There is no doubt that Guyanese music has come a long way in recent years. Just look around and you will see artistes from all corners of the country belting out soca, culture, reggae, R&B or gospel music. Whether they have talent or not there is no way you can ignore that they are around.
This explosion has to do mainly with the fact that there are many recording studios around the country now, something you could not have found a mere five years ago. The radio and the local television stations are now playing local music, something local artistes had to fight for in the past as foreign music and videos ruled.
Some of the notable artists who have in recent times made Guyana proud include First Born, who are in a league by themselves; Adrian Dutchin and Jumo Primo known as ‘X2’, Timeka Marshall, Alabama, Eddie Neblet and Michelle ‘Big Red’ King just to name a few. This is not to say we don’t think other singers have not made Guyana proud we just named some of the bigger artistes.
But while our artistes have made it big on the local front it is hard for them to make it on the international stage, even in the Caribbean. Some say the reason is that the type of songs being sung, mostly reggae and soca, have already found their niche in other countries like Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados. So it is difficult for local artistes to compete with those already established artistes in the Caribbean.
Some of them, like First Born, have thought ahead and had their songs produced in the country where those songs are already popular and where the producers are in a better position to market the songs.
However, we also feel that another reason for our local artistes are not making it big is because some of them may not be taking the business seriously. On the one hand, who can blame them? This is a country where copyright is not respected. But on the other hand, if they really want to make it big then they should focus on producing quality stuff. Some of the songs should not have seen the light of the day. They basically “wine, wine” and “jump, jump” culture with no real thought being put into being unique.
Some people have commented that the songs all seem to be the same so why waste time supporting the artistes if they do not care of producing quality stuff.
On the other side of the fence, and we must be fair, some artistes complain that they make no money from singing. While they would hear their songs being played there is no money to support the popularity of the song as their production is pirated.
Unfortunately even countries where there are copyright laws pirating is still a big thing. But it is not as rampant as it is in Guyana. Recently we were listening to a show where a promoter was lamenting this same issue. He said that while Guyanese music has come a far way, after all gone are the days when singers would be singing for $2,000 at a show, they still cannot make money because of the pirating.
We think that the end of piracy has to start somewhere; a concerted effort by government to get the correct legislation on the books would be a good place. We know it can be done. Cricket World Cup’s ‘Sunset’ and all the other pieces of legislation passed to make the event run smoothly is an indication of this. Then everyone in the music sector must pull their socks up! Guyanese music has potential but all must be willing to do their best. thestabroekscene@yahoo.com