I contributed to this list:
[Originally published in LargeUp.com on December 6th, 2011]
http://largeup.okayplayer.com/2011/12/06/toppa-top-10-caribbean-books/
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Countdown to Labor Day: Q+A with NYC Promoter Natalie
Countdown to Labor Day: Q+A with NYC Soca Promoter Natalie
The annual West Indian-American Day Parade down Brooklyn’s Eastern Parkway is the central event of Caribbean life in New York City. For Caribbeans in NYC and the many visitors who pour in from across the Diaspora, Labor Day Weekend isn’t just about the parade: it’s also several days worth of pre-carnival fetes and concerts. As we head into carnival this week, LargeUp will be profiling and chatting with some of the personalities who organize the madness that is Labor Day Weekend–as well as Caribbean events in NYC throughout the year. To kick things off, Rishi Bonneville caught up with Trinidad-born promoter Natalie.
Trinidadians have always played a leading role in New York’s version of Carnival. In the 1930s, a Trinidadian woman, Ms. Jesse Waddel, first introduced Carnival to Harlem. After a mixed reception, the event was eventually relocated to Brooklyn, where today an estimated 75,000 people of Trini ancestry now reside. (Among the countries feeding New York City’s insatiable appetite for new arrivals, the tiny island nation ranks in the top 10). Known simply as Natalie to partygoers, Trinidad native Natalie Lamming’s legendary series of pre-Labor Day Brooklyn summer fetes transform empty lots into otherworldly locations for soca revelry. Natalie began this summer with a dramatic appearance by 2011 Groovy Soca Monarch Kes & The Band at her “Sshh” party on Memorial Day. As Labor Day approaches, she has lots more in store…
LargeUp: How did you get started promoting in Brooklyn?
Natalie: Many people know me from working at the restaurant Sugarcane in Downtown Brooklyn. But I actually got my start at Porknockers, a similar place which was further down Atlantic. It no longer exists. I had come up from Trinidad–Diego Martin–for school when I started working there. It was owned by a Guyanese but it catered to a wide variety of Caribbean people. I was well known with my Trinidadian customers. In 2000, the owner let me throw a party there, and I booked Machel Montano. He had just disbanded Xtatik, so I pulled together a band for him here. It was a success.
LU: And then you moved to Sugarcane?
Natalie: After a while, I needed a change, and I stumbled upon Sugarcane. People would ask me to hold tickets for their fetes at Sugarcane. I never charged, because I felt like it kept me in the scene, but eventually it was like I was endorsing their parties, and people would start using my name without asking, which I didn’t like. Sugarcane is a big part of my development. Although I no longer work there, some people still affiliate me with them. They are like family. But now Natalie is an independent thing. My company is NatKen LLC.
Kes at Natalie's Sshh party
Natalie: In 2005, there was a popular party in Trinidad called Cribs. I knew the guy who threw it, and I asked him if I could recreate the party in Brooklyn. I was living in East New York at the time, and everyday I would look outside and see this huge lot next door to my house, which was also owned by my landlord. So I printed 800 tickets–the printer told me that was the best deal–and I gave ten each to all of my friends to sell. I redecorated the whole yard, outfitted a number of my prettiest girlfriends to help me for the night, and asked an Italian friend of mine who is an ex-cop to assist with security–he looks the part. My old boss from Porknockers gave me the liquor on consignment. I knew it would be successful, but I didn’t know exactly what to expect. But all 800 people showed up! In those days, East New York was bad. The last thing the police was worried about was a party–they left us alone. And I collected on every one of those ticket sales.
LU: How has it developed from there to now, where you had Kes for Memorial Day?
Natalie: Eventually Cribs grew too big to keep in my landlord’s yard, so I moved it to the Volume II Mas Camp, in Flatbush. I also wanted to do a Memorial Day event, but my friend Ricardo aka Back2Basics, was promoting his annual Shine breakfast fete that day. But I felt like there was enough of an audience for both of us—Marshalls is next to Target, after all. I took an old name I used to use at Porknockers, “Sshh,” and ran with it.
LU: How would you describe your audience?
Natalie: I’ve argued with some of my promoter friends who want me to do events in Manhattan. I do my parties in Brooklyn, where the people are. That having been said, nobody wants a problem. I am very selective in how I promote. I never print flyers, everything is digital and word-of-mouth. My crowd are people who work and want to have a good time. I never thought I would use the backyard of a venue like C-PAC, which has a reputation as a rough Jamaican dancehall, but the opportunity was right, so I did. And I was able to carry my crowd there. I warn my DJs—don’t talk too much on the mic, and no Babylon this-and-that or batty man bashing. That’s not for me. All types of people come to my events and I want them to feel comfortable. To get the theme right, I order all kinds of props: trees, fog machines, lights. I have a very crazy method and I don’t know how it works, but it does.
LU: Your fliers and themes are elegant; they stand out from other parties. For example this CRAVE flyer. The woman in the picture is in costume, she’s beautiful, but its not overly sexed-up.
Natalie: My flyer designers hate working with me. I am very particular. One of our upcoming events is Santi Manitay: “so it shall be”. Something I heard growing up. I like to be different. With the CRAVE flyer, I actually called up the owner of the image to get permission. Nobody usually does that.
LU: What is it like being a woman in the business?
Natalie: There are only a few women in the promotion thing—it’s dominated by men. But most of the fight is from women. Small talk and bacchanal and thing. But I am supportive of women doing anything creative. I wish women would be more supportive of women.
LU: Who are your mentors?
Natalie: I would have to say Chris Quarles, the former owner of Porknockers. I remember walking into to work one day and finding the bar on the other side of the venue. He felt like switching it around and hired someone to work through the night with him to drill it. He taught me a lot. Also my mother, in Trinidad. She is an empowerment coach who is into Rekhi. We talk over the phone and she helps me to see things in a different light.
LU: What do you actually do on Labor Day?
