Merry Christmas - Happy New Year

Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Nothing beats a GT Christmas: Black cake, sorrel, pepperpot, the very best lunch. Picked baby onions, garlic pork (for those who indulge) and just good will and peace. Besides after opening your presents you can walk down the street and go play with your friends, pop off some squibs and have a real good time. Boxing Day you might visit some relatives or they may come by you and the fun goes on til New Years. I love Christmas, but I can't enjoy it in this cold cold place.

A Christmas song for you:
Adrian Dutchin

Let down

I have really not had enough time anymore to dedicate to this blog. I still love my Guyanese artists and support you still 100%. I feel like I'm letting you down.

I have some new music out of Brutal Tracks, they are yummy!

Is Dancehall going to the dogs?

With every generation comes change. Ever generation tries to outdo the previous generation. When Rock and Roll hit on the scene there was outcry that the world is going to hell in a handbasket. That didn't happen and it still will not. God music lasts and the others are forgotten. I don't know why dancehall is being picked on, if you look at the tv shows these days, everything is more racy and raunchy, vampire series, bachelor dating 12 women to find the perfect one, gay-couples match making, Kate and Jon.

Dancehall is Jamaica's contribution to the world, why would you want to even think of banning it? What/Who is behind this censorship? Who don't like it don't listen. These artists need to come together and stand up for their rights. Instead of calling for the banning also of Soca, they have their own artist association that will say ( as a jamaican would say) "if ona na like it, go suck yu ... Sex is a part of life and if as a parent you allow music to be your child's only teacher of things of a sexual nature, you have the lay the blame for their wayward behaviour on yourself. The onus in son you.


Other views - Letter to the Editor this week in the Stabroek News.

Dear Editor,

Change is inevitable. Everything changes over time, even music. And so we would have seen that within all the genres of music, there are changes in composition and delivery. This does not necessarily mean that the foundations of the different genres of music has changed, but just that subtle changes would have been made probably to phrasing, timing, harmony, or lyrical composition.

[...]

Reggae is a musical genre which was created here in the Caribbean in Jamaica and is one which has evolved and which continues to evolve. Reggae by right originated out of two other genres known as Ska and Rock-steady. Tempo wise it fits snugly in the middle of the two for it is slower than Ska and faster than Rocksteady.

Lyrically Reggae deals with a plethora of issues ranging from love, religion, drugs, poverty, colonialism, racism, and general third world politics. The genre also covers a lot of Pop music coming out of the United States and Europe.

But in the way that Reggae evolved from Ska, Reggae gave birth to Dancehall Reggae.

Discovered more or less by accident in the late 1970s, Dancehall Reggae, or Dub as it is popularly known, began simply with Disc Jockeys (DJs) chanting over the B side of Reggae 45 rpm records at Dances.

The lyrics for Dancehall were far less serious than those used in Reggae. A lot of emphasis was placed on the more socially appealing themes at that time, like the everyday Rude Bwoy, Area Dons or Donman, and a reverence for sexual dexterity in men and women.

[...]

Even though interspersed were some songs that glorified and promoted violence and also exposed the vulgar side of some artistes, it was not enough to taint the entire genre. People still rocked on to the Pepper Seed, Action, Medicine, Bogle, World Dance and the Stink Riddims, to name a few. Everyone got up and danced when Second Class Love came on with Carol Gonzalez and Buju Banton. That remains an all-time Dancehall classic!

Sadly the Dancehall arena has now changed drastically for the worst. Today the King Jammys and the Sly and Robbies of old have been replaced by producers like Stephen ‘Di Genius’ Mc Greggor, Not Nice and Daseca Productions. Beenie Man and Buju are still present, but they are now overshadowed by the likes of Movado, Vybz Kartel, Bugle, Demarco and Busy Signal just to name a few. Beautiful rhythmical Dancehall Reggae has been replaced by robotic heavily syncopated break beats and copious overdoses of synthesized keyboards. The poetic deliverance of messages of sexual grandeur and the often funny lines that dealt with strategies on how to get and keep a man or woman have all been replaced with hardcore verbal pornography! Many Dancehall artistes today have taken the themes of sex and violence way overboard. Absolutely nothing is left to the imagination.

The depiction of violence in modern Dancehall Reggae is as gruesome as it gets. And people go to parties to listen to this sewage of lyrics and actually claim to have fun. I am sorry for the generation of youth growing up on this filth called Dancehall Reggae. I often wonder what music this generation would play for their children as examples of music from their time.

Read the rest here. Also this video talks academically of the proposed banning.

Re: Timeka is a video girl

From the comment section:

Anonymous said...

are you really going to make a whole article from the fact she was a video girl now even though she did not sing a note. we need to develop our own star and stop getting all excited because Timeka is trying to be a Jamaican reggae personality.

