Singer/songwriter Ian ‘Fojo’ Corbin led the way when the nominations for the inaugural Accolade – the Music Awards of Guyana were announced last Thursday.
The genre-hopping Corbin received nine nominations, including major nods for Best New Artist, Songwriter of the Year and Producer of the Year, in a field dominated by soca and reggae acts.
Bonny Alves, of the Yoruba Singers, who will face off against Corbin in the Producer category, finished second behind him with six nominations. Songstress Timeka Marshall and soca sirens Michelle ‘Big Red’ King and Shellon ‘Shelly G’ Garraway each earned five nominations, with nods for the coveted Artist of Year award, while reggae powerhouses First Born and Natural Black also scored five a piece, including Album of the Year. X2, the popular Adrian Dutchin/Jumo Primo collaboration received four nominations and Dutchin also grabbed three individual nods, including one in Artist of the Year category, which is rounded out by Charmaine Blackman and Marlon ‘Malo’ Webster. Marshall (“Separate”), King (“Guyanese Wine”), X2 (“Crazy”), First Born (“Irits”) and Blackman (“Don’t Disrespect Me”) will also contend for the Song of the Year Award.
The public will vote for winners using the site and text messaging from October 10 to November 20. VJs, DJs, producers and record bars will also vote for the winners.
“I am very excited that the people could appreciate what local artists are doing for Guyana,” Corbin said about his multiple nominations. “Once this [the awards] comes off right, it could give us the vibes to keep on doing what we are doing.”
Corbin returned to Guyana nearly three years ago and quickly established himself as a versatile artist on the local music scene. In the process, he has earned a strong following and he has become a fixture at most major local shows. He has built his reputation as a solid R&B and reggae singer and he has also experimented with dancehall and soca. The eclectic strands were all collected on his first major album release, ‘Different Sides of Me’, which was released last year.
In the relatively short time since his return, Corbin also helped to set up Platinum Studios. As the CEO of the recording studio he has a vested interested in the development of the local music and to market it as a brand worldwide. “What I am trying to do is change the Guyana sound and give it an international flow,” he said, adding that it is important for artists to avoid duplicate other distinctive musical accents. “I do R&B with my own flow, in the Guyana way,” he explained. “You have to do what you do.”
Although aware of the continuous calls for copyright legislation, Corbin said the industry’s current emphasis should be promoting local performers. “The DJs need to promote more GT artistes,” he said. “In Trinidad, the DJs play soca and in Jamaica they play reggae.”
Corbin also thought that the state monopoly on radio also compounds the stifling of local music. “One radio station is foolishness,” he said. “Small places that don’t have our resources have more than one station.”
Nevertheless, Corbin remains hopeful about the direction in which the local music is headed. “I came here with only a suitcase,” he said, “Now I have a studio.”
Corbin is currently working on his new album, ‘The Life and Times of Fojo’, on which he focuses on reggae. It is due for release later this year.
Executive Director of the awards, Kwame McKoy said the nominees were selected by a nomination panel based on work they produced between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2006. The panel was headed by producer Burchmore Simon and include producer Kerwyn Bollers, producer/song-writer Sean Bhola, radio announcer and DJ Malcolm Ferreira and attorney Jaya Manickchand.
McKoy explained that selection process also involved music producers, local DJs, radio announcers, recording studios, record bars, who were asked to submit nominees in the various categories. Some of the submissions, he said, did not meet the stipulated timeframe, leading them to be deemed ineligible. This proved to be one of the major hurdles, but McKoy said when the decision was taken a year ago it was felt that the two-year period was a fair starting point.
Meanwhile, McKoy denied a claim that the awards overlooked local rock bands. He said there were rock and alternative band categories, but it was later learnt that none of the bands had done recordings during the eligibility period. “So we had to delete that category,” he said, while adding that the door was not closed on rock and other categories in the future. “There is no closed-door policy.”
In the light of the difficulty encountered during the selection process, McKoy also said the creation of a local music database will be pursued. He described the compilation of data as a tedious process and he mentioned that in some instances the panel was forced to ask participants to call on memory for information on some artists and groups.
The first Accolade Awards will take place at the National Cultural Centre on November 30. A full list of nominees is available at the Accolade website, themusicawardsofguyana.com.
