Christmas came a little early for Leigh Phillips who received the news on December 12 that she will be the Barbadian representative for the Club One New Releases Canadian TV series! Leigh was chosen to represent Barbados on Season 5 of the show which has created a platform that showcases musical performances, exclusive interviews, the songwriting process and more.
Upon getting the word that she was selected Leigh said “I am so excited and grateful to be chosen out of so many talented artists! I can’t wait to represent Barbados, make new connections, expand the reach of my brand and learn from the experience. Performing outside of Barbados, and getting the opportunity to create something special with another band, is definitely going to be one of the highlights of 2018 for me!”
Each season a select few musicians are chosen from Canada and the Caribbean to take part in international musical fusion. Organizers worked with Anies Jordan of the Association of Music Entrepreneurs to identify the local artists to be considered to represent Barbados. As part of the qualifying process, each artist had to perform two original songs and conduct an interview about their musical journey with the producers. There was a week-long voting period, and the results were announced on December 12, 2017.
Photo provided by Honey Jam Barbados.
Leigh, who is a singer-songwriter, performed her self-penned tracks “Burn” and “45” from her debut EP “Leigh” which was released on September 21, 2017. As the chosen representative, Leigh will be traveling with her band to Trinidad and Newfoundland, Canada, in March and April 2018 to perform as a part of the show. Artists are paired together and asked to write and perform new original pieces of music by fusing their own styles together to create something completely unique. She is following in the footsteps of fellow Honey Jam alum, Adaeze, who represented Barbados on Season 4 of the show. Kirk Brown and 2Mile Hill have also participated in years past.
Leigh describes her sound as a fusion of Caribbean flavors, with a jazz influenced vocal, over Pop beats. She has been writing since the age of twelve. Her musical influences include Billie Holiday, Anita Baker, Buju Banton and Alicia Keys. Leigh’s three-track EP gives you insight into her life as she tackles the themes of self-love and choices. You can find her EP “Leigh” on several major platforms including Soundcloud, iTunes, Tidal, Spotify and Selecta Charts.
Leigh has been featured in She Caribbean Magazine, LIAT’s Zing Magazine, Gine On Magazine, The Grenadian Voice Newspaper, and several local newspapers in Barbados. Leigh just performed as a guest at the November Honey Jam show, has been performing at The Grapevine in Lanterns Mall, at Norman Centre as a part of their Christmas entertainment, and will be at the Dome Mall on December 18th as a part of their Five Nights of Christmas show. You can also catch her next month at the Honey Jazz Gala January 27 at Frank Collymore Hall.
To keep up with Leigh you can find her on social media:
The Barbadian quartet consisting of lead singer Amanda Reifer, drummer and backing vocalist T-Ray Armstrong, bassist Jamar Harding and guitarist and keyboardist Barry “Barman” Hill, released their latest music video for the single, “Love Ain’t Easy” this past Sunday. The band recently performed at a wedding in Clifton Hall, St. John.
The video, which was shot in the parish of Christ Church, features Amanda strolling down a beach as she sings sorrowfully about her relationship with her lover. The song is slower than the band’s usual Carib-Pop offerings, as the band doesn’t typically perform ballads. Coupled with the lyrics the song elicits quite the melancholy mood. The band posted a few behind the scenes photos from the shoot on their Facebook page.
The Joy to Your World Essay Contest winners were announced last Sunday evening at the Searocks Dome Joy! family event.
In this season of giving, leading up to Sunday’s event, in a campaign to encourage young children to have empathy, to be generous and to help others, there was a Joy To Your World Essay Competition where the children were asked: “How are you bringing Joy to your World? How are you helping your family, neighbour, community? How can we all make Barbados better?”.
All of the children were honoured at the event and 3 were selected to receive special prizes.
Top prize winner Aijah Robinson with Joy! Producer Ebonnie Rowe.
11 year old Student Aijah Robinson won top prize which included a $500 Scotiabank account, a tablet, Wibisco Gift Basket, Chefette party, a family Atlantis Submarine trip, a Yello pencil case, a free eye examination donated by Eye Q Stylist Opticians and a book of Children’s stories written by Lady Roberta Simpson. She helps the elderly by assisting them with errands, does recycling, volunteers as schools Slow Foods garden, helps the teacher at school by cleaning the board and writing out the lesson plan, shares her lunch/lunch money with classmates who may not be able to afford a meal that day, answered the hurricane appeal by putting together hampers, taking toys to needy children, received award for most outstanding Brownie, helped her mother when she had an accident and couldn’t use her right hand, wrote a book called First Fears to help small children conquer their first day fears of going to a new school.