Natalie: I usually jump up with Sesame Flyers. This year I think I’m going to go with Ramajay. I might play with Sugarcane: they have a section.
Natalie Presents CRAVE (Carnival Rave) 9/2, 10pm-?, 1020 E. 48th St. Brooklyn NY
Natalie & Shorblu present Santi Manitay, 9/3/11, 6pm-Midnight, Tiki Village, 5811 Kingsway Place, Brooklyn NY
You might like:
Trini Soca Star Blaxx Can Stop Vampires
Trini Soca Star Blaxx Can Stop Vampires
[Originally appeared in MTV Iggy on November 1st, 2011 -- note their posting does not bear my name.]
Race, Sex, Crime, Magic
For the last decade, veterans like Machel Montano, Bunji Garlin,
Shurwyane Winchester and Iwer George have dominated the Soca Monarch and
Road March titles in Trinidad and Labor Day. However rising star Blaxx
(government name Dexter Stewart), who placed in the top four at the 2011 Soca Monarch competition last year, is poised to join that elite group. Blaxx’s energetic hits, like this year’s “Tanti Woi,” are marked by his distinctive vocal style—part wail, part command.
The mirthful and girthful artist, known in his childhood as “Fat Black” or “Mighty Hot Chocolate,” flew into New York for Labor Day weekend this year to play several big shows, performing his electro-soca hits and teasing fans with what he might have for Carnival 2012. He absolutely smashed the CRAVE fete, and then woke up to talk to us about double entendres, street slang, the beauty of Trinidadian women, and the magic of carnival—literally, the magic—before heading out to his next gig in Brooklyn.
Lets talk about one of your big hits for 2011, “Carnival Jumbie.” It has an old school feel to the bass line, and the opening shout of “boodop! wadap!” is electric. How did you compose that one?
It was produced by the very talented Madman Yohan, who was influenced by an old record by the calypsonian Shadow—that is where the old-school vibe comes from. The song is about getting hit by the spirit of carnival, that “kill we dead.” And “boodop! wadap! is a common Trinidadian expression for giving someone, like a child, a smack. So its like pow!—pure licks; when you get possessed with the spirit, you start dancing; you say “I want some rum! I want to wine!”
You first bust onto to international soca scene with “Dutty” in 2006, right?
Yes, I’ve been lucky to have a big song for carnival five years running. In 2007 it was “Dutty.” In 2008, “Breathless” and 2009, “Tusty,” Last year it was “Hunting,” and this year people liked “Tanti Woi” and “Carnival Jumbie.”
As soca has tended towards soca/pop—smoother and accessible to a non-Trinidadian—with Machel Montano leading the way—your songs are moving in the other direction, edgy, with heavy drums, and Trinidadian creole. Is your niche the streets of Trinidad?
Ahh hah. Yes, that’s very perceptive. In fact it is true. I do choose songs and use Trini slang that would resonate with poor people, the people in the streets. Saying “dutty” for “dirty” or “tusty” instead of “thirsty” definitely lets people know who I am singing for. I sing to make people in the streets jump in carnival, and choose my words carefully.
Since Trinidad has strict censorship laws, unlike Jamaica, you must walk a fine line between keeping the streets hype and keeping your lyrics clean enough for authorities.
It is quite a high-wire act. You have be very clever. I also have a Catholic upbringing, so I wouldn’t come and sing “Sharon! I’m coming to wine on she,” which some might find offensive. But in Trinidad, we specialize in the double entendre. So when I say “whole day I’m hunting, every night I’m hunting…run, run, run it down” Some may take it different, but I’m actually singing about finding the best fete, the best party!
Are you from Port au Spain, the capitol?
No I’m from the south of Trinidad, Pointe Fontin, which is also the home of Iwer George. But I’ve lived in Port au Spain for many years now.
In your new song “Good Times” you sing “the vampire coming, the sukuyan* coming…” could you explain the story behind that song?
Ah ha! You like that one, yes? Kerwin Dubois and I actually recorded that one together a couple of years ago. You know Kerwin is a big producer who relocated to Canada, who has access to all the latest equipment—everyone is trying to catch up with his crispness and style.
When we wrote it, we had both been having some of the same issues in our personal lives—problems with the baby mother and with others because your career gone too strong. So this song addressed those by saying we are blessed. They can send vampires, or sukuyan [ed. -- a mythological Trinidadian female vampire], but they can’t stop we.
You also sing “a buck come from Guyana to try and lick me down.” Can you explain that line?
Well they say in Guyana there is a race of shorter, mystical people in the forest. They are said to have special powers. So if someone in Trinidad gets rich, another might say “oh gorsh, the man must sent for a buck.” So we are talking about Obeah, mystical powers that some people are used to get riches, or to kill.
Trinidad seems to have a more comfortable relationship with Obeah than Jamaica, where Rastafarians sing against it.
Well all over the Caribbean, the Obeah man is a doctor man. In Trinidad, older folks would know about it, and if something is ailing you, they might say “go to the bush and see the Obeah man.” The younger folks don’t partake in it that much, but in Trinidad, we know about it, that tradition would endure in some way
You wrote an important song that slipped by this year. In “No Racial” you sing “My grandfather was Spanish, my grandmother Indian, and I am a black man…How the hell Trini could be racial?” What is the genesis of that powerful song?
Wow, I’m surprised you know that one. Yes, with “Wotless” by Kes and the Band, and other big groovy songs, that one was really overlooked. But it was very contemplative. You see in Trinidad, it’s nothing to see a black man with a Chinese girl, or any other mix. As I sing, “my neighbor is Russian, with a Syrian grandson.” We as artists have a part to play in the education and information of the society. People who promote racialism in Trinidad are just fooling they self. It’s a cop out.