I say and read carefully:

If you were paying close attention, you will realize that this is the pre-quel to Hush/Secrets. This is how they meet and then the result.

Besides she is not just a video girl in this shoot, she is THE video girl, this is not fade in fade out shots, you can see her fully face, body everything. It's intended to give her more face time in an industry where if you aren't seen you're forgotten about. She is the spotlight in the video, there aren't any other girls vying for a booty shot. Besides As talented as Peetah is, he's isn't much of a looker.

Re: What else will she be? Guyana has no independent music genre except for the unknown Shanto, so where ever she goes, she will be falling into a mold whether it be Jamaican reggae, Trinidadian soca, American pop or RnB. Fact is she's trying and making waves doing it. Don't knock her hustle!


Come back and check for her video with Busy Signal.

My tribute to MJ

I just spent my time looking over some of Michael Jackson’s video and to add to the chorus, he’s definitely up there in the stars.

My favorites videos are Remember the Time, the whole Egyptian theme gets me all the time. It’s always strange to see MJ interact with women, it always seem so awkward, I think it’s because he was so shy.

The imagery he evokes in his music and videos are just out of this world. Stranger in Moscow with the Black and White and the rain, just bring out the struggle to find yourself in a world that seems so lonely. In you are not alone he starts the video with him walking alone past the paparazzi and the cameras are flashing with him looking oh so sad. I honestly believe that Michael was a lonely man. I enjoy Liberian girl, with all the celebrities, it’s just out of here, especially with him making fun of all the stars, how important they think they are. The child that is trapped in him always comes out.
One of my favorites for content and video is “They don’t care about us” filmed in Brazil, the drums beating, the harmony, the colors (I love that red shirt I want one), the way it’s performed, below the beat! The message is more intriguing.

Beat me, hate me
You can never break me
Will me, thrill me
You can never kill me
Jew me, Sue me
Everybody do me
Kick me, kike me
Don't you black or white me

Weather skin disease or skin bleach, although he embraced all cultures of the world, his African-ness was still alive although he wished not to be defined by it. The same message was echoed in “Black or White. He incorporated dances from all around the world in 1 video. I especially liked the Indian woman and him in the streets.

Can’t forget “You rock my world”, his character reminds me of Jim Carey in the Mask. He’s always fusing different cultural elements in his work. I believe to some extent he was very academic about his music. For instance we see Chris Tucker is used in this video, it could almost be an off shoot of Rush Hour with the Chinese element and Chris seems to be a big MJ fan from him doing the musical number in the movie. How brilliant was making all the sounds of the movement of the life of the club coincide with the beat of the song. I loved that.


The best dance move for me was the extended spin and the lean, whenever I see it I’m still amazed. His best look for me is his “Don’t stop til you get enough” video look. That was when he was a handsome young man.


Thriller scared the scrap out of me when I was younger, but I couldn’t stop watching it. The man, the legend, the rumors. No other what they say about him, there will not come another like him in my lifetime. It’s so sad it came as such a price to his emotional balance. There’s so much to say good and bad, but only God will be the final judge of a man. Rest in Peace.

This is how to keep your man

I've been told that this song is making the rounds on the airwaves of Barbados. A Guyanese woman advises Bajan women how to keep their Bajan men. This is very ironic considering the current state of affairs in Barbados where our Guyanese brothers and sisters are being harassed, those who are legal, even those who are just passing through on their way to Guyana or other nations. Thanks to Lloyda for posting it. The quality is not great as it is recorded off the radio. I sure got a kick out of it.

Music & Politics: Jory vs the Rapist

I heard it through the grapevine that back in the day someone slapped Jory for singing about him. Turns out that man is now before the courts for allegedly raping a young woman. Jory responds:

What's wrong with this flyer?

??Guess What:??

#1 Timeka's All Night was submitted by her Barbados-based management team to be the theme song for CSI Miami....so go choke on it!

#2 Pyramid Entertainment, you copied these lyrics from me...I should charge yall, I should be copying it off of your site. Now fix the all night lyrics, that's my best guess for some of those words.

#3 I like the remix of Shelly G and Fojo - Bolo Bolo. Go check on it.

4th Annual school concert

While I defend Shelly G's use of the word daggering in her Soca Monarch winning entry, I however condemn the fact that she will be performing at the school concert. None of Shelly G's songs are for kids, maybe with the exception of "Only love can set us free." Just imagine our little pre-teens and just smelling themselves school children singing: Touch Me, Wuk me right, Freaky Freaky, Bruk me up, Bag girl, A Want a man, Jook Jook, Never Never (in which she is fighting a woman for her man but without the class of Brandy and Monica, The Boy is Mine.

Burchmore, your judgement was wrong on this one. Shelly G is an adult entertainer.

