Now the thing is WE CAN ACTUALLY HAVE A T&T SHOWCASE NEXT YEAR ON BET- BUT IT ENT GO LOOK ANYTHING LIKE WHAT WE NAIEVELY THINK IT SHOULD. IT WOULD LOOK LIKE THIS:
· The artist will be: Nicki Minaj; Heather Headley; Trinidad James; Theophilus London; Foxy Brown; Chip Fu of the Fuschnickens; Anslem Douglas; Haddaway; Billy Ocean; and we should leverage for Sparrow to be in there as Calypso King of the World and he should sing an instant folk classic like ‘Lying Excuses’- and feature a dread pan solo by Boogsie or Sean Thomas... Nia Long, Alphosno ‘Carlton’ Rebeiro, and Tatiana Ali could show up and blow kisses
HELP BUT NOTICE THE BANDWAGON, FAIR-WEATHER FRIEND TRINI RESPONSE TO THE JAMAICAN’S RAMPAGING PERFORMANCE AT THE BET AWARDS. I HAD TO CRINGE WITH ALL THE HOLLOW SCREAMS OF, “IS WE TRINIS NEXT YEAR!” THIS IS ONCE AGAIN DISHONEST- JAMAICANS DESERVE IT AS A COMMUNITY. WE DO NOT. FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:
- Jamaicans have been charting internationally since the 1960s and hardly a year has passed without Jamaican artists charting in the Top 100. They have been consistent performers on the international and Billboard charts and have worked hard at finding the numerous musical routes and industry relationships to get there.
- They have generations of music savvy and industry know-how data available to them. Where is any such comparable info located here?
- Every single song on that stage was a Billboard charting song.
- Every single song on that stage is an anthem on the dance-floors across the world- and instantly recognisable from Japan, to Sweden, to South Africa, to Brazil, to Manhattan
- Also bear in mind that their performance of 6 songs and 4 sets of acts took only 4 minutes- yet had all that impact! This was because each artist, performance, song slice, and shout out was a choreographed bomb.
- It was a showcase of numerous Jamaican brands, and icons: their flag; the ice/green/ and gold rasta colours; the backyard dancehall aesthetic with the speaker-boxes etc; their dances; their fashion; the Jamaican style of mixing/ sound effects, etc; the name Jamaica itself…
- This was part of their 50Th Independence Anniversary plan! Anybody care to revisit and recite our plan?
- This is just the latest manifestation of 50 years of Jamaican cumulative hard work in breaking, building on, and sustaining their brand in the world’s consciousness. Dawn Penn who opened the salvo that night with ‘No No No’ first hit with that song in the 1960s and re-did it again in the 80s keeping it current, and is here again in 2013 planting the flag of that anthem once again!
- Reggae is recognised as a category by Billboard and the Grammys. The reggae shelves in most large metropolitan music stores have been growing over the last 15 years- whilst rock shelves shrunk. T&T music is nowhere to be found…
- Their music sells tens of millions of units annually. Their artists are on stages everywhere on planet earth on everyday of the year- performing to millions. We are not.
- Every single song had an emotional and visceral response to many people in the audience…
- DO WE DESERVE ANYTHING COMPARABLE GIVEN ALL OF THIS? NO WE DO NOT!
- Trinidadians want to reap the reward without the hard work and without learning from their mistakes. If we want the same time in the limelight we must do the following:
- WE MUST FIGHT FOR THE CULTURAL INTERVENTIONS WHICH WE KNOW WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE, INSTEAD OF SITTING ON OUR BUTTS AND COMPLAININg
- We must build systems and stop super-rewarding individuals- let the systems and marketplace select its stars
- We must get artists out to international expos based on merit so that we can start building relationships with industry middle-men: managers; booking agents; tour agents; small and medium sized labels; etc
- We must increase our touring contingent from .05% to 35% and get more artists in the world’s face thus building a buzz around a continuous stream of constantly replenishing T&T product
- We must have 50% local content so that we can start listening to more of our local music and seeing more of our images so that we can start confidently exporting the best of our large gene pool, we cannot select from what we do not know we have, and if we are not listening to ourselves en mass then who else will?
- We must start building an institutional memory for our sector and insist that all young musicians matriculate in it and apprentice to our best Elders and our national Songbook- FOR THIS WE NEED TO CANONISE ELDERS AND ESTABLISH A NATIONAL SONGBOOK!!!