My beautiful wife is Black, she travels with me often. I had recently only seen Shurwayne Winchester and others do songs dedicated to Indian girls. So I wanted to dedicate one to beautiful Black women. But I when I got in the studio, I just started singing: “I love: Black woman, white woman, Chinee and Indian, Syrian.” And the song went from there.
There is a curfew in Trinidad and Tobago right now, which is
being justified by a recent spate of violence. How do you feel about
this State of Emergency?
Well I support it. Crime has gotten absolutely out of hand. I don’t think the government wanted to do this, but they had to. It’s just become too unsafe.
It has been suggested that the escalating violence in Trinidad is linked to the use of the island as a drug hub.
Well I don’t know who is doing what. But certainly the drugs are coming. Trinidad is a stone’s throw from Venezuela. We are a pawn in a much larger game.
Trinidad is often talking and written about as idyllic. Do you remember when it started changing?
Well, I think you can go back to 1990, when there was an attempted coup d’etat. Since then, things have been changing. I hope that we can get things back on track soon though.
Will Trinidad Carnival 2012 go off without a hitch?
Carnival will go on, and I will be back with another hit!
The mirthful and girthful artist, known in his childhood as “Fat Black” or “Mighty Hot Chocolate,” flew into New York for Labor Day weekend this year to play several big shows, performing his electro-soca hits and teasing fans with what he might have for Carnival 2012. He absolutely smashed the CRAVE fete, and then woke up to talk to us about double entendres, street slang, the beauty of Trinidadian women, and the magic of carnival—literally, the magic—before heading out to his next gig in Brooklyn.
Lets talk about one of your big hits for 2011, “Carnival Jumbie.” It has an old school feel to the bass line, and the opening shout of “boodop! wadap!” is electric. How did you compose that one?
It was produced by the very talented Madman Yohan, who was influenced by an old record by the calypsonian Shadow—that is where the old-school vibe comes from. The song is about getting hit by the spirit of carnival, that “kill we dead.” And “boodop! wadap! is a common Trinidadian expression for giving someone, like a child, a smack. So its like pow!—pure licks; when you get possessed with the spirit, you start dancing; you say “I want some rum! I want to wine!”
Photo courtesy Dexter Stewart
Yes, I’ve been lucky to have a big song for carnival five years running. In 2007 it was “Dutty.” In 2008, “Breathless” and 2009, “Tusty,” Last year it was “Hunting,” and this year people liked “Tanti Woi” and “Carnival Jumbie.”
As soca has tended towards soca/pop—smoother and accessible to a non-Trinidadian—with Machel Montano leading the way—your songs are moving in the other direction, edgy, with heavy drums, and Trinidadian creole. Is your niche the streets of Trinidad?
Ahh hah. Yes, that’s very perceptive. In fact it is true. I do choose songs and use Trini slang that would resonate with poor people, the people in the streets. Saying “dutty” for “dirty” or “tusty” instead of “thirsty” definitely lets people know who I am singing for. I sing to make people in the streets jump in carnival, and choose my words carefully.
Since Trinidad has strict censorship laws, unlike Jamaica, you must walk a fine line between keeping the streets hype and keeping your lyrics clean enough for authorities.
It is quite a high-wire act. You have be very clever. I also have a Catholic upbringing, so I wouldn’t come and sing “Sharon! I’m coming to wine on she,” which some might find offensive. But in Trinidad, we specialize in the double entendre. So when I say “whole day I’m hunting, every night I’m hunting…run, run, run it down” Some may take it different, but I’m actually singing about finding the best fete, the best party!
Photo courtesy Dexter Stewart
No I’m from the south of Trinidad, Pointe Fontin, which is also the home of Iwer George. But I’ve lived in Port au Spain for many years now.
In your new song “Good Times” you sing “the vampire coming, the sukuyan* coming…” could you explain the story behind that song?
Ah ha! You like that one, yes? Kerwin Dubois and I actually recorded that one together a couple of years ago. You know Kerwin is a big producer who relocated to Canada, who has access to all the latest equipment—everyone is trying to catch up with his crispness and style.
When we wrote it, we had both been having some of the same issues in our personal lives—problems with the baby mother and with others because your career gone too strong. So this song addressed those by saying we are blessed. They can send vampires, or sukuyan [ed. -- a mythological Trinidadian female vampire], but they can’t stop we.
You also sing “a buck come from Guyana to try and lick me down.” Can you explain that line?
Well they say in Guyana there is a race of shorter, mystical people in the forest. They are said to have special powers. So if someone in Trinidad gets rich, another might say “oh gorsh, the man must sent for a buck.” So we are talking about Obeah, mystical powers that some people are used to get riches, or to kill.
Trinidad seems to have a more comfortable relationship with Obeah than Jamaica, where Rastafarians sing against it.
Well all over the Caribbean, the Obeah man is a doctor man. In Trinidad, older folks would know about it, and if something is ailing you, they might say “go to the bush and see the Obeah man.” The younger folks don’t partake in it that much, but in Trinidad, we know about it, that tradition would endure in some way
You wrote an important song that slipped by this year. In “No Racial” you sing “My grandfather was Spanish, my grandmother Indian, and I am a black man…How the hell Trini could be racial?” What is the genesis of that powerful song?
Wow, I’m surprised you know that one. Yes, with “Wotless” by Kes and the Band, and other big groovy songs, that one was really overlooked. But it was very contemplative. You see in Trinidad, it’s nothing to see a black man with a Chinese girl, or any other mix. As I sing, “my neighbor is Russian, with a Syrian grandson.” We as artists have a part to play in the education and information of the society. People who promote racialism in Trinidad are just fooling they self. It’s a cop out.
My beautiful wife is Black, she travels with me often. I had recently only seen Shurwayne Winchester and others do songs dedicated to Indian girls. So I wanted to dedicate one to beautiful Black women. But I when I got in the studio, I just started singing: “I love: Black woman, white woman, Chinee and Indian, Syrian.” And the song went from there.
Photo courtesy Dexter Stewart
Well I support it. Crime has gotten absolutely out of hand. I don’t think the government wanted to do this, but they had to. It’s just become too unsafe.
It has been suggested that the escalating violence in Trinidad is linked to the use of the island as a drug hub.
Well I don’t know who is doing what. But certainly the drugs are coming. Trinidad is a stone’s throw from Venezuela. We are a pawn in a much larger game.
Trinidad is often talking and written about as idyllic. Do you remember when it started changing?
Well, I think you can go back to 1990, when there was an attempted coup d’etat. Since then, things have been changing. I hope that we can get things back on track soon though.
Will Trinidad Carnival 2012 go off without a hitch?
Carnival will go on, and I will be back with another hit!
Toppa Top 10: Year of the Kartel
Words by Rishi Bonneville, photos via Kingston Style
Over the last few years, Adidja Palmer aka Vybz Kartel emerged as the unexpected yet undisputed king of dancehall reggae, surviving 1) a vicious battle with ally-turned-rival Mavado, 2) the denial of his US visa and 3) a swirl of rumors to produce an enviable string of hits and—perhaps more importantly–a persona that had fans and media watching his every move.
In 2010 he wound the reggae scene around his finger with deft lyrics, controversy, and exquisite production. Considered by many to be one of premier lyricists in dancehall history, his recent subject matter has oscillated between recklessness–such as endorsing chemical skin bleaching in “Cake Soap”–and social critique (“Not a love song”), free market capitalism (“Clarks”, “No Robbery”), and frank sexual material (“Unfaithful,” “Virginity”). Originally cast as a “Jamaican rapper” for his quick, layered and enunciated delivery, he has, more recently adopted a melodic, software-aided “singjay” style, that seems equal parts lovers rock and soft rock (ex: “She’s Holding On”). However in all his various incarnations, Vybz demonstrates a knack for saying the unexpected in a way that quickly feels familiar, staying with the listener. Love him or hate him, it was his year. Here we recap his biggest songs of 2010…
10. “No Robbery”Standout line: Mek we come together, we have something fi one another.
9. “Whine” (Flatlands riddim)
Vybz channels Buju and his contemporaries with a wicked 90s flow over a hot new Federation track sure to carry over into 2011.
8. “Wine For Mi Nuh” (Bank Robbers riddim)
Standout line: Higher than the grade of cocaine dem smuggle up.
7. “Not A Love Song (Cardiac Bass riddim)
A brilliant mediation on hardship overshadowed by other strong songs on this riddim (including another Vybz tune “She’s Holding On”)
Standout line: Make we circle Jericho wall, inna / the mental, not the physical…
6.“Thank You, Jah” (Gangster City riddim)
Standout line: Whey de black ooman future mi asking? whey de system do fi she?
5.“Cake Soap” (Blue Bamma riddim)
Reanimated from a throwaway line in “Jeans & Fitted”, this controversial song seems to endorse skin bleaching with a Jamaican household cleaning product.
Standout line: She say teacha, your skin feel nice eeen…
4. “Jeans & Fitted”
Here Vybz joins forces with frequent collaborator Russian (“Clarks Again,” “Go-Go Club”) to underline the common tastes of the Portmore and Uptown communities.
Standout line: Same so we dweet, we dweet a Portmore.
3. “Dumpa Truck” (Smokin’ riddim)
Standout line: Set good like da ice inna freezer.
2.“Touch a Button” (Sprite Riddim)
Standout line: Seh sumpin/ mek u spit catch me/ mi wet up u shirt like Zesty/ man haffi run like track star/ ooman haffi stop look sexy.
1. “Clarks”
This late-2009 song just kept going and going, and became the song for the better half of 2010.
Over the last few years, Adidja Palmer aka Vybz Kartel emerged as the unexpected yet undisputed king of dancehall reggae, surviving 1) a vicious battle with ally-turned-rival Mavado, 2) the denial of his US visa and 3) a swirl of rumors to produce an enviable string of hits and—perhaps more importantly–a persona that had fans and media watching his every move.
In 2010 he wound the reggae scene around his finger with deft lyrics, controversy, and exquisite production. Considered by many to be one of premier lyricists in dancehall history, his recent subject matter has oscillated between recklessness–such as endorsing chemical skin bleaching in “Cake Soap”–and social critique (“Not a love song”), free market capitalism (“Clarks”, “No Robbery”), and frank sexual material (“Unfaithful,” “Virginity”). Originally cast as a “Jamaican rapper” for his quick, layered and enunciated delivery, he has, more recently adopted a melodic, software-aided “singjay” style, that seems equal parts lovers rock and soft rock (ex: “She’s Holding On”). However in all his various incarnations, Vybz demonstrates a knack for saying the unexpected in a way that quickly feels familiar, staying with the listener. Love him or hate him, it was his year. Here we recap his biggest songs of 2010…
10. “No Robbery”Standout line: Mek we come together, we have something fi one another.
9. “Whine” (Flatlands riddim)
Vybz channels Buju and his contemporaries with a wicked 90s flow over a hot new Federation track sure to carry over into 2011.
8. “Wine For Mi Nuh” (Bank Robbers riddim)
Standout line: Higher than the grade of cocaine dem smuggle up.
7. “Not A Love Song (Cardiac Bass riddim)
A brilliant mediation on hardship overshadowed by other strong songs on this riddim (including another Vybz tune “She’s Holding On”)
Standout line: Make we circle Jericho wall, inna / the mental, not the physical…
6.“Thank You, Jah” (Gangster City riddim)
Standout line: Whey de black ooman future mi asking? whey de system do fi she?
5.“Cake Soap” (Blue Bamma riddim)
Reanimated from a throwaway line in “Jeans & Fitted”, this controversial song seems to endorse skin bleaching with a Jamaican household cleaning product.
