclef Jean

Lyrics and music were created in Verso Studios by Travis Bell, the studio’s in-house producer. He collaborated with Verso advisory board member Les Dinkin, principal of DinkinEsh Presents, who conceptualized the creative project.

The duo used the studio’s AI-based software to draft and refine a set of lyrics for the festival. Then came music generated through iterative prompts.

Ani DiFranco (Photo/Shervin Lainez)

Bell and Dinkin worked on many preliminary versions, before finalizing the right fit for each artist’s sound.

Click here or below to listen to the jingles.

Listen To The VersoFest’26 Jingles

All jingles were created solely from prompts through AI tools. The artist’s recordings or inputs from their recordings were not utilized in any way.

“We believe this may be the first time that AI music tools have been used to create artist-specific jingles by any performance venue, let alone a public community library,” Bell says.

This is not the first “first” for the Westport Library.

In 2022 “Verso Records: Volume One” became the first vinyl record ever recorded, produced, and released by a public library.

At VersoFest 2025, the Library also set the new world record for loudest library in history.

The third time is one more charm.

(Ani DiFranco is in conversation with Lindsay Czarniak on Thursday, March 26 at 7 p.m. Wyclef Jean is in concert Friday, March 27 at 7:30 p.m. The Thing and Susanna Hoffs appeared earlier. For the full VersoFest lineup, ticket information and more, click here.)

(“06880” is your place for all VersoFest news — and everything else going on in town. If you appreciate our coverage of “Where Westport meets the world,” please click here to support us. Thanks!)

2 Comments

Posted in Entertainment, Library, technology

Tagged Ani DiFranco, Les Dinkin, Travis Bell, VersoFest, Wyclef Jean

Ani DiFranco Added To VersoFest Lineup

Posted on January 8, 2026 | Leave a comment

VersoFest ’26 keeps getting fest-ier.

First came word that Grammy Award-winning artist/producer/composer/ Fugees co-founder Wyclef Jean will headline a March 27 concert.

Now a second Grammy winner has been booked.

Folk-rock legend and cultural icon Ani DiFranco kicks off the 4-day weekend. She’ll chat with Lauren Coyle Rosen, co-author of their new book, “The Spirit of Ani: Reflections on Spirituality, Feminism, Music, and Freedom.

Their March 26 conversation (7 p.m.) will focus on DiFranco’s creativity, spirituality, and evolving consciousness.

DiFranco‘s 23 albums cross genres, and address a range of autobiographical, political and social issues.

“Verses” — her collection of poems and paintings — was published in 2007. Her memoir, “No Walls and the Recurring Dream,” was a bestseller. She is the author of the children’s books “The Knowing” and “Show Up and Vote.”

In 2024,\ DiFranco spent 5 months on Broadway, playing Persephone in “Hadestown.”

Tickets are $35 (click here to order). Each ticket includes a copy of the book.

This year’s VersoFest also includes a February 27 performance by rising rockers The Thing; conversations with performers, actors and authors, plus panel discussions, an interactive art installation, and more. Click here for details.

Ani DiFranco (Photo/Shervin Lainez)

Superstar Wyclef Jean Headlines ’26 VersoFest

Posted on December 18, 2025 | 10 comments

VersoFest’s 5th year will be bigger than ever.

That’s not hyperbole.

It’s Wyclef Jean performing.

The Grammy Award-winning artist/producer/composer/Fugees co-founder has just been booked as the headliner for the March 27 concert.

He’ll be there with his full band. Tickets are $125, and available now at VersoFest.org.

If that’s not enough: Jean’s show will support Music Will — the largest nonprofit music education program for schools in the United States.

Wyclef Jean

VersoFest is the Westport Library’s annual music and media conference — a forum for media creators, artists, and fans to converge.

The music that Jean has written, performed and produced — both as a solo superstar, and as founder and guiding member of the Fugees — has been a powerful pop cultural force for more than 2 decades.

Hits include the Fugees’ reinvention of Roberta Flack’s 1973 ballad “Killing Me Softly”; “Hips Don’t Lie” with Shakira, which he co-wrote, produced, and is featured on; his own “Gone Till November”; “Ghetto Superstar”; Carlos Santana’s Numeber 1 single “Maria, Maria” (featuring Jean); and Whitney Houston’s “My Love is Your Love.”

Jean has earned 3 Grammy Awards; Golden Globe and Emmy nominations, and the cover of Rolling Stone’s “Top 50 Hip Hop Players.” He’s made music with Michael Jackson, Queen, Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, Earth Wind & Fire, Kenny Rogers, and Tom Jones.

As a solo artist, Jean’s 6 albums have sold nearly 9 million copies worldwide.

Now he’ll be in Westport — performing for just 700 people, in the cutting-edge, intimate Library space.