Can you hear me now? Good!
Once more we are back on music, and this time exploring non-indigenous genres in the local music industry. Local here of course refers to Barbados, but can easily apply to any music industry anywhere.
By now it should be no secret to anyone,living in Barbados, that Barbados has musical acts practising and representing a plethora of musical genres. From the internationally known soca acts like Krosfyah, Allison Hinds and Lil Rick to the amazing rock alternative stylings of Kite, Barbados goes hard. Standing Penance, Psilos, Threads of Scarlet, The Highgrade Band, The Fully Loaded Band, Nexcyx, Teff, Cover Drive, Daveny Ellis, Sunrok, Rhy Minister, Dundeal, Billy Kincaid(where you at son?) Red Star Lion, LRG, Ayana John, Betty Rose, and this list could and would go on. This list represents rock, reggae, r&b, pop, hip hop, indie and more, and is 100% Bajan. Anyone remember DJ Carlos and his Friday night techno-dance-trance sessions on Mix 96.9FM?
Click on any of the selected artists below to check out their websites, facebook pages or myspace pages:
Standing Penance Psilos Cover Drive
Buggy - Just a Man Ayana John Kite
Teff Nexcyx Red Star Lion
AzMan ( I suggest taking a listen to Dreams)
I claim this list as 100% Bajan and I stand by it, but they are some who would beg to differ, and for valid reasons, very valid reasons in fact. The arguments cited, in opposition of the 100% Bajan tag vary. There is the argument that Barbadians should stick to Bajan music and not get caught up in trying to do other peoples things, amd by other peoples things they usually mean pop, rap and hip hop, rock/alternative and reggae. The persons presenting this argument would prefer for Bajans to stick to soca and revitalise spouge, and stop all the banja. There is of course the slight issue in that soca is no more bajan than hip hop is, and a lot of people either do not know this, forgot this, or would love to pretend that it is. "Yuh hear lie, dat is lie." This argument is perpetuated by some narrow minded, but not ill-intentioned, people, who are gladly starting to fade from existance thanks mainly to the signing of a few young Bajans (Livvi Franc, Vita Chambers, Hal Linton, Shontelle and of course RiRi) to international labels, none practising any "indigenous" genres.
This next argument holds ground on this, its supporters and agitators have nothing against a diverse musical industry and in fact welcome the diversity, their peeve is that the artists are imitating the international and regional artists from which ever country their selected genre is from. Simplified, the rappers are rapping and phrasing like Americans, and rockers are singing like Americans, the reggae artists are chanting and singing and phrasing and speaking like Jamaicans, the Calypsonians and Soca artists are "phrasing like Trini".
This argument claims that the Barbadian self image, or perception of self, is in crisis since its artist are choosing to imitate, not emulate, the image and voices of others and not highlight their own, or create one that is uniquely and distinctly Bajan. It is a fairly valid point, and no doubt a serious one, no nation should let its national self image be weak enough to be erased by external influences, but is it really that bad, is the Barbadian self image so malleable? I'm not convinced, at least not from a musical stand point, that it is. If as a musician I lean towards rock, and choose that rock is the genre I wish to perform, then I would naturally seek to emulate other rock artist, especially the ones that I like and that influence me. It should come as no surprise to anyone that listens to me perform that I would have a similar sound to my influences, even in my original pieces. So when I go and listen to Adrian Green perform, I do not say, this is 75% Bajan, because I can hear the influence of Heru in him, neither do I ask whether Billy Kincaid has dual American/Bajan citizenship because he uses Bajan metaphors and analogies with some traces of an American accent and phrasing when rapping. Sunrok is hot in either dialect or the American flow, and 100% Bajan in both.
"Because when man luv ah ooman and ah ooman luv ah man ah jah jah bless eet" said the white Italian Rasta, and no one cares. Who remembers Snow from the 90's, the skinny white Canadian reggae artist, who on the radio sounded just like the skinny black boys from Kingston.