Standout line: She say teacha, your skin feel nice eeen…
4. “Jeans & Fitted”
Here Vybz joins forces with frequent collaborator Russian (“Clarks Again,” “Go-Go Club”) to underline the common tastes of the Portmore and Uptown communities.
Standout line: Same so we dweet, we dweet a Portmore.
3. “Dumpa Truck” (Smokin’ riddim)
Standout line: Set good like da ice inna freezer.
2.“Touch a Button” (Sprite Riddim)
Standout line: Seh sumpin/ mek u spit catch me/ mi wet up u shirt like Zesty/ man haffi run like track star/ ooman haffi stop look sexy.
1. “Clarks”
This late-2009 song just kept going and going, and became the song for the better half of 2010.
Future Troubles: The New Dancehall Economy and Its Implications in a Digital Age
[Originally published 2/27/11 in SX Salon with Edwin STATS Houghton]
Jammys is not playin’ sound no more, you not gonna see Inspector Willy inna dancehall, he’s a big-ass man. Wear glasses and all that shit. But their sons, and their sons after, is the ones that gonna keep the dancehall going.As the name suggests, dancehall has always primarily been a space (though rarely contained in an actual hall) wherein actors of all sorts—musical and otherwise—interact and perform. But it is also a culture, and is a medium of exchange that connects artists, deejays, dancers, selectors, soundsystem owners and operators, labels, backers, and fans. This culture, and the informal economy arising from it, is roughly perpendicular to the major label music industry, intersecting it and yet operating by a very different logic. This logic has become especially relevant as it has spread from Jamaica and reggae culture to influence soca in Trinidad, Barbados, and other Caribbean islands, as well as international music in West Africa and the United Kingdom. Dancehall music and sensibility play a key role in the cultural life of the diaspora generally and New York in particular. The advent of the internet and web 2.0 culture has irreversibly changed the material nature of this international role and as a result the indigenous culture itself has changed.
—Beenie Man, FADER 23 (Summer 2004)
CD Sound: The 1990s and the Transition to Digital
The contribution of both Caribbean
expatriates and the dancehall sensibility to the development of hip-hop
music in New York has been well documented. However, less-well-studied
is the enduring and evolving state of New York and diasporic dancehall
beyond hip-hop culture. In the 1980s, the primary place for members of
West Indian-American diaspora to connect to dancehall, reggae, and
soca/calypso culture “back home” was the music shop: places like Super
Power and Charlie’s in Brooklyn, VP Records and Spice Island in Queens,
and Taurus Records in Dorchester, Massachusetts. American soundsystems,
presenters, and deejays, such as King Addies and Dahved Levy, were
prized for their extensive vinyl collections, and their dubplates. For a
variety of reasons, the marketability of dancehall reggae music to core
fans was based primarily on the quality of the voice and the musical
production.
The 1990s introduced high-quality music
videos and compact disc (CD) technology into reggae dancehall culture.
Alongside the major-label signings of Shabba Ranks, Cobra, Supercat, and
Bounty Killer, this technology altered some fundamental components of
the economy. Videos for “Ghetto Red Hot” by Supercat and “Murder She
Wrote” by Chaka Demus and Pliers introduced a hip-hop flavor and the
concept of marketing dancehall artists through voice and image.
Videos and CDs also helped to further project the dancehall
sensibility, spreading music and visuals across the Caribbean and its
diaspora. However, the CD culture opened the door to piracy and posed a
challenge to the vinyl and dubplate primacy. Previously unattainable
songs could now be easily duplicated, Amazon and other outlets offered
direct sales of obscure and brand-new reggae and soca records, and
communication via e-mail and web marketing allowed people outside of the
local industry to participate. The center was shifting. By early 2000,
various digital networks presented a major challenge to the supremacy of
the Jamaican soundsystem model.
Read the full article here:
http://smallaxe.net/wordpress3/discussions/2011/02/27/future-troubles-the-new-dancehall-economy-and-its-implications-in-a-digital-age/
Toppa Top 10: Soca Monarch Contenders for Carnival 2011!
[Originally published on February 22nd, 2011]
Carnival time again! As multitudes of ex-pat Trinis and foreign calypso, pan and soca lovers board flights for Port of Spain, the fetes and song competitions are in full swing. The famed parades of masqueraders will be held this year on March 7-8, when the Road March champion will be crowned. However, since 1993, on the Friday before the full costumed bacchanalia, soca fans gather at the Queen’s Oval Park cricket stadium to watch an onstage competition in which the singers of a faster soca tune and a slower soca are selected as the Power and Groovy soca winners respectively. (Note: The Chutney Soca Monarch competition, which occurred on Saturday, March 19th was won by Rikki Jai for “White Oak & Water.” A disgruntled Ravi B, who came second, urged fans to “pelt something” and hundreds of bottles fell upon the stage.) As the excitement builds, LargeUp reached to top soca selectors and soundsystems from Trinidad, NY, Miami, Montreal, Germany and Japan to take the international temperature and get their favorites for road march, power and groovy soca monarch. This is actually a Top 10 (roughly) but since many of our soca pundits had comments and overlapping picks we have dispensed with the usual countdown format and broken it down by selector. To the road!
http://largeup.okayplayer.com/2011/02/22/toppa-top-10-soca-monarch-contenders-for-carnival-2011/
Bonneville’s Under-The-Radar Joints: These are a few great soca records that may not have enough momentum to be contenders for 2011, but should not be overlooked.