Aijah was thrilled with her prizes and said that it takes a lot of discipline to achieve all of her goals. “I am proud to now be an ambassador for an organization who promotes sharing, love and joy towards our fellow man. We are all winners and Joy! Barbados gives us a platform to be recognized for our achievements.”
Her mother Rhonda Robinson was bursting with pride “I am elated and thankful at this very moment. As a parent, the type of values and discipline which we instill into our child or children, act as a contributing factor towards their outputted success. Organizations such as Joy! Barbados helps to bring recognition to our innovative and talented youth. You are a credit to Barbados and for that I want to commend and encourage you to keep the good work up. The event was amazing!”
The other 2 prizes were awarded to 11 year old Lattrell Browne who helps other students with homework, helps in the school garden, belongs to the Environmental Club and gives flowers and vegetables to other schools and people in the community as well as Salvation Army, and 9 year old Mathiew Carrington who breaks up fights at schools and is trying to stamp out bullying in his school.
AA Top 3 Essay Winners with Host Caroline Reid, Producer Ebonnie Rowe and Rhonda Robinson, parent of first place winner Aijah Robinson.
Donnah Russell, Executive Director of the Variety Club was invited to bring children to the event as invited guests. “We are grateful for the partnerships that we form with other organizations and events like “Joy!”. In the spirit of “it takes a village” we are mindful that we cannot always achieve our goals alone. The invitation to children and their parents from Ebonnie Rowe to attend Joy! is appreciated and a great start to the holiday celebrations for children who might not otherwise have this privilege. The families enjoyed themselves immensely. We’d also like to say thanks to Sanojah’s who donated refreshments for the children.”
Organizer Ebonnie Rowe said “I’m so inspired by the children’s commitment to being good citizens and positively impacting the lives of others. It’s also a testament to their parents and the good values they are being brought up with. These are the young people who will shape the future of the Nation, and if they continue on this path we will be in very good hands. This is just the 2nd year we are doing this and I’m pleased to see the event growing and thriving.”
Joy! Proved to be a fun family afternoon featuring free face painting by Lana Jones, Read for Life Children’s Circle, a drum circle, ending with a Sunset Concert hosted by Caroline Reid and featuring the Mustard Seed Kids, Jaicko, Kenyah Joseph, Chia Scantlebury and Nikita & Family.
Headliner Nikita, fresh from performing at the Rihanna Drive Naming Ceremony, was in full support of the contest and show. “”What can I say about Joy? It’s amazing! I loved it from the very beginning when Ebonnie brought the concept to me and asked me to be involved. It’s affordable, it’s Christmas, it’s for the kids, the initiative is inspiring so I was on board! I am happy to support anything like this that is positive, developmental and for the youth. As long as I am available I’ll try to do it every year with my family and make it a tradition. I was very moved when I heard of the great things these young children are doing who wrote in for the Essay Contest. We need more wholesome family events like this. It’s always a fun time and I encourage everybody to come out next year. It was fantastic!”
Nikita surrounded by the Mustardseed Kids.
Varia Williams, Managing Director of Mustardseed Productions Inc. says ” The Joy initiative is a great! especially around Christmas time, and the Mustardseed Kids are very happy to be a part of the event. It is important for them, and important for us to reinforce to them what Christmas is really about. It’s about sharing and giving and loving; sharing joy with everybody. So we were very happy to participate in the event. It also made us stop and think, because when I asked them what Christmas meant to them, I suppose most of them would have said presents first and then we really stopped and unwrapped that, until we really came back to joy. I really want to Thank Ebonnie and her team for giving us that.”
Jaicko Lawrence who performed for the children said: “My first impression was ‘Joy’, just walking in and seeing all of the kids. Honestly I didn’t know much about it until I actually got here but I get it, it’s one of those things where you have to come and witness it. To see the kids performing, dancing, singing, having a good time, it reminds me of when I was a kid, that’s great to see”.