The genres these artists love and perform are not Bajan in origin, and while I can agree that some Barbadian influences coming through in the music would be nice (and it does happen, hell of a lot too) we really should not be disappointed when they sound like people from the respective lands of origin of whatever genre they perform, it is only natural. Listen to the junglist selections coming out of England, ever heard Mighty Crown or Black Chiney in a clash? Simon Pipe sounds like a Bay Area kid? So what? If these walls could talk they would tell you hush and just listen to the music.
These Bajan artist are some of the proudest Bajans we have, and they rep the country to the fullest when the chance arises. One of the guys from Kite had a customised guitar painted like the Barbados flag, unfortunately it was stolen. RiRi always has a trident somewhere in her videos. Buggy and the Fully Loaded Band always remixing songs and incorporating Barbadian things in their covers, "take a look down Baxters Road, do you see anything to smile bout?", "I got a hundred weight of collie weed coming from St. John..", and they had this crazy crazy spouge rendition of Culture's "A Song to Make the Whole World Sing" ..the engineer would tell you I love that version bad bad bad. The Highgrade Band started to incorporate some Bajan familiarities into their cover sets too. Do you know what I do when I hear Nexcyx perform? The same thing I do when Taio Cruz comes on, I get On The Floor and throw my hands in the air sometimes, it just feels a lot better when its to Nexcyx.
Once more we are back on music, and this time exploring non-indigenous genres in the local music industry. Local here of course refers to Barbados, but can easily apply to any music industry anywhere.
By now it should be no secret to anyone,living in Barbados, that Barbados has musical acts practising and representing a plethora of musical genres. From the internationally known soca acts like Krosfyah, Allison Hinds and Lil Rick to the amazing rock alternative stylings of Kite, Barbados goes hard. Standing Penance, Psilos, Threads of Scarlet, The Highgrade Band, The Fully Loaded Band, Nexcyx, Teff, Cover Drive, Daveny Ellis, Sunrok, Rhy Minister, Dundeal, Billy Kincaid(where you at son?) Red Star Lion, LRG, Ayana John, Betty Rose, and this list could and would go on. This list represents rock, reggae, r&b, pop, hip hop, indie and more, and is 100% Bajan. Anyone remember DJ Carlos and his Friday night techno-dance-trance sessions on Mix 96.9FM?
Click on any of the selected artists below to check out their websites, facebook pages or myspace pages:
Standing Penance Psilos Cover Drive
Buggy - Just a Man Ayana John Kite
Teff Nexcyx Red Star Lion
AzMan ( I suggest taking a listen to Dreams)
I claim this list as 100% Bajan and I stand by it, but they are some who would beg to differ, and for valid reasons, very valid reasons in fact. The arguments cited, in opposition of the 100% Bajan tag vary. There is the argument that Barbadians should stick to Bajan music and not get caught up in trying to do other peoples things, amd by other peoples things they usually mean pop, rap and hip hop, rock/alternative and reggae. The persons presenting this argument would prefer for Bajans to stick to soca and revitalise spouge, and stop all the banja. There is of course the slight issue in that soca is no more bajan than hip hop is, and a lot of people either do not know this, forgot this, or would love to pretend that it is. "Yuh hear lie, dat is lie." This argument is perpetuated by some narrow minded, but not ill-intentioned, people, who are gladly starting to fade from existance thanks mainly to the signing of a few young Bajans (Livvi Franc, Vita Chambers, Hal Linton, Shontelle and of course RiRi) to international labels, none practising any "indigenous" genres.
This next argument holds ground on this, its supporters and agitators have nothing against a diverse musical industry and in fact welcome the diversity, their peeve is that the artists are imitating the international and regional artists from which ever country their selected genre is from. Simplified, the rappers are rapping and phrasing like Americans, and rockers are singing like Americans, the reggae artists are chanting and singing and phrasing and speaking like Jamaicans, the Calypsonians and Soca artists are "phrasing like Trini".
