Best foot forward

THE end of the Reggae Festival signals the unofficial start of Crop Over.

 

Local music quickly hits the airwaves as many artistes try to catch the fresh ears of the listening public, before the hundreds of music files flood radio deejays. Others prefer to wait closer to Kadooment to release their music, capitalising on the fact that some songs have lost their steam by then. However, realistically, only the real veterans can seemingly pull off this feat.

 

This week’s commentary will focus on the quality of music which we hope to hear this season. While there are those who may not agree, the 50th anniversary of Independence should be a celebration of our maturity as a country. Everything that we endeavour to do this year should be a reflection of the excellence, which is synonymous with Barbados.

 

Perhaps this should’ve been a memo circulated last year, so that persons would put that extra effort into this year’s music. Quite frankly, we can already determine that this year will be a good year for music. However, we know that with the good will come the bad.

 

There are some songs which we know probably should not even make it on the airwaves, but very often there is a huge outcry if they perceive deejays to be biased or “only playing their friends’ music”.

 

I will ask all artistes to be honest with themselves about what they call their finished product. Perhaps they should get an unbiased opinion about their work, which is needed, from one of the veterans who could give some constructive criticism. Maybe it needs a professional touch from one of the recognised studios, but please do not rush to produce music that is clearly unfinished or which they hope will lead to a few gigs during the season, but have no real interest in standing as one of the Barbadian greats.

 

Let’s face it, we have living musical legends that have made a name for themselves and put Barbados further in the global spotlight. These are people who took and continue to take their craft very seriously.

 

It would be remiss of me not to mention the newly-added Bashment Soca competition. I will laud the sponsor of this event because it shows that quite frankly this genre deserves to stand alone and that someone is willing to step in where the NCF cannot.

 

Music evolves, so it isn’t difficult to see how fusions will become even more popular in the future. However, this new competition made me wonder what are we truly doing to protect what we have and what is uniquely ours. I would like to see the powers that be, or another private entity, sponsor a Spouge competition. How fitting this would be for our 50th anniversary celebrations! 

 

We have an abundance of talent on the island. Crop Over opens many doors but with a well thought out plan, we can develop other genres of music to really diversify our music industry.