Cassie “Town Ting”
3Suns & Benjai “Foreigner”
Denise Belfon “Dance & Dingolay”
Carnival time again! As multitudes of ex-pat Trinis and foreign calypso, pan and soca lovers board flights for Port of Spain, the fetes and song competitions are in full swing. The famed parades of masqueraders will be held this year on March 7-8, when the Road March champion will be crowned. However, since 1993, on the Friday before the full costumed bacchanalia, soca fans gather at the Queen’s Oval Park cricket stadium to watch an onstage competition in which the singers of a faster soca tune and a slower soca are selected as the Power and Groovy soca winners respectively. (Note: The Chutney Soca Monarch competition, which occurred on Saturday, March 19th was won by Rikki Jai for “White Oak & Water.” A disgruntled Ravi B, who came second, urged fans to “pelt something” and hundreds of bottles fell upon the stage.) As the excitement builds, LargeUp reached to top soca selectors and soundsystems from Trinidad, NY, Miami, Montreal, Germany and Japan to take the international temperature and get their favorites for road march, power and groovy soca monarch. This is actually a Top 10 (roughly) but since many of our soca pundits had comments and overlapping picks we have dispensed with the usual countdown format and broken it down by selector. To the road!
http://largeup.okayplayer.com/2011/02/22/toppa-top-10-soca-monarch-contenders-for-carnival-2011/
Bonneville’s Under-The-Radar Joints: These are a few great soca records that may not have enough momentum to be contenders for 2011, but should not be overlooked.
Cassie “Town Ting”
3Suns & Benjai “Foreigner”
Denise Belfon “Dance & Dingolay”
Soca Twins: Exclusive Interviews with Germany's Soca Twins
For a century, German brands have been known for their steely precision, quality and expense. Vehicles from Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Porsche, for example, can be found in every corner of the globe, flossed by the successful and idolized by the striving. Iconic artists like Kraftwerk have found success internationally by translating these archetypally German traits into musical form. But after the re-unification of East and West in the mid-90s, German youth began rethinking this technocratic image. In the midst of it all, an unexpected new counterculture bubbled up in Deustchland: reggae. The Cologne-based Mighty Pow Pow productions, vocalist Gentleman, and the clash sound Sentinel from Stuttgart (the 2005 World Clash winners) are amongst those who built a creative and respected scene even without the colonial migration that drives London and Parisian nightlife. Until recently, however, other Caribbean music styles–soca, calypso, zouk–were off the radar. With hard work and vibes to spare, two young men from Berlin have begun to change all that. LARGE UP recently sat down with the Berlin-based duo Soca Twins to talk about history, the 2006 World Cup, and how they party.
LARGE UP: Firstly, who are the Soca Twins?
FRANKY: The Soca Twins are Franky Fire (DJ) and Boone Chatta (MC) from Berlin, Germany. I founded Soca Twins in 2002 together with another DJ. The name came up since we looked alike and danced in the same style. So, people started to call us “Twins.” The “Soca” was predetermined since we were the first soca sound in Germany. After personal changes, Boone Chatta became my other ‘twin’ in early 2005 and rocks the mic ever since.
Q: What is the history of soca and calypso in Germany?
BOONE: Barney Millah was the first DJ to play soca in Germany at the turn of the century. But his sets were mainly reggae & dancehall. There was a famous underground club called “Subground” where Franky and I heard soca for the first time. The first ‘strictly’ soca party was in 2002 and Franky played with Barney. I was there, but we didn’t even know each other back then. But a few years later, the love for soca music has brought us together.
FRANKY: If you look at the mainstream newspapers, TV, radio…soca is not present at all in Germany. But we’ve built up a crowd of fanatics and it’s getting bigger every day. Our hometown Berlin has the biggest soca crowd in Germany. But everywhere we play, we meet lots people who have been listening to our soca mixes for years. We have seen a lot of German cities go crazy. Colonge, Stuttgart, Leipzig, only to name a few, but also smaller cities. Our mission now is to take it to the next level; get soca out of the underground and into mainstream.
BOONE: And we’ve been playing with a lot of soca artists in Germany in the past years. Machel Montano, Bunji Garlin, Fay Ann Lyons, Rupee, Benjai, Problem Child, Skinny Fabulous, KMC, Jamesy P and many more and they all said our crowd is crazy. They know the songs, wave rags, drink rum, and might be a little misbehavin’ like it’s Carnival.
Soca Twins “Black Cake & Sorrel Mix,” Christmas 2008
Q: Germany is well-known in the Caribbean and New York for its reggae soundsystems. Does the emerging German soca scene have strong connections to the German reggae scene?
BOONE: The reggae and soca scene go hand in hand in Germany. Soca used to live by the presence of reggae. But we’ve noticed a change in the past years. More and more people want to party ‘harder’. Reggae is too slow, but a lot of people still can’t take soca the whole night. That’s why we always cooperate with reggae sounds. And after seeing how the crowd responds to us, they start to play soca as well. Now, Pow Pow, Sentinel, Supersonic and all other famous German reggae sounds have soca in their sets. And we play with reggae acts like Jimmy Cliff, Vegas, Junior Kelly, Serani, Aidonia…
Q: Strange question but…did Rupee’s family connection to Germany help soca in Germany develop?
BOONE: I can imagine Bajans would love to hear that… but it’s not true. Rupee was born in Germany by a German mother, but he had to gain his reputation here just like everybody else in the business. It doesn’t really matter where you come from. It’s about what you do. Otherwise, two crazy Germans who play soca music would have never gotten such international recognition…. (laugh)
FRANKY: True. But of course we think that Rupee is a great artist and we respect him a lot. 2003 he had a temporary media buzz with “Tempted to Touch” in Germany.
Q: In 2006 the FIFA World Cup was held in Germany. The Trinidad & Tobago team, dubbed “the Soca Warriors,” qualified. What was it like for the Soca Twins during those few weeks?
BOONE: It was amazing. The Soca Warriors in Germany! And they brought loads of fans from Trinidad and also some top artists. We had shows with Machel and the HD crew, Alison Hinds, Rupee, Destra, Maximus Dan and Jimmy Cliff. The Laventille Riddim Section was there. In Dortmund, we had thousands – completely in red – jumping, waving and having a time.
FRANKY: After the final, we played in front of more than 5000 football fans in Berlin, and most of them never heard soca before. They all went crazy… We could write a book about those six weeks. It was something we’re gonna tell our grandchildren one day.
Q: Sounds like an exciting documentary project! With all your connections, are you involved in any productions with any soca artists out of Europe?
FRANKY: We always wanted to produce more soca but never really had time to do so. But Boone is singing reggae, dancehall and soca tunes. He works with producers from Germany and around the world. I hope his album will drop soon…
BOONE: Yeah, me too… (laugh) But good things come to those who wait. I’m on it! Until then, check me out online.
Q: My Parisian friends tell me that the Berlin nightlife is unexpectedly vibrant.What is the typical crowd like at a Soca Twins fete?
BOONE: Energetic, crazy, loud, resistant to tiredness and the impact of rum…
FRANKY: …and always ready to palance! Most of our crowd is between 20-35 years old. Lots of girls who can wine… basically all kinds of people who come out to have a good time and see an entertaining show.
Q: I can’t help but ask one political question given a recent geopolitical shift: Horst Seehofer and Chancellor Angela Merkel have proclaimed German “multiculturalism” a failure. However, soca music has always been a music of mixing and unity. Can soca in Germany play a role in keeping an open cultural environment?
BOONE: I wouldn’t mix politics with soca music – not in Germany. Multiculturalism is an important part of Berlin. In my opinion Merkel is wrong. But we’re not politicians. Our ‘party’ is soca. And since our party is bringing people from all kinds of nations together, it’s a good thing. We don’t watch color, religion or wealth.
Q: Understood. So what was the response when you visited Trinidad for the first time?
FRANKY: It was overwhelming. I knew soca only for a few months and went to Trini Carnival in 2002. I got to know a lot of nice people and finally met some artists, DJs and producers in person. I was very impressed to see the beautiful Mas Costumes at Carnival and of course I had to play Jouvet. Well… I came back every year since.
BOONE: In 2006 Franky convinced me to join him. It’s was amazing. “Soca Twins” was already a brand name in Trinidad for ‘the two crazy soca DJs from Germany’. People recognized us on the streets. We went to Synergy TV, gave interviews, played on Trini Bashment and a Carnival truck.
Q: And New York?
FRANKY: And we’ve also been to NYC in 2006 for the International Soca Awards and we played at the after show party. That was our first nomination as “International Soca DJ of the Year”. We were staying in Brooklyn close to Flatbush Ave and it was like a little Caribbean island to us. We had a great time and we definitely want to come back. But we’re still looking for a promoter who can set up a little Soca Twins tour in the US…
Toppa Top 10: Soca Jams of 2010
I contributed to this piece from LargeUp.com from Dec. 29, 2010.
http://largeup.okayplayer.com/2010/12/29/toppa-top-10-soca-jams-of-2010/12/
http://largeup.okayplayer.com/2010/12/29/toppa-top-10-soca-jams-of-2010/12/
Toppa Top 10: Diwali Rhythms!
Words by Eddie STATS Houghton and Rishi Bonneville
[Originally published in LargeUp.com on November 5, 2010]
That’s right. We are hitting you with a one-two Indo-Caribbean combination of boomshots, in recognition of the fact that today millions (billions?) of people worldwide are commemorating the hindu festival of lights called Diwali or Deepavali, an officially recognized holiday in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Mauritius, Myanmar, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, Malaysia and Fiji. So get your house in order, raise a diya (or lighter) and run through the following selection of tunes that connect West Indians with their namesakes on the Indian subcontinent.
10. Tigerstyle, “Mirale La Bien” refix (Machete Music)
Somehow Scottish Punjabis Pops and Raj of production duo Tigerstyle talked themselves into a deal with Daddy Yankee’s Machete music, which resulted in this remix as well as incredibly tough bhangra reworks of “Rakata” and “El Tiburon.”
9. Daddy Yankee f. Deevani, “Mirame” Mas Flow Machete Music 2006 (Puerto Rico)
Married to a Bangladeshi, multi-lingual Puerto Rican diva Deevani also just happens to be sister to reggaeton producer Luny Tunes. Hence, Bollytone! See also her hook on “Flow Natural” and the brand new chutney merengue smash with Fuego that is probably playing on La Mega right now. The original of “Mirame,” BTW is the Kareena Kapoor vehicle “Yaadein”:
8. Rama f. Cheshire Cat, “Mera Laung Guwacha” Oriental Star, 1992, (UK, Prod. by Bally Sagoo)
This Shabba/Gussie Clarke-style workout of a Punjabi folk classic (complete with dub version) rewrote the rules of bhangra even before Sly & Robbie had checked for it. Sagoo’s “Raga Muffin Mix” is no joke either:
7. Rihanna, “Pon De Replay” Def Jam, 2005 (Barbados/Jamaica/India)
No, Bajan Idol Rihanna didn’t rip off a Bollywood track–she ripped off Lenky! Some say the beat of “Pon De Replay” is inspired by the Diwali but it sounds much closer to Lenky’s lesser-known follow-up, the Masterpiece riddim most recognizable as Sean Paul’s “Ever Blazin.” The reason that it’s included here is because it in turn spawned this Bollywood smash from the film Bluffmaster, proving that turnabout is fair um, replay:
6. Hunter, “Bring It” aka “Rum in the Morning” (Trinidad)
This ubiquitous chutney jam is actually a flip (see, I didn’t say ‘inspired’) of “Chahoonga Main Tujhe” as sung by Bollywood legend Mohammed Rafi:
5. Apache Indian, “Chok There” No Reservations Island records 1993 (UK)
Inspired (going to say ‘inspired’ a lot in this post, just bear with me) by Capleton’s flow, Sly & Robbie’s riddims and Supercat’s name (the Wild Apache!), UK Punjabi Steve Kapoor shaved razor lines in his head, dubbed himself Apache Indian and took this brilliant stab at fusing bhangra with dancehall. Not such a stretch considering his hometown of Birmingham is the stomping ground of both UB40 and the king of bhangra, Malkit Singh.
