Help young artistes

Young instrumentalists are finding it tough to break onto the local music scene, especially during the Crop-Over season.

“Many young instrumentalists do not have any bookings for Crop Over, which is based on a hierarchical system with those who already have a name in the business being the first called for the gigs and there are only a certain amount of gigs that are available for artistes outside of that set, so I know personally it is very difficult for the young singers and instrumentalists to come through,” lamented Artistic Director of 1688 Collective, Dr. Stefan Walcott.

Speaking to The Barbados Advocate recently, he urged private sector individuals and enterprises to help fund young artistes, who are chockfull of potential, but experiencing difficulties making a mark because they are unable to get their work out into the public’s eye.

“We must see these instrumentalists as investments, as ways to actually earn money in a different way, because if you are investing $10 000 in an artiste, you can take him a long way in terms of his production of records, of his album being seen, of earning outside of Barbados as well, so you will be earning foreign exchange, and you may be surprised that the return in investment may in fact be higher than if you invested in manufacturing or cars,” he stated.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of PanFusion, where several of these young artists will be featured, Walcott said more similar events were needed, insisting that the burden should not be placed on government alone.

“We need to invest in people, the young singers and instrumentalists that we have around that have great potential,” he said, stressing that they were not “charity cases”.

Walcott also attributed the lack of attention paid by the public to local creativity and the difficulties being experienced with the economy as hindrances to the industry.

“For example, people not wanting live music as part of their going out experience because it is expensive for promoters to have live musicians as opposed to a deejay, so there are many factors all in one rolled into making the environment very difficult for young musicians coming through,” he said.

As a solution, he stressed that going forward there needs to be a focus on getting primary and secondary school students involved in the industry, which would lead to a greater appreciation to wanting to see and hear live music in various settings. (JMB)