Gillian Rowe of Read for life with Chia Scantlebury, one of the 2016 Essay Contest Winners. Photo credit: A3KD Inc.
One of the exhibitors, the Read for Life Organization, was represented by Gillian Rowe who said “Joy is a complete family event and Read For Life was happy to be involved again to display great children’s books, play literacy games and have interactive reading sessions with the children. Joy = Funtimes!”
Head over to Facebook for a full album of photos from the event.
After a two day delay, local female rapper Lexi released her newest music video for her song “Sunshine.” Originally meant to be released on the 29th of last month – the rapper’s birthday – the song was released on the 1st of this month instead. Lexi apologised for the delay and stated that it was “beyond [her] control.” In the seven days leading up to the original release date, Lexi teased fans with a countdown, promotional art and images and a screenshot from the video.
Produced by Denzil Bovell and featuring trumpeter Kweku Jelani of the NJ30+ Band (who was also featured on Adeaze’s “Hero“, a part of her Dae+Nate project, and appeared in its music video), the song is about pulling oneself out of your darkest moments and making it to the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Watch the video below.
Musical artist Adaeze today released the lyric video for her new single “Leh Me Teh”, which the artist herself describes as a “Barbadian term used to express the importance of the information that follows or precedes its usage.” Aside from the titular expression, the song also features other Barbadian sayings like “muh back broad” and “cheese on bread.” The video even features Adaeze dressed in all black performing in front of a blue wall and a yellow one.
In a statement to this publication, Adaeze said of the song:
“At the time the song was conceptualized, I had been experimenting with fusing Afro Caribbean sounds with Hip Hop. I wanted to further explore my sound in that direction! While playing the track over and over, the hook came to me. I honestly had no plans of releasing the song (yet)…or ever. It was just an idea among many other ideas. I was asked to feature at Honey Jam and wanted to test it out. The response was so great and so instant, that I immediately got in the studio to finish it. Independence Dae was a perfect dae because it’s the 1yr anniversary of my project Dae 1, and the song is undeniably Bajan! It’s a celebration of our dialect.”
As we said in our review of this year’s Honey Jam, testing out the song on the night “paid off in dividends” and “[t]he crowd response was phenomenal.” It’s no surprise that the audience was so receptive to the song. Aside from having an infectious hook, anyone who has seen her perform knows that she is captivating and energetic. She performed the song live again at the After Five Live event hosted by Gine On?! Magazine.
Listen to “Leh Me Teh” and watch the lyric video below.
Melinda Hughes is a classically trained opera singer and satirical cabaret writer and performer from London, having graduated from the Maastricht Conservatory, The Netherlands, pursued her post-graduated studies at Royal College of Music, London and completed her studies at Brussels Opera Studio.
She is part of the group Kiss and Tell, released an album called Smoke and Noise and has travelled across the world, sharing her talents with people all over the globe. She was recently on the island to perform and we sat down with her for a poolside chat at the Cobblers Cove Hotel in Speightstown, St. Peter where she was staying.
Zeitgeist: What brings you to Barbados?
Melinda Hughes: I was at the Holder’s Festival a few years ago performing. I loved it so much I thought I’d try and find some way to come back, but the future of the Holder’s festival is up in the air at the moment. I came back here on holiday and I met the lady who owns this hotel [Cobblers Cove] and the General Manager [Will Oakley] and we had a very casual conversation about possibly doing some performances here and a few years later we made it happen.
Hughes performing at Cobblers Cove. Photo compliments Cobblers Cove. Photography by Nigel Wallace.
Z: A lot of events are in trouble right now because of taxes going up and everything.
MH: Well I’m glad you mentioned that. Look, I came here as a gift and I came here for free and I’m happy to perform and have a holiday and return. For me it’s not about being paid, but if you want big artist here on the island there’s going to be an issue with money and I hope that that situation resolves itself. It drives up tourism. It brings income to the island. It’s a huge money spinner. It provides work for sound engineers, light people, catering companies…it is a big work generator so that really needs to be rethought.
Z: I don’t know if you know about Honey Jam. This year they said “We were’nt going to do it this year.” Sponsors are pulling out left and right for everything.
