Barbados' Best

To improve product and service excellence in Barbados by driving public awareness of product offerings that meet the exacting expectations of the wider public.

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Buju Rocks Kensington Oval

Ten years is a long time. It’s even longer when you have to go without hearing the gravel sounding voice of reggae legend Buju Banton live and direct. Barbadian fans were relieved from their agony on Saturday night when the strains of ‘Our father, who art in Zion’ echoed through Kensington Oval. Some opening lines backstage of Destiny and then finally the tall figure of Buju glided effortlessly across the stage as he chanted ‘I wanna rule my Destiny’. While he certainly has a chance now to rule his destiny in terms of the choices he makes going forward, for an hour and fifteen minutes he ruled over the masses at Kensington. Hit after hit poured forth effortlessly, and it was lapped up by a crowd thirsty for good reggae music.  It’s Not an Easy road gave way to strains of Close One Yesterday.

There was one breathtaking moment when the band went quiet, then the poignant strains of a saxophone broke the haunting silence with a riveting intro. The guitarist then proceeded to strum the first strains of Untold Stories. It was at this moment that you knew that Buju had soared to the level of reggae spiritual stardom reserved for an elect few. ‘When mama spend her last and send you go class never you ever play’ he chided, a sobering reminder of the quality of his lyrics and intended impact on society. A voice crying for the masses while imploring change to leaders and inspiring the downtrodden.

The lovers were not left out. Wanna Be Loved, Love Sponge and One to One were delivered with aplomb. It was a performance Barbados had waited for and interspersed with some bashment selections whetted the appetite of the dancehall minded partygoers of the 90s era. Mr. Nine reminded the youths of the dangers of guns and introduced a spiritual dialogue where he encouraged the youths to not fall prey to the pressures of society. It was telling that Murderer would follow later.

What more is there to be said? I could go on and on but the full will never be told.  Welcome back Buju as we wait patiently to welcome you back again.

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Party Monarch Dilemma

Recently crowned Bashment Soca king Lil Rick has made it clear that Mother Sally is his preferred choice of song to defend his Party Monarch crown for 2018. ‘True Story is just a one note song, and when you look at the criteria for Party Monarch Mother Sally is a better fit’, Rick implied in a post Bashment Soca victory interview. Rick’s insistence on singing Mother Sally hides an even bigger problem. 

Why are the most popular songs not making it to Party Monarch and Sweet Soca finals? Even Bashment Soca has begun to struggle in this regard. You have a better chance of just going to one of the many fetes on offer this season and hearing a lineup of artistes singing the best songs than by going to Soca Royale which is billed as the biggest show for the season.

There needs to be a serious look at the process to select the songs for these competitions. Party Monarch indicates a party component, yet you would not go in any party and hear these songs playing. The songs that are knocking down the party are not selected. We are therefore left with a watered down show which is now shunted in before Sweet Soca, effectively confirming that it has lost its appeal.

The beats per minute restriction for Sweet Soca versus Party Monarch have also contributed to the demise of the show. In lieu of returning the show to its one competition format, the beat restriction should be lifted to allow any song to be in Party Monarch while leaving it in place for Sweet Soca. Can’t a party song be slow? RPB’s Boat Ride really should have been in Party. If we are really focusing on the word sweet then it really was not the sweetest song on show that night last year. That honour went to Give it to Ya by Marzville, who suffered from the hands in the air syndrome that seemed to have swayed the judges against him. Sweet soca is not about hands in the air. It is about grooving the melody and just taking it easy while soaking in the vibes.

This year we have Feting Family by Mikey which really should be in Party Monarch. While some soca pundits have Lil Rick to do the double my view is that Mikey is the one to watch as he has the material to win both competitions and he is a dynamic performer. Mother Sally is not the strongest song but still Lil Rick is a veteran performer who knows what needs to be done to emerge victorious. Adrian Clarke has the sweetest song Soca You, an infections melody which with the right arrangement on the night could set the cat among the pigeons. He however needs to work on his persona to match the theme of the song. Look for these three along with Ian Webster to be names called in the top 3 at the end of the night.

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Sweet Soca Dilemma

What is Sweet Soca? Is it soca that is groovy or just simply soca that is sweet? The criteria restrictive stance adopted by the organisers of Soca Royale has resulted in the decimation of the category so soca that was once the main drawing card at the event. Is it to say that a party song has to be fast? The category of Sweet Soca was designed just for those slower songs. Yet we have a case where Sweet Soca was won by a song more suited for the Party Monarch category. The very songs that the Sweet Soca category was created to protect had no answer to the infection sped up version of “Boat Ride”. Time to relook the restrictions on the Party Monarch category.

#cropover2017

#socaroyale

#sweetsoca

#Barbadosbest

[barbadosbest-blog]

Sweet Soca Dilemma

What is Sweet Soca? Is it soca that is groovy or just simply soca that is sweet? The criteria restrictive stance adopted by the organisers of Soca Royale has resulted in the decimation of the category so soca that was once the main drawing card at the event. Is it to say that a party song has to be fast? The category of Sweet Soca was designed just for those slower songs. Yet we have a case where Sweet Soca was won by a song more suited for the Party Monarch category. The very songs that the Sweet Soca category was created to protect had no answer to the infection sped up version of “Boat Ride”. Time to relook the restrictions on the Party Monarch category.

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Foreday Morning Letdown

The stage was set for the biggest jump every in the history of Barbados. This has been bumper year for crop over 2015 with the music offerings being of exceptional quality and event after event catering to sellout crowds. Deejays had no end of music to select from. To the dismay of the thousands looking on at the merry revelers there was no steady diet of crop over 2015 offerings. Deejays inexplicably chose to play Trinidad carnival offerings, even going in the archives on occasion to drown the masses in CSME servings. Am I saying that only Bajan music should be played? Yes I am. Unless it is a tune released specifically for Crop Over Ricardo Drue on the rhythm take a bow with Professional Drinker on the Groove Theory rhythm then it should not be played. Not when people like Fadda Fox are sounding so nice  but can’t even get a look in by the deejays. Owning a radio station can help with getting airplay. Maybe artistes now need to own their own foreday band to get their tunes heard on road for Foreday morning. Let’s hope there will not be a repeat on Kadooment day.

w4/tsyB����

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Machel Montano's Performance at the International Soca Monarch 2015

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Bajanartistes Fadda Fox and the duo of Lead Pipe and Saddis aka Porgie and Murda have made it to the finals of the international soca monarch competition in Trinidad. It is interesting to note that neither of the songs by these artistes even made the finals of the groovy soca monarch competition in Barbados during the crop over season in 2014. It begs the question which has been asked yearly by pundits whether the lineup in the local groovy competition really represents the best soca music for the season, and whether this music is a true representation of tunes being requested by patrons in the party.  It is our view that the selection of tunes for occurs too early in the season to accurately gauge the best in the party and groovy segments. Surely if the word party is being bandied around then you really should be looking to the many crop parties as some sort of gauge.  The irony of it all is that the song ‘Ah Feeling ‘ by Lead Pipe and Saddis went on to win the Tune of the Crop title. What a conundrum.

For now Barbados’ Best just wishes to congratulate Lead Pipe & Saddis, as well as Fadda Fox on reaching the finals and wish them all the best on Fantastic Friday as they fly the Barbados flag high in Trinidad.

BB

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