School children are once again being given an opportunity to see some of the popular local artistes on stage for a small fee, compliments of Kross Kolor Records (KKR).

KKR hosts its fourth annual school show at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Saturday, May 23.

Among those scheduled to perform are X2, Vanilla, Shelly G - the reigning Soca Queen, X Factor, B52, Ossie O, Big Red, Tennicia, Rajesh Dubraj and HRC who are all expected to give electrifying performances. Well known television personality Basil Bradshaw is slated to be the master of ceremonies (MC).

Source

Texting now comes to Guyana

Not really: The two major companies are not interconnecting when customers can text to every other country in the world. Not residing there currently, I never knew there was a barrier...

Digicel and Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) subscribers will finally be able to interconnect via Short Messaging Service (SMS) from next month.

A joint release issued yesterday said “Digicel and GT&T are pleased to announce that they have come to an agreement to enable cross-network mobile texting in Guyana”

“Customers of each network will from June 1st, 2009, for the first time, be able to text customers of the other network”, the brief release added.

The issue has been contentious and one which Digicel had been plugging for a long time. GT&T had indicated its willingness to facilitate the move but reportedly had some concerns it wanted to iron out. A senior official within GT&T had said that the agreement was something that the company stood to benefit significantly from but stated that there were issues that had not been properly addressed.

Source

No more hating

I think I've had enough of all the hating on Timeka. There's a difference between a critique which is based on pros and cons and just saying negative things that have no basis in the truth. Saying her lyrics sucks is one thing, but I think some have crossed the line, who she sleeps with is her business. It's mindless, spineless(since no one had even signed their names to it), childish and unpatriotic!

I will not accept any more of those comments!
Let us give our artists a chance.

Nudie Rihanna

schuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuppppppppppppppsssssssss

What's all the fuss about?

From the comment section: Big Hombre Views

Re: Kester D and Entertainer Rawle in the ER

What fascinated me most about Imran's comments was the fact that he never even mentioned Eddie Neblett in that very long article, but mentioned just about every other guyanese artiste.

The "disrespect" that Eddie receives from most guyanese online, in print and on the streets is astounding as far as lack of recognition is concerned...and i am speaking here mostly of guyanese in Guyana.

I have done an inordinate amount of research on guyanese's reaction to Mr Neblett.

I wrote to Imran and he acknowledged his oversight but then couched it nicely in an explanation where he said he also forgot to mention Jessica Xavier. There we go again......someone "deliberately?" missing the point that the other guyanese artistes are not in the same league as Eddie.

There is no comparison between Eddie and Jessica.........and Kester D. Kester may have been the pioneer and Jessica now starting, but there is no comparison NOW in respect of originality, lyrical content,showmanship and voice.

He should have just stopped short and acknowledged his oversight.

All one has to do is listen to Eddie's album "Prophecies"...no-one has a BODY OF WORK even coming close to that...and when you include tunes like Intensive Situation, Hope, River, New Life to the 12 on the CD, we have 16 top notch tunes there.

What guyanese artiste even comes CLOSE to matching that?? I have been listening to reggae for decades and this guy stands head and shoulders above ALL the others.

Fojo?? Kester D?? Gimme a break....maybe 2 or 3 tunes that are okay but nothing that can compare to at least 10 of Eddie's tunes.........in my humble opinion anyway.

And listen, Eddie's soca-style tunes like Love N Unity can match anything that X2 has put out. For that matter, Eddie should have won the accolade for Tune of the Year with Love N Unity and also the accolade for best gospel tune for Anointed......CLEARLY.

In 20 years, radio stations will be playing Love N Unity.....Tic Tac is already a tune of the past, along with Krazy...no-one will remember those in 2 years, much less 20. Love N Unity gets much more airplay and TV play today in GT.

But i will credit Imran with this.......he gave the real reason why guyanese wherever, and obviously himself too, put Eddie in a little box and marginalise him.

To them, Eddie is "GOSPEL"...so he is acknowledged as talented yes, but he is "gospel"........and most people are not interested in gospel. I aint saying that gospel does not have it's fans, but it's "gospel" to a wider population.

I was speaking with 4 guys all over 40 about Eddie at a jerk chicken spot in Duncan Street.
They live in Guyana but know very little of Eddie(yes, folks). They think he is only "Love N Unity"... I explained to them that Eddie had a CD with 12 big tunes on it and told them i had it in my car and could bring it for them to hear at least 5 tunes which no-one will consider "gospel" tunes.

Their response was "no man, we dont want to change our vibe". That summed it all up for me after 5 months of research.....they were listening to Shurwin Winchaster or someone and Shelley G. They were not even interested in giving Eddie's music a chance........even tho they did not know it. They just were....not......interested. Why? Because he is "gospel" to them.

But like i said, u can play at least 5 songs on his album to a secular crowd of 100 overseas peeps who never heard of him, and none will walk away thinking he is gospel.

