Courtney Noel is set to drop a Mashramani Soca single, “You Know You’re A Guyanese”, any day now, in the run up to the celebration of Guyana’s 50th republic anniversary next month.
The singer/songwriter will be also celebrating the 20th anniversary of his hit song, “Arrowhead” this year. During a recent visit to Guyana, Courtney, in a sit down with The Scene, spoke of his agenda for this year as well as some of his concerns as regards his music and music in Guyana in this new oil era.
“You Know You’re A Guyanese” is a nostalgic look at things that are specifically Guyanese including common expressions used here. Some of these include:
“You know you’re a Guyanese when you got typee (you are lovesick) for Teacher Sue// Can’t eat, can’t sleep, you don’t know what the hell to do// You know you’re a Guyanese playing gam and sal-out too// When you clap roti and pound foo-foo// You know you’re a Guyanese when Mashramani come, wuk done// You know you’re a Guyanese when Diwali come, we all eating, the seven curry sweet and is El Dorado we beating// You know you’re a Guyanese when you washing wares and water done// You know you’re Guyanese when you sharking (asking a girl to dance) hard and blackout come…”
“In the song I made mention of two of Guyana’s household names in entertainment, Auntie Comesee and Habeeb Khan,” Courtney said. “I want people who know this stuff, like older folks like myself to look back and get a chuckle when they remember their young days and having fun with this particular era. I want the younger people to ask about these things and what they are, like what’s typee, what’s gam and sal-out, things like that.”
According to the US-based Guyanese artiste, this is something many of us take for granted until we’re in another country and realize that such blessings are not available there. He described Christmas in the US as being more of a shopping season with religious overtones, whereas in Guyana people spend time celebrating with family and friends.
His second song, a pop song slated to be released within a week, is “It’s Good to be Alive”. This song depicts several real-life experiences that happened over the last two decades. Written last year, it reflects on his gratefulness to still stand among the living.
At present, Courtney is in the process of reaching out to the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Culture in hope of being one of the artistes performing live on one of the bands. Almost three months ago he spoke with one of the Mash coordinators who promised to contact him but has not yet done so to date. He is still not sure whether this will be a success, mentioning that when he came here to perform for Guyana’s 50th anniversary in 2015, it was unsuccessful. Though he has been living abroad for decades now, Courtney has always been supportive of Guyana and has visited once a year. Last year alone, he was here on three separate occasions. Most of his music reflect this country and his patriotism to it but he is becoming tired of people who are not as cooperative and people who, willfully or not, have tried to sabotage his contributions to the local music industry.
Several times last year the singer tried to release videos for “GT Woman” and “All My Love”. He made trips here to have his video shot by local videographers, one of whom is well-known in the music industry. Both were paid entirely and extra as well. However, a year after the video shoot for “All My Love” was done, work on the video has still not been completed. The video for “GT Woman” has been outstanding for a much longer time. It is frustrating, he shared to invest in airfare, paying local actors and videographers, along with transportation to the various sites and then nothing happens. Just last year he had enthusiastically expressed to this newspaper that with 2020 being 20 years since “Arrowhead” was released, he was hoping to have a video shot locally and released this year. However, the lack of completion of the last two videos has seen his patience grow thin and now he is unsure of whether “Arrowhead” will become a video at all in the future. He is now working towards building a career in producing films and focusing on being a pop singer.
Will he back for Mashramani? “If they invite me to, I’ll be here,” he said.
With oil being produced, there has been an influx of foreigners coming to work here and visit. They will be wanting entertainment and Courtney said, “What I think they are really looking for is the Yoruba Singers, to be honest. I think tourists who are looking for real Guyanese music are looking for the Yoruba Singers. They would want like the Shanto music, Afro-rhythms, folk music, that’s what they really want to hear, in my book, in my experience. I still think there is room for everybody because tourists will also be interested in what the Indigenous Guyanese culture is like, what songs they sing, … their folklore, … their customs? That’s what I see. There will be those who are younger who will want to party and will be looking for the Soca and Reggae music while some of the older ones will want a bit of Jazz. Guyanese artistes can fit all of those bills. We have from Herbie Marshall to Vanilla, from Poonam Singh to Young Bill Rogers to Brandon Harding. They will be looking for all kinds of entertainment but for the true-blue tourists who want authentic Guyanese music, they’ll be looking for stuff like what Young Bill Rogers does which is Shanto music, like what the Yoruba Singers do….”
Meanwhile, Guyanese will not have to worry about being disappointed as it relates to the release of “You Know You’re A Guyanese” and “It’s Good to be Alive” as both of these songs were recorded, audio only, so far that is. Courtney is still in the process of seeing that videos for “All My Love” and “Gt Woman” are completed.
