Caribbean Beat — May/June 2018 (#151)

playlist
This Is Me
Jeanine S. Ruiz (self-released)
Young Trinidadian keyboardist Jeanine Ruiz
releases her first EP as a musical autobiography
of a life recently begun, and a testament to
her emotional journey thus far. Going through
the song titles — “Ambitious”, “Overthinker”,
“Impulsive”, “Temperamental”, and “Dreamer”
— one can gauge how far she has come and
how far she may go. Listening to the music,
one can hear the subtle influences of style that
have touched her compositions: world fusion
has a new advocate. Admittedly influenced by
Japanese jazz pianist Hiromi Uehara, Ruiz has
a sure-handedness in her playing and a keen
sense of timing and cinematic breath in her
arrangements, which catch a number of genres
without being confusing. This is more than
jazz-influenced trio playing — this debut signals
a potential to inspire a waning instrumental
music-listening audience, here and there, to
stick around to track Ruiz’s continuing musical
journey.
Singles Spotlight
Bayo
Michael Brun featuring Strong G, Baky,
and J. Perry (Kid Coconut)
“Bayo” in Haitian Kweyol means “to give,” and
with this new single from Haiti-born EDM DJ
Michael Brun, Haiti is giving the world a lesson
in what the country is and what it represents
today. A spoken phrase in the song’s music
video translates to “Haiti is like a pulse for the
rest of the world,” and this new wave of music
talent from the first black republic has taken
that statement to heart. Brun, who has a Haitian
father and Guyanese mother, along with fellow
Haitian MCs Strong G, Baky, and J. Perry, also
represents the multi-hued reality of the people
of the island. Not that it matters much, but this
celebratory dance music fused with elements of
indigenous rara and konpa gives an updated look
and sound to an island that has been a centre
of African diaspora culture for centuries. It
recalibrates our concept of modern Haiti. “Bayo”
is that beauty and potential “sonified.”
GEBE Wuk Up
King Kembe (self-released)
Sint Maarten Carnival will happen in May, and
“neither hurricane, nor rain, nor heat, nor
darkness” — with apologies to Herodotus — will
stop the celebrations on the island nation in
its post–Hurricane Irma recovery. And part of
that celebration is the release of new songs
that reflect the Windward Islands’ and Dutch
Caribbean’s take on soca, driven by a high beatsper-minute
rhythm and urgent authentic vibe
devoid of over-sampled electronic sounds.
“GEBE Wuk Up” is a funny ditty about the
unsure and unfortunate encounters of a couple
dancing right through a seemingly familiar
occurrence of electricity blackouts on the island
— GEBE is the government-owned electricity
company. Nothing stops the “wuk up” in the
dark! Reference to regular power cuts in this
season of renewal in Sint Maarten, when the
power company admits to “doing its best to
restore some normality,” is the wry prod that
makes this song unforgettable.
Don’t Make Me Wait
Sting and Shaggy (A&M Records)
Sting, frontman for seminal 1980s band The
Police, joins Mr Boombastic himself, Shaggy,
for a collaboration that has super hit potential
written all over it. This first single off the
forthcoming new joint album 44/876 oozes with
a sure-fire confidence and sonic familiarity that
suggests these two stars are on the right path
for crossover success on the reggae and pop
charts. “Don’t Make Me Wait” has the feeling
of Marley’s “Waiting in Vain” — resisting waiting
must be a Jamaican preoccupation — but the
song lyrics channel the feeling that love can’t be
rushed, and when the time is ripe, good things
will come. Sting’s voice has that timbre that
whispers sexily and rises to pierce at the higher
registers, while Shaggy’s swinging dancehall
chatting has a commanding presence that
makes you listen up and sing along. The result is
a duet that responds positively to the modern
empathetic understanding that all men have to
#WaitForLove.
Reviews by Nigel A. Campbell
WWW.CARIBBEAN-AIRLINES.COM
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