This argument claims that the Barbadian self image, or perception of self, is in crisis since its artist are choosing to imitate, not emulate, the image and voices of others and not highlight their own, or create one that is uniquely and distinctly Bajan. It is a fairly valid point, and no doubt a serious one, no nation should let its national self image be weak enough to be erased by external influences, but is it really that bad, is the Barbadian self image so malleable? I'm not convinced, at least not from a musical stand point, that it is. If as a musician I lean towards rock, and choose that rock is the genre I wish to perform, then I would naturally seek to emulate other rock artist, especially the ones that I like and that influence me. It should come as no surprise to anyone that listens to me perform that I would have a similar sound to my influences, even in my original pieces. So when I go and listen to Adrian Green perform, I do not say, this is 75% Bajan, because I can hear the influence of Heru in him, neither do I ask whether Billy Kincaid has dual American/Bajan citizenship because he uses Bajan metaphors and analogies with some traces of an American accent and phrasing when rapping. Sunrok is hot in either dialect or the American flow, and 100% Bajan in both.
"Because when man luv ah ooman and ah ooman luv ah man ah jah jah bless eet" said the white Italian Rasta, and no one cares. Who remembers Snow from the 90's, the skinny white Canadian reggae artist, who on the radio sounded just like the skinny black boys from Kingston.
The genres these artists love and perform are not Bajan in origin, and while I can agree that some Barbadian influences coming through in the music would be nice (and it does happen, hell of a lot too) we really should not be disappointed when they sound like people from the respective lands of origin of whatever genre they perform, it is only natural. Listen to the junglist selections coming out of England, ever heard Mighty Crown or Black Chiney in a clash? Simon Pipe sounds like a Bay Area kid? So what? If these walls could talk they would tell you hush and just listen to the music.
These Bajan artist are some of the proudest Bajans we have, and they rep the country to the fullest when the chance arises. One of the guys from Kite had a customised guitar painted like the Barbados flag, unfortunately it was stolen. RiRi always has a trident somewhere in her videos. Buggy and the Fully Loaded Band always remixing songs and incorporating Barbadian things in their covers, "take a look down Baxters Road, do you see anything to smile bout?", "I got a hundred weight of collie weed coming from St. John..", and they had this crazy crazy spouge rendition of Culture's "A Song to Make the Whole World Sing" ..the engineer would tell you I love that version bad bad bad. The Highgrade Band started to incorporate some Bajan familiarities into their cover sets too. Do you know what I do when I hear Nexcyx perform? The same thing I do when Taio Cruz comes on, I get On The Floor and throw my hands in the air sometimes, it just feels a lot better when its to Nexcyx.
We have spouge(dead as it is) and Fling, and I hope that if fling ever gets regional and international followers that when I am overseas I can hear some Americans phrasing in Bajan and flinging it down like Azman. They will be no less American, just like The Bajan musicians are no less Bajan; Real Ting!
Props man. Keep the people informed. A good read and even better that you have videos and what not. The Bajan element will come to the fore amidst it all. I too have been disappointed to artists emulate but not because of similarities, it is more when they seem to go to any extent to shed any semblance of identity self in favour of recognition (i suppose it is all up to the perception of the viewer) but this is not limited to Bajans at all. It sounds a lot different when an artist really enjoys what they do as opposed to if they are just performing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback Rhy Minister. My blogs always have some form of videos in them, usually music videos, but that is just because I believe that music is one of the most representative things that we as people have. There is literally a song for all situations, and phases in life, and if you come across a song-less situation - write it and sing it yourself.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you man, sometimes people seem to lose their "identity" and become almost carbon copies of their idols and influences, but that is more of a reflection of the failures of the radio and school systems than on the person's individuality.
Canada's radio stations play a majority of Canadian music, and that helped to develop their music industry. Barbados might want to look into a similar policy. This is a good time to do it, the diversity of genres in the local industry are at the highest ever, and the quality of the music, musicians and producing (overall craftmanship) has never been better. The time is now.
bless. nuff respect pun de issue. we gat nuff talent here in bim and i hoping that the talent we have continues to grow, develop and shine. hoping that we, not dominate, but make our mark in the creative industries and each talented person be recognized for what they are worth.
ReplyDeleteThis is a thought provoking article. With your permission I would like to propagate this in my fb network. -Doddy
ReplyDeleteyeh man Doddy, sorry I only just saw this but go ahead and run it on your FB network man.
ReplyDeleteGive thanks everyone.