- We must start being honest about quality- what is genius, excellent, what is very good, what is good, what is mediocre, what is good but has flaws, what is crap, and what deserves to be destroyed upon conception… Only by artistic honesty will we advance
- Now the thing is WE CAN ACTUALLY HAVE A T&T SHOWCASE NEXT YEAR ON BET- BUT IT ENT GO LOOK ANYTHING LIKE WHAT WE NAIEVELY THINK IT SHOULD. IT WOULD LOOK LIKE THIS:
- The artist will be: Nicki Minaj; Heather Headley; Trinidad James; Theophilus London; Foxy Brown; Chip Fu of the Fuschnickens; Anslem Douglas; Haddaway; Billy Ocean; and we should leverage for Sparrow to be in there as Calypso King of the World and he should sing an instant folk classic like ‘Lying Excuses’- and feature a dread pan solo by Boogsie or Sean Thomas… Nia Long, Alphosno ‘Carlton’ Rebeiro, and Tatiana Ali could show up and blow kisses
- But that’s what the line-up will look like, our Billboard charters do not have worldwide anthems- KMC, General Grant, Kalayan, etc so it would not make sense showcasing them yet. A Machel one-man show would teach us nothing and may be industrially dishonest because we will feel ‘we in ting’ when we are not… If KMC’s label pushes for his album release close to that time then he may be the dark-horse new release in the mix…
- But- we could use the buzz generated by the fact that nobody in the world had a clue that all those hit-makers came from Trinidad and Tobago to position the next tier of our talent who are ready to take the stage- Machel, joint pop, Ataklan, Kes, John John, A_phake, Irukandji, and a steady stream of the best Groovy Soca singles in more or less mainstream music markets- meanwhile we should be prepping others like David Rudder, Blackmans, the Shadow, Robert Munroe, the top 5 Pan orchestras, etc for the World Beat circuits…
- But this is the truth of what is possible. We need to get very real and stop fooling ourselves… We have work to do. Jamaican success is not by fluke, its not by sudden magical individual skill- it is because of systematic, habitual hard work, following international industrial Best Practice, by apprenticing Elders to young talent throughout the system. The guy who trained Bob Marley and the Wailers to sing is still coaching Jamaican vocalists; the same session musicians are playing on tracks 30 years later… They have never burnt their bridges and have been constantly building on industry contacts and sharing them across their spectrum. They have been constantly attending the expos and maintaining relationships and building new ones. Booking agents have been booking Jamaican acts consistently since the 1960s, When we went on tour in 2003 most agents had not seen Trini acts since Sparrow in the 1960s…
It is not because we lack talent- we lack systems and a clue. If we want BET, and Grammy stages, far less Grammy awards, gold medals, world records etc WE NEED TO GET REAL!!!
Replies
Othello Molineaux - It's About Time + But Beautiful
http://youtu.be/RJcHM6zRueQ
This is not really a competition thing between Trinidadians and Jamaican. If it were, Trinidad would win. Airplay is not the problem; it is the follow up after the airplay
As I said before all around the world there are national radios playing Soca and Calypso but No follow up with live performances. I had the pleasure while I was in the Royal Air Force to visit some European countries and attend international music festivals. I listened attentively when I heard calypso and Soca played, but was shocked to see the representatives of Trinidad Music was a white German man and Woman
A complete steel band without a Trini African or Indian face in it, playing and singing along to musical grates like Kitchener and Sparrow. The Pan was lead by Andy Narell of New York and the orchestra was WDR Big Band of Germany. They also did a tribute to Kitchener sung by Relator it is on YouTube, you can have a look it is really good. Andy Narell for his part has been an adopted ambassador for everything Trinidadian I would say he is the Peter Minshall of Pan. These tow white guys have taken Trinidad world wide and just need someone to follow in their footsteps.
Have a look at this and you would see what I am talking about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0Zyn5Tq_Hk
Martin long before Andy Narell joined with Relator we had the Great Robert Greenidge and Relator check this WST video
With all due respect to the Great Robert Greenidge, he is a true ambassador of Trinidad, however this is mostly in-house a few times in the USA and Japan but for the sake of knowledge contrast that with someone who is not Trinidadian and has been world wide promoting our culture, just because he passionately loves it, and you would get my point.
This is something the Trinidad tourist board should be doing and sponsoring the artist to represent the country at music festivals around the world.
Long ago, the winners of competition in Trinidad (Pan and Calypso) represented the country at shows in London etc. that no longer takes place. It is all about making quick money around carnival and everyone for themselves after
Martin, I stood behind Andy last Sunday in a tent and watched him play and those were the exact words I said to my friend, no Trini has done what Andy is doing for pan.
A great deal of truth here, however we Trinis need to realise that 'pan' is a musical instrument that can be used to play anything from jazz to classical music. Calypso, on the other hand is a genre of music like blues, reggae, soul, salsa etc.
Calypso has all the necessary ingredients, viz lyrics, beat, rythm & form, for international audiences, however it is vital to get the required promotion & airplay. This can be done by ensuring the best Trinidad calypsos are showcased at international
festivals and events. It is rediculous when you go to eg Notting Hill carnival in London, all you hear is soundsystems blasting out pop, hip-hop, rap & reggae. There is very little calypso & steelband to be seen and heard. I guess it is probably the same in Canada, the USA and other places where Trinidad - style carnivals are held.
I want to commend you,kind sir,and offer my profound thanks and gratitude for your indulgence and concern for our nation's inherent direction,in your attempt to educate this obviously disillusioned Trini and,of course,us Trinis in general,about what is involved in and,constitutes even approaching the level of International Acceptance,Respect and,Success that the Jamaicans enjoy and,have enjoyed for decades on end!!...I also think that your revelations will surely enlighten the lobbyists who have been lobbying tirelessly for a "Soca" category at the Grammys..an exercise that i have found pretty unflattering and,hopefully,will now end at least,for a while..I do hope that we are forthcoming in heeding your advise and realize,in the not to distant future,the respect and success that our concerted effort would have truly deserved...In closing,while respectfully applauding my Jamaican brothers and sisters,I want to thank you again for restoring in me,hope and faith in my beloved Country..The country of my birth.....
Respectfully Yours,
Othello
Tello, thanks for your comment. FYI - To date, Othello Molineaux is the ONLY solo steel drum (yes, that's what he calls it) recording artist to give honor to George "Sonny" Goddard, on his album, It's About Time. I say IT'S ABOUT TIME that Trinidad and Tobago give this National Hero his just and well-deserved recognition. To not know who Othello Molineaux is, is an insult to our culture, and disrespectful to his contributions. BTW - Maybe he can share with you why he calls the instrument a "steel drum", and NOT a "steelpan" or "pan". For those who know him, they know how rooted he is in the African traditions of our "National Instrument", and understands that the removal of the "drum" reference, only serves in removing ALL associations of the instrument with African-influenced culture. Buy his album:
. Thanks again, Tello.
David/Ghost.
Othello Molineaux - It's About Time +
But Beautiful
http://youtu.be/RJcHM6zRueQ
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