Music Matters: The Caribbean Edition
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Music business conversations with hosts Laura Dowrich-Phillips and Nigel A. Campbell focused on the Caribbean.
49 Episodes
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Laura and Nigel chat with soca music's lyrical wordsmith, Bunji Garlin, who pushes the envelope of what the sound of Carnival can be with unique collaborations and lyrical wordplay that speaks to calypso's history as a lyricist's art. Bunji, for more than 25 years, has been using the power of words to excite, to educate, to evolve what soca music is globally.
Laura and Nigel speak with the composer of the 2025 T&T Carnival Road March, Pardy, Andre Jeffers about the process of composing hits in an evolved Carnival ecosystem that recognises and demands stories and lyrics more than simple instructions to jump and wave. With two road marches under his belt, Jeffers speaks on the new business models for soca music dispersion and uptake.
Laura and Nigel welcome Joshua Regrello, De Panman to his thousands of fans on social media, who represents a changing of the guard in steelpan music. Spontaneous and dynamic are two adjectives to describe this innovative musician who uses the instrument of Carnival, the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago, to forge new pathways for listening to Carnival music. His effective use of social media to dominate the creator economy of Carnival practitioners, including leading Carnival music singers, is discussed.
1Laura and Nigel are back after a long hiatus. They begin the year with the Soca Sessions Interviews with prominent artists, musicians and producers within the soca and Carnival music fraternity. First up is Michael 'Tano' Montano, producer and composer of the 2024 T&T Road March DNA by Mical Teja. He takes listeners behind the scenes of the creation process for modern soca including hits by Kes The Band, GBM Nutron and Freetown Collective.
Laura and Nigel host a panel at the MusicTT RVRB X Conference in Trinidad on Festivals as the new investment opportunities for the regional music industry, with Dr. Jo-Anne Tull from Barbados and Sobers Esprit from Dominica. They speak on the development and business opportunities for growth and data capture of the live music festival industry, with a goal of finding a workable template for effective private and public sector investment.
Laura and Nigel welcome UK-born Barbadian emeritus professor of Recording Industry, author and consultant Mike Alleyne to the podcast as he discusses the efforts and "adjustments" made by the global the recording industry to successfully market indigenous Caribbean music and artistes; Bob Marley, Rihanna, and more.
Laura and Nigel have a conversation with Donovan Watkis of World Music Views about how his push to chart and certify Jamaican music's global sales and streams is converting cultural capital into financial capital. His strong entrepreneurial spirit comes through as he pursues the task of putting dancehall and reggae music on a level playing field within the global music streaming ecosystem, to accurately identify its value.
Laura and Nigel have a conversation with Elizabeth Lady Montano, mother of Caribbean music superstar, Machel Montano, and author of his new coffee-table memoir/biography King of Soca. Published to coincide with the 40th anniversary of his professional career, Lady speaks her truth about Machel, she being the ultimate insider, the former manager, and the archiver of more than forty years of memories.
Laura and Nigel have a conversation where they ponder the future of the Caribbean music industry after the disruption of the two-year COVID-19 pandemic. The evolution of music festivals and Carnivals, the new economy of music for new and legacy artists, the coming-of-age new audiences in and outside the islands.
Laura and Nigel speak with Caribbean-American music executive Nolan Baynes on the ins and outs of the modern US music industry, as he lays out what needs to be done by Caribbean artists and music business to get a significant space in that market. They analyse a few case studies of Caribbean music entrepreneurship and creativity.
Laura and Nigel speak with BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ and selector Seani B about his prominent role in putting Caribbean music on the radio in the UK and beyond, and on global playlists. Bashment party vibes from the Caribbean and beyond.
Laura And Nigel speak with soca entrepreneur and facilitator, Terron Callender, JAIGA TC, on the way forward for the music genre. This TV producer, radio announcer and hit soca writer and artiste, among his other qualifications, gets real on the possibilities of soca in the global music industry highlighting pluses and pitfalls.
Laura and Nigel begin the fourth season of the podcast with a conversation on the outlook and some of the recent happenings within the Caribbean music industry after 20 months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Laura and Nigel speak with soca producer Kasey Phillips and former Grammy Awards genre manager Marlon Fuentes about the clear opportunities towards recognition of the genre within the Recording Academy by their facilitation of the soca producers' significant membership drive in 2021. This first step is a real world initiative that can move the needle on Caribbean music's growth in a rebranded World music category.
Laura and Nigel speak to Trinidad and Tobago EDM and hip hop artist and songwriter Braveboy about his many unique collaborations with global artistes from Albania to Taiwan, and almost everywhere in between. Those connections have produced music licensing deals that are more important in a world recovering from a pandemic. Lessons learned, advice shared in this wide ranging conversation about Caribbean possibilities in the music world.
Laura and Nigel chat with soca star and music entrepreneur, Fay-Ann Lyons Alvarez on her music career, live and recorded, during the pandemic and her move into streaming music platform development with the launch of her new service, Chrending, and moves to expand Caribbean music.
Laura and Nigel have a conversation on the implications of the small steps in innovation happening in the digital music space of the Caribbean music industry. As the pandemic continues with the future dependent on outside forces, Caribbean music creators and business people have to move to the leading edge of the innovation curve to remain relevant. With the proliferation of digital solutions existing, we have to pivot the business models to our situation in the islands.
Laura and Nigel chat with Navindra Harbukhan of NH Productions TT on the role of video in the promotion of soca music. He gives a masterclass on how video can break this music to the world. He gives a masterclass on how video can break this music to the world. He says, "...we are at the point where video is king. If you are an artiste, and you do not have a video for your song, you are doing music wrong." BOOM!
Laura and Nigel speak with Jamaican music industry lawyer and entrepreneur, Lloyd Stanbury on the Jamaican and wider Caribbean industry, looking forward, post-COVID-19. Utilizing his role as co-founder of IRIE-FM and one person responsible for the establishment of the Caribbean Music Expo and many music organizations on the island, he provides an effective overview of where that island's industry went, is going and has to go.
Laura and Nigel continue in The Soca Sessions with a fun-filled yet open chat with the Queen of Bacchanal, soca star Destra Garcia on her career and how she has been able to sustain her brand for more than two decades and through the COVID-19 pandemic. The business of soca is revealed as Destra talks about longevity with innovation, albums and streams, media dominance, contracts and career.
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