Guyanese have marginalised Eddie Neblett in their thinking because of that gospel tag.

I can tell you honestly that i arbitrarily and at random must have asked at least 30 guyanese ranging from 30 to 55, if they knew Edward neblett andthey said no....when i asked them if they know the name from Love N Unity, they would say "AAAAH yes, i know it".

I say this because i have been seeing videos to Wrong Decision, We Can Make It, Love for Humanity, Anointed for at least 3 years on TV in Guyana. So these people never saw these videos and noticed the name?

Well, they have but it's not Sean Paul or Serani or Machel or Sherwin or some overseas artiste.sothey dont take note.

Contrarily, if u check Eddie's popularity on the international scene,you would be shocked at how he is being embraced in the UK, Holland and the USA. I have the evidence but a taste of it can be had by looking at the comments to his videos on YouTube.

Guyanese, especially in Guyana, are waiting to get word of that international recognition before they embrace him.....it'sthe sheep mentality.

In conclusion, if you can find me any guyanese artist with just 5 songs that could match Eddie's album, i would be only too willing to listen to him/her with whomever finds that artiste....except of course you bring music by the other Eddie...yes that one who also suffered the same "eyepass" from guyanese and decided to just stay away from Guyana.

Best regards to all my fellow guyanese in Guyana.

Some ice water on Ms. Marshall

It concerns the lyrics of Hush:

The chorus seems to have a contradiction:

Should I hush OR should i keep living a double life. The two are one and the same. OR implies a choice of not the same things.

None of the people working with you caught that?

Kester D & Entertainer Rawle in the ER

Here is a segment of the feud between Kester D and Rawl on Entertainment Reel or is it In the Mix?



My views:
1. I agree with both Kester D and Rawle. It's a catch 22 position though, they need the financial support to help them get to the top, but they will not get the top billings if they are not a top performer.
2. DJs and radio do make hits by playing the song, I once heard Rihanna's Please don't stop the music 5 times in 2 hrs on the radio and it's a song that I do not particularly like.
3. I think alot of artists don't know who they are, they don't have a style they are just trying a thing that they see.
4. The old formula of relying on CD sales can't work anymore for up and coming artists, they have to rely on bookings which leads back to the same situation.
5. A law won't solve the problem as Kester D suggests, but the govt as well as the private sector can financially support talented artists.
6. Copy right is a big problem as the case of Adrian advertising for a bootlegging company which is the norm in Guyana. What's holding up the copyright law?


Jessica Xavier sounded great live! We ought to leave Charmaine Blackman alone, after 19 years in the industry she is not going to change, she's our living legacy :)

I believe the industry will get better in time. We will have better artists that will raise the bar and the not so good ones will have to shape up or ship out. I believe, I believe, now believe it with me!

Radica or Savitree? Foreign or local?

I heard this song Radica by Kenneth Salick is mashing up Guyana, so i decided to listen and it's just an average song, average singing, the video is very low budget. Why this song is getting so much attention when a similar song Savitree by Guyanese Super Markie doesn't get the same attention?

Foreign-mindedness of my Guyanese people? Could be possible. The only thing that is better about Radica is the smoother recording, is it that simple?

Hating on Timeka! Just Hush....

Anonymous January 19, 2009 11:52 AM
timeka marshall f$#@% to much producer she's a low life a disgrace to guyana, and she cant sing, guyana got a lot of better artist than her but timeka getting put cuz her manager is a dj and he f$#@% her and she f$#@% people in brutal tracks nasty whore

Anonymous March 21, 2009 8:16 AM
timeka marshall is certainly f$#@%ing her way up the ladder in music...she's fucking a big married man man now. She is going nowhere in the business!!

Anonymous March 25, 2009 8:15 PM
these young female artists always do that and it never helps their career...why would she think that sleeping with a producer would help her? March 29, 2009 7:32 AM Timeka should be able to sing about deception and deceit very well...she's been deceiving poor Hayden since she find man in Jamaica

There are just a few comments I found around the internet about Timeka, the last posted right here on this blog and I ask, why so much hate?? Sure Timeka is no Beyonce or Jennifer Hudson, but why are we Guyanese people pulling the young woman down? She's only 19, she can do better with some time, stop hating....give her a chance!! How do they know she is sleeping with these producers? It seems Timeka you must have a jealous person right in your camp who wants to bring you down....if she flops or don't make no strides in the next 3 yrs, then you can say she wasn't worth anything...

Gothic Guyana

I look from outside at the Gothic/Rock scene in Guyana and to me it seems like dress in black, war bad make up and act silly at these Rock Zone events. While Struck Root seems like a cool band, and I actually like their Purify, everything else does not seem believable...another foreign import, followed by the better off people..and their lap dogs.

What the hell is this?