Machel Montano says 'Caribbean talent is ready and ripe'
Q&A with Machel Montano
By Glenn Osei
Location: “soca vs dancehall” @ The Sand, Amsterdam
Photos by Darren Fotografie(www.facebook.com/darrenfotografie)
Bassculture Islands: Thank you for your time Mr. Montano. I’m from Bassculture Islands, a magazine that is being made for The Caribbean islands, to promote Caribbean culture and the talent that is out there. I know we don’t have much time so I would like ask you just a few questions. When it comes to the talent of the Caribbean islands, what do you think about it?
Machel Montano: I mean… the talent in the Caribbean islands is rich, in terms of its diversity… a lot of the superstars … you ask this questions in a very good timing. If you look at the world as a global market, you have people like Rihanna up there, you have Pitbull up there, a lot of Caribbean artists, Nicki Minaj, on top of the game right now and I think it is important because when you listen to people like Neyo and Pitbull in some of the songs, you hear soca/Caribbean influence in music. I think it is because the world needs a part of paradise… I think when you come to the Caribbean it is like you are walking into Wallstreet of talent…from the Jamaicans to the Bajans to the Haitians and the Trinis with soca and all the other islands. We now have a mish mash, a mosh mish, mixed up…a mixture of dancehall with soca with cumba with zouk with reggaeton with dance music…so I think the talent in the Caribbean is ready and ripe.
So it is ready to actually expand for the world and the world is ready to accept it?
It’s ready to deliver its purpose which is to make people happy. You know a lot of people have been leaving the Americas and moving to the Caribbean, leaving Europe and moving… nobody wants to live in the winter no more, they want to live in paradise. But really and truly, when they come to the islands, they understand a different way of life. We play carnival and jump in the streets when we have mortgage and bills and problems. We have no stress and it is a state of mind, it is a way of life. So I think the world needs that cause the world needs more happiness right now.
We actually are writing to inspire these young talents. What would be your inspiration to them. What would u tell them? How would they be able to expand themselves?
Embrace the purpose, when you embrace the purpose you embrace humanity. It is like you know the hate can’t make people happy. The first thing is, you are from the Caribbean, you have to do your best, you want to have the highest standards. Start thinking about the Jacksons, the Madonnas, the Bob Marleys and the Frank Sinatras… feed from the right example. And then come with your genuine purpose to make everybody happy because this is what I want to tell these youths that what u put in is what you gonna get out. So for us, we are from the small islands, we are from what they call ‘the third world’ which means we have three times the work to do so be prepared to work hard but also know that your job is destined to do something for humanity. You have to know that you got to have integrity, discipline and dedication. When I was small I realized that soca music wasn’t famous amongst my peers and amongst young people cause they liked hip hop, they liked r’n’b, dancehall but they did not like soca. So I looked at it and it wasn’t young enough, exciting enough and I started to mix it and doing songs with Bennie Man, Shaggy and bring some reggae there, work with Doggy Fresh, and Pitbull and Lil Jon and now we have soca music merging and working with people like Diplo, Major Lazer, worldwide. It is a good look. If the young generation, young musicians and artists see the work that was put it and see the opportunity that is right now. The timing is right once you do the work.
We know that the last carnival season you got a new team of dancers from The US. Was it because it was hard to find dancers from the Caribbean? Or was it because of the potential that they had?
We didn’t set out to look for dancers. We had our dancers and in Trinidad I was the first person to bring dancers to a soca stage like that, in a modern, fresh, hip hop almost looking dancers and we created the HD team. After 5 -6 years they all started to go to school to learn dance and start to drift off. It was strange, just a coincidence. I found myself in California, trying to shoot a video before I went to Trinidad. I said ‘this is the time, let’s make the best of it and see how we can make it look good and Caribbean.’ I suggested getting some dancers and see if they can dance Caribbean… and they came and danced, not only they danced Caribbean they also gave it a professional look, in heels and we looked at it and said ‘this is probably the look we want to end up in the stadium with’ or we mix those girls with the West Indian girls. So we had Trini girls mixed with foreign girls, they taught them what was the soca and the wining, and how we did it so it had to bring our girls higher. Dance is a big thing in Trinidad but there is no real market for dancers who dance for artist. I was another pioneer to that and it became popular eventually, people like Kes have dancers, Destra is having dancers, other artists had to follow but I mean, I am always pioneering the next step, we want to have our stage and our shows like ramming performances, we want to teach our young people, we want them to incorporate dancers who dance for people like Ricky Martin and around the world. I am proud that one of my dancers is going to school in New York, just graduated with her bachelor’s degree in that and she had to take time off to do that but this is what we encourage young people to do, maybe it wasn’t the dream before?
The last question I have for u is: since u have toured many countries in Europe. What would u say is the biggest difference between The Caribbean and European audience?
… I think European audience is easier, they are more open, more accepting maybe because they don’t get as much soca as they deserve or they really should and need (smiles). In the Caribbean there are so many shows and the Caribbean crowd wants to make sure you entertain them. I just took a peek outside and I am excited because when you come to Europe these people are expecting some summer, some heat so they are actually a lot easier to send them to the frenzies (giggles). I always enjoy performing out here.
Thank you for your time Mr. Montano. Wish you all the best.
Good luck with your magazine. Thank you very much.
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