4. Sundar Popo, “Nana & Nani” Windsor records 1970 (Trinidad)
Chutney foundation. The first tune from Indo-Caribbean icon Sundar Popo and arguably the first chutney tune of all time!
3. Lord Shorty, “Shanty Om” Endless Vibrations 1974 (Trinidad)
The dude who actually invented soca, Lord Shorty openly declared it a vehicle for his vision of racial unity between Trinidadians of Indian and African descent–and this anthem is the perfect embodiment. Ironically it was banned briefly in Trinidad under pressure from Indian religious groups who objected to the Hindu sentiments being treated in a carnival song. Nobody objected to the monster Bollywood hit that followed a few years later, though:
2. Chaka Demus and Pliers, “Murder She Wrote” (Jamaica, prod. by Sly & Robbie)
Originally released in Jamaica as “Reggae Bangara”–an indication of it’s Indian folk roots–this Sly & Robbie riddim defined dancehall in the 90s and beyond and became a global phenomenon in the process. Check a folkish Bollywood track from the same era for comparison!
1. Various Artists, Diwali riddim (Jamaica, prod. by Lenky)
By definition! Inspired by an unnamed Bollywood rhythm, the syncopated handclaps of Jamaican producer Lenky’s signature production launched hits for Sean Paul, Wayne Wonder and Lumidee and a whole mini-wave of Indostyle dancehall beats followed, including the Nine Night, Coolie dance, Hindu Storm and Bollywood riddims. Also allegedly inspired MIA to try her hand at leftfield dancehall beatsand prompted a UK Punjabi version from Rishi Rich, Juggy D and a then-unknown artist named Jay Sean.
Don Dada: Remembering Chutney Godfather Sundar Popo
[Originally published in LargeUp.com on November 4, 2010]
Ten blocks of brightly-painted shops along Liberty Avenue, strung between the last stop on the A-train and the Van Wyck Expressway in Queens, are the vertebrae that together form the backbone of New York’s Indo-Caribbean community. Trinidadian eateries serve roti and phoulorie (deep-fried balls of chickpea batter, $1 per bag), while Guyanese spots offer heaping plates of Chinese-style noodles and meats. When night falls the menu changes: less food, more beer and rum. At Kaieteur Sports Bar on Lefferts boulevard, laborers, realtors, cheating spouses and hustlers congregate, sharing drinks and shouting conversations over the sound system. The theme music for this daily drama is chutney—a peppery blend of Bhojpuri-inspired folk music and calypso sensibilities. On any given day, chances are good that the song you’ll hear when you walk in features the late troubadour Sundar Popo, the “King of Chutney”, who would have been 67 today.
Richmond Hill, Queens
But in 1970 the musical landscape of the Caribbean and Sundar’s life both changed in a flash. Supporting himself with a security job, he was discovered while singing at a wedding by radio host Moen Mohammad, who brought him to Harry Mahabir and BWIA National Indian Orchestra to record. He soon released his first hit “Nana and Nani,” which sketched melodious vignettes of an elderly rural couple, sung in a mix of Bhojpuri (a Hindi-variant spoken by indentured servants from Uttar Pradesh) and creole English. For some, it was a simply an infectious tune. Others saw in the tale of the illfated Nana and Nani (maternal grandfather and grandmother), who drink, fall, and eventually die, a tragicomic look at the daily hardships in Indo-Trinidadian life. “Nana and Nani” spread like a brushfire through rum shops and radio stations in Guyana, Trinidad and even reverse-migrated back to India.
Perhaps unknowingly, Popo was laying in his subsequent songs “Kaise Bani,” “Scorpion Gyul,” (watch below) and “Don’t Fall in Love,” a philosophical framework for a way of living as both an Indian and Trinidadian. Hindu religious leaders opposed his secular subject matter—sensuality, hardship, and drinking—but common folk, still bound to the vestiges of plantation life, crowned him, with his bluesy meditations on modern Indo-Caribbean life, and his funky disco beats, their spokesman. Sundar’s songs also reached a wide Afro-Trinidadian audience who appreciated his voice, English lyrics, and the high production quality. Years later, in 1995, calypsonian Black Stalin, competing in the annual Calypso Monarch competition in Trinidad, sang “Tribute to Sundar Popo,” praising Popo’s legendary songwriting and contribution to Trinidadian life. He won first place. In a dramatic end to the performance, Sundar, wearing white pants and a red jacket with golden epaulettes, dances onto the stage, and embraces his dreadlocked countryman, fellow artist, and friend of thirty years.
The current generation of chutney artists like Ravi B, Hunter and D’Hitman–who sing primarily about rum drinking and failed relationships–model themselves after Sundar Popo’s original, iconoclastic example. Often they even sample or interpolate his songs. However many feel that the genre—which has developed into a lucrative global market, with international competitions and tours—does not produce songs with the subtlety and the texture that Popo’s music provided. Stylistically, chutney has been replaced by chutney soca, which favors simpler lyrics and is designed to elicit crowd response during the carnival system. (In the feedback loop of culture that is the Caribbean, soca, too, is a hybrid. Invented by Lord Shorty, also from Barrackpore, soca provided a much-needed pep to the lagging calypso scene through the use of Indian drum patterns).
Popo found himself left behind in the emergence of this international chutney soca industry, and in his last days—just before he died in 2000 of diabetes–had to appeal publicly for help with his medical bills. Without Sundar’s voice and contribution the social, cultural and political landscape of Trinidad would be unimaginably different, and bleaker. On Liberty Ave, at the bar at Singh’s Roti, patrons often offset their rum consumption with oily, bready phoulorie dipped in a sugary, spicy tamarind sauce. Perhaps this image, captured in one of Popo’s most well-known songs, is the best metaphor for his absence: pholourie ke la chutney kaise bani. Pholourie without chutney is no good. Indeed.
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