MH: This seriously needs to be re-addressed, because you’re cutting of a big income for people who aren’t even in the music industry to make money. The trickledown effect is quite great. There is a variety of people living here and visiting here so you need to cater for that and make it a special island that they’ll come back to and spend their money in again.
Z: Have you done performances like this before?
MH: Yes. I’ve done performances abroad. I’ve sung in Bermuda at Government House. I sang at a festival there with an opera company. When I was still starting out I did a lot of five star hotels, travelling around South-East Asia and the Middle East with an opera company.
Z: When you did the performance here what was the response like?
MH: Oh, fantastic! Better than I hoped. It wasn’t hugely publicized…and then suddenly we had ninety people come out to the Opera on the Beach. We lit it up and had Chinese lanterns at the end and then we did an opera and satirical evening on the Sunday night [November 19th] and again it was eighty people.
Z: When [I was told] that you were an opera singer I was like: “There’s an audience for that down here?”
MH: It’s unusual. People are going to come [because] it’s something unusual that’s coming. And it’s not only about that it was also about the evening that Cobblers put on. The atmosphere, the food. This is a Relais and Chateaux hotel so the food is equivalent to a Michelin [star restaurant]; it’s very high level. So you know you’re going to get a beautiful evening.
Hughes performing at Cobblers Cove. Photo compliments Cobblers Cove. Photography by Nigel Wallace.
Z: Now that you stay that, the same Honey Jam I was talking about, their concert was last Saturday [November 28th] and they had their first opera singer [Denesha Fergusson]. After seven years
MH: I had heard about a Bajan girl who’s studying in Manhattan and this journalist showed me a video of her and she’s fantastic. We need to do a concert with her because that would be fabulous. That’s the way ahead; If you take local artists and artists from abroad and you do things together.
I also do satirical cabaret. We write funny songs about any topic and we’re writing a song about Barbados at the moment. Just because it’s opera doesn’t mean to say it’s not going to appeal. It’s just being open minded and experiencing different things.
Z: I’m glad you brought up the satirical stuff, because I’m not familiar with satirical performers so I just wanted you to explain what that is.
MH: Have you heard of Noel Coward? He used to write songs about society and he did that famous song “Mad Dogs and Englishmen.” He [was] writing songs about society and making fun of people. Particularly making fun of the upper classes.
Z: So it’s kind of like social commentary in calypso.
MH: Social commentary. But very British and making fun of ourselves. I’ve done a lot of songs about Donald Trump and he’s so easy. That’s the gift that keeps on giving, right?
Z: Because he won’t stop tweeting!
MH: It’s like: “Stop!” I do a Melania Trump impersonation as well. I don’t want to scare people by saying “opera.” I know about four people who came on the Sunday who were: “Hm. No. It’s not my thing.” But the way I communicate it, the way I make people laugh, the songs that I choose, it’s successful. And it’s a fun night out and it brings people together and people are like: “Wow. I never knew I would like opera.”
Z: I’ll admit, the only opera I’m familiar with is The Phantom of the Opera and I’m sure that’s the only opera most people are familiar with.
MH: Purist would say that’s not even opera, It’s musical theatre. But there is a role for an opera singer in it. The role of Carlotta. A friend of mine was Christine for many, many years. Rebecca Caine. There are lovely popular operas that you realise later on they’ve been used in adverts and they’ve been used in films. It’s just the familiarity of it. If people understand something and they’re familiar with it, they begin to like it.
Z: Besides that, what else would you recommend that people who aren’t familiar with opera listen to or watch as a gateway into it?
MH: There’s a lovely film with Helena Bonham Carter called A Room with a View. They use some beautiful opera in the film and that actually, for me, brought me into opera because I was listening to this music. I was like: “These songs are beautiful. What are they from?” That’s your way in; gently. The most popular operas are like La Boheme or Carmen, anything by [Giacomo] Puccini.
Z: I’m glad you mentioned how that got you into opera because that was going to be my next question.
MH: I was studying for my A-Levels and I started listening to it as a way to take a break from my studies. My favourite CD was all these opera arias. I just thought they were so beautiful. I was always singing; I was always head of choir, I was always lead role in the school play, my grandmother was a semi-professional singer but she wasn’t really allowed to do it. That was just a natural progression. I started to do more opera arias and then I just got hooked.
Z: Going back to the satirical performances briefly, what are your favourite topics and issues to cover?
MH: We’ve got a song about meeting Prince Harry –
Z: Have you met Prince Harry?
MH: I have met Prince Harry. He’s lovely, really lovely. Very sweet. I met him at a charity. When you’re officially meeting royalty they keep you in groups and they keep giving you champagne to keep you happy. They kept coming around with more and more and more champagne so it gave me an idea for a song.
“I’m Going to Meet Prince Harry”
Another song we’ve got is about selfies, where I’m on a romantic holiday with my boyfriend. We go on a moonlit coastal walk and I take a selfie and I stretch out so far that I end up falling off a cliff, but before I hit the ground I manage to upload my best selfie ever to Twitter and she says: “We’ll I’ve never been a quitter. I uploaded it to Twitter and I very quickly writ her. Caption: That’ll make you titter. I’ve really fallen for this place. #dead.”
“Selfie Song”
We sang it at the Adelphi Theatre as part of a charity evening. The lineup was incredible; it was like the royalty of comedy. I was after Rowan Atkinson and before Jo Brand. I ended up taking a selfie on a selfie stick with about nine hundred people behind me in the audience. It was pretty impressive.
Z: I feel like people see opera as something for rich people and the upper class. What do you think could be done to change that image and make it more accessible?
MH: This is a tricky one. When people are finally taken to the opera they’re like: “Wow, I never knew this could be so much fun.” They shouldn’t be afraid of something they don’t understand. The only thing they don’t understand is because it’s in a foreign language and I think that’s the main barrier. There are a lot of operas that are written in English. Also there are a lot of operas that are written about things that have happened recently. There’s a fantastic opera about Anna Nicole Smith. It’s hilarious. And the tag line is: “I wanna blow you all…a kiss.”
Perhaps doing a bit of educational work and getting children to come to something, getting them used to it, letting them hear it, letting it permeate somehow. It is accessible, it is funny, you have to treat it like a great spectacle which happens to have opera singing in it. It’s a shame that it’s seen as an upper class thing because a lot of the singers who are singing it are certainly not upper class. They just got hooked somehow and we’ve got to find how they got hooked because we need our audiences of the future.
Z: What would you say to people who want to be opera singers but don’t know where to start or might think it’s not as lucrative as being a Pop star?
MH: Well of course being a Pop star’s more fun. It’s an easier journey and you’re going to make a lot more money. Again, it’s about being hooked by that bug. But opera will fulfill you like nothing else because you’re doing a role, you’re with an orchestra, you’re learning, you’re growing all the time, you’re travelling so much.
When you get to the sort of age of fourteen, fifteen and you’re a really good singer, you should take lessons, find a good teacher and see where your interests lie. I know there’s one opera singer on the island, I’ve met her. And I know that she teaches. You’ve got a music school right?
Z: There’s a music programme at the Community College. But most secondary schools, if not all, have music as a course.
MH: I think if someone’s particularly talented and driven, they will probably get a scholarship to the States. You’ve got successes like Rihanna. You can have that too with an opera singer.
Z: I was surprised that [Denesha Fergusson] did opera at Honey Jam because I have no idea where she would have gone to be taught. I didn’t even know there was a local opera singer.
MH: I’d be interested to know as well. The natural, healthy, way of singing is singing on your breath and it does create this vibrato and some people just have that to start with. And if they’re singing in the right way with everything open, it would naturally begin to sound like an opera sound. You can’t really train until you’re at least sixteen, seventeen because your voice hasn’t really matured enough.
If I came back here and if I were to do more concerts I would go into a school in an afternoon and tell them about what I do and do a twenty-minute performance and I think it would be fun. I work in London with a singer who is from Barbados. We’ve got a show together that we do.
Z: You never know, if you come back and go into schools you might be that person that makes someone obsessed with opera.
MH: Yup. That’s what happens. And if you could just touch one person, one night, you’ve made a difference. That’s what makes it worth it.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Michelle Obama was in Toronto on Tuesday, November 28 to speak about The Economics of Equality: Advancing Women & Girls to Change the World. The organizers of the event, the Economic Club of Canada, wanted to make sure that women who had contributed significantly to the development of women and girls were included as guests to the $15,000 per table event. One of the women they reached out to invite was Honey Jam Producer Ebonnie Rowe who has a 30 year history of doing developmental work with young women through the mentoring programme Each One, Teach One as well as Honey Jam.
