At 44, Reggae/Culture artiste Neil Sampson is just releasing his first extended play (EP) album titled ‘The Journey’, but revelling in the glory of doing so is certainly sweeter for him after the long journey he has had in getting here.
‘The Journey’ is slated for release today on 101. FM. Neil, whose stage name is ‘Ash’ explained that the name of his EP comes from the harrowing journey it took for him to get where he is today. “It was a long ride getting here; a long journey. Hope that journey is not as tough for any other artiste coming up,” he said. ‘The Journey’ was recorded and produced by three music studios, Sycamore Studio, Bomb Squad Studio, and Yah Yah Production.
There are seven songs on the EP: “Sing Guyana,” “The Right Thing,” “Rise Anthem,” “History,” “Sunshine,” “Ole Heap A Wish,” and “Hail De King”. Sampson expects “Sing Guyana” to be the hit of the album. The song details a Guyana rising from poverty to wealth as it relates to its oil find.
A tradesman by profession, Ash spends all of his free time writing songs. To date he has written an average of 100 songs or more.
The EP is not the singer’s first musical release. He had dropped his first single “I Love My Baby” almost a decade ago. At that time, he was living and working in Barbados and the song was recorded there.
It took the Frass Friday team to motivate the singer to return to music. He joined the group about a year and half ago. It was through the team, he said, that he gained recognition for his music and was pushed to keep pursuing the art. Though seven songs are set for release today, Ash has recorded some 22 songs so far.
“We took a month to record the EP. Most of the songs were recorded in the evenings since its quieter then,” said the singer.
Ash, who hails from Corentyne, Berbice spent some of his boyhood days there before relocating to the city. As a boy, he was not too fascinated by music and instead spent most of his time playing cricket and football. He later came to love the art and found himself being interested in music somewhere around 1994. Back then he especially had a liking for Tupac Shakur songs and would do remixes of the lyrics to the rapper’s songs. That was where it all started.
“Music is life. It is refreshing. It is inspiration. It is direction. It’s something you look forward to when you’re down or up,” said the singer.
As regards musical inspirations, Ash is not too selective; he said he
listens to music from all artistes. What, for him, is more important is the content he listens to. “For me it’s not who is better than better who but what is better than what,” he explained.
However, he draws inspiration from insightful music and as such, sings music that can also be an inspiration to others. Whether through the content of his songs or the time he uses to write songs for other artistes, Ash hopes he is helping to build other artistes.
At present, the artiste is working on some other projects which include the release of several other singles. The singles have already been recorded and are only left to be mixed and include backup singers. However, he cannot yet say when these will be released. Two of the songs to come are said to be collaborations between him and several other singers. “Wan Fi See Me Fall” is a collaboration between Ash and Dravinin while “Rise Again – Frass Squad” was done by Ash, Glyon, Kishon, and Nation.
Ash can be followed on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @Ash Music Official.
