The Caribbean's impact and influence on global music is undeniable. However, for all the region’s unique genres, history-making artists, trendsettingm subcultures and epic levels of output, this creative ingenuity has rarely translated into the kind of economic reward it so deserves.
On a mission to address this imbalance is Trinidadian company Miribai Communications, the organisation responsible for the 30-strong delegation of Caribbean music industry representatives, which includes artists, labels, managers and marketers, attending this year’s London Calling. It is the first time English-speaking Caribbean countries – Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica and Guyana – have presented themselves as one united ‘brand Caribbean’ and will be exerting a strong presence in the form of a Caribbean pavilion, welcome reception, music industