After migrating to Canada and opening his entertainment business which covers various genres of music, the Guyanese-based Canadian singer, songwriter and producer Ahamad Ally, popularly known as ‘Prince Ally’, is now back in his birth country to help foster the music industry and aid in the development of upcoming Guyanese artistes.
The 62-year-old Ally, who grew up in the village of Corriverton in Berbice, had migrated to Canada in the 1990s with his wife and two children where he made a pretty good life for himself. He opened an electronic store and launched his music business Island Flavour and later his own record label Ally Talent International.
Island Flavour, which is located in Toronto, is a store which offers customers a variety of music ranging from reggae, soca, soul, gospel and many more all of which were performed by Caribbean artists. Meanwhile, Ally Talent International, has given him opportunities to work with big artistes such as Sean Paul, and other Jamaican performers and even Guyana’s very own Mark Holder and others.
The entrepreneur and music enthusiast said that he returned to Guyana in late December to attend his father’s funeral and after many thoughts, decided to stay a little longer for a ‘tour’ which has since become a way of attending and hosting musical activities in the country. One of the most recent, which he collaborated on, was the birth anniversary celebration of the late Bob Marley at the Pegasus Hotel last Sunday.
Ally has been in the music business for more than 40 years and has recorded 15 albums.
“I started singing since I was going to school in Guyana and during those years there were many cinemas and I was always entertained with other activities like concerts and fairs and so on because I used to see how music makes people happy and I wanted to contribute to that and so I have always had that music desire within me to do something in the same field,” he said.
Asked how it has been for him in the music industry, he said, “It’s successful so far for me because I have worked with many artists and I have been able to produce excellent quality type of music due to my experiences… When I’m working with someone I’m looking for potential quality music where I further help in making it to become of excellent standard and quality. But when this business is slow, remember I have my other business, my electronic business so both businesses help and depend on each other.
“Since I’ve been back here for a while, I’m hoping to have a few shows lined up in Corriverton, Charity, Linden, and of course Georgetown, as well as some other places, but the dates aren’t set yet… During Caribana time, I usually take a group to Toronto, and I’m hoping to do that this year as well; both Guyanese artistes and other Caribbean artistes from Trinidad and so on.”
Even though he is impressed with the extraordinary quality of music that many young Guyanese are currently producing and putting out on the internet and within the public domain, he said some level of additional work should be done in order to have these individuals monetized.
“… They aren’t making much for themselves… We frequently see these people on carts passing by and playing the artists’ music, but do the artists profit from this? …I believe that is where the copyright infringement law in Guyana should be strengthened, because artists don’t usually make anything when their music is played without their permission, and so other people will usually just put whatever they think are the best on CDs and sell it… I think this is where the government could come in to help the country’s music industry,” he added.