Having just concluded her Barbados Honey Jam season and preparing for her Joy! event, when Rowe got the call she dropped everything and booked her flight to Toronto.
“There was no way I was going to miss it. Being able to hear Michelle Obama speak in person was on my bucket list and here was my chance! I was so honoured to be invited! She is a shero of mine and an inspiration to millions around the world. I admire everything about her. Her intelligence, poise, passion and commitment to positive change in the world and the upliftment of youth, particularly her work to empower girls.”
The experience itself more than fulfilled her expectations and was also an excellent networking opportunity, including being able to meet Canada’s First Lady Sophie Gregoire.
Ebonnie was also honoured in Canada with a feature in the just released book “Canada 150 Women, in celebration of the year of Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation featuring women from different cultures and backgrounds including politicians, scientists, space-walkers, olympians, artists and more. Authored by Paulina Cameron, Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau was presented with copies as were hundreds of young girls across Canada.
In just two days Barbados will be celebrating it’s 51st anniversary of independence. As our little contribution to the celebrations, we decided to put together this article and a short video of the 15 Most Patriotic Songs About Barbados.
Now this isn’t a definitive list and we’re sure there are many more songs out there, about Barbados, by Barbadians, celebrating our culture, heritage and people, that aren’t on this list. So let us know which songs you think we missed in the comments.
See the video above for a TL;DR version of this list. See below to listen to the songs in full.
#1. God Bless Bim – The Merrymen (1966)
#2. Beautiful Barbados – The Merrymen
#3. I Am A Barbadian – The Sandpebbles of Barbados (1973)
#4. Barbados Ah Come From – Sing Out Barbados (1975)
There is a new radio station on the Rock. Xclusive One Drop Media, is a Barbadian based 24hr Urban Online Radio Streaming Platform, streaming the best uninterrupted blend of Music, News and Sports, officially launching 28th of November 2017 www.xclusiveonedrop.com.
Xclusive One Drop Media has been developed with the youth and culture in mind, streaming a mixture of music such as Tropical House, R&B, Hip Hop, Soca, Bashment, Reggae & Dancehall along with various live entertainment Podcast which will focus on Video Games, fashion, education, sports and more.
The station is currently Online in its initiation phase. Listeners can tune in on their Mobile devices via the FREE “Xclusive One Drop Media App” readily available for Android, IOS (Apple) and Blackberry; via the company’s website www.xclusiveonedrop.com/device-app or the relevant app stores, as well as through your desktop browser at www.xclusiveonedrop.com/live-stream. The station has a mandate to stream, on a daily basis at least 65% local musical content, which is an ideal gate way for local artist and musicians to air and promote their musical works.
The Xclusive One Drop Media Team is led by C.E.O & Founder Donovan Clarke, who has been in the music business for over 8 years. Mr. Clarke who also is a music producer says he and his team have been working on Xclusive One Drop development for some time, and thought it was time that Barbados had a radio platform that held Barbadian music, and culture in the same highest regard as other music and culture, not just at Crop Over but all year round. He says and I quote “Our music and culture is unique and it deserves the same level of love and exposure as we give foreign music.” Whilst the station is not 100% local music. Mr. Clarke says he believes the blended approach is best at this time to help deplete the stigma that Barbadian music is of a less desirable nature as to foreign music.
Persons interested in getting their music, product or service; promoted on the platform or simply wishing to make an inquiry can contact Xclusive One Drop Media via e-mail info@xclusiveonedrop.com or by simply going to the stations website; www.xclusiveonedrop.com.
On the heels of the release of his latest music video, “More That It Hurts You”, Robbi Niles has dropped a brand new single entitled “Paper Route.” Not long after the release of “More That It Hurts You”, Niles teased that new music would be “coming sooner than you think.”
Written by Niles, Sonia Leigh and Tee, in the song Niles sings reassurances to his girlfriend/lover that he is not being unfaithful. Going so far as to sing: “…I don’t f**k around/This is a one on one affair.”
The song is available on SoundCloud and Spotify. Listen to the song below.
On the heels of the release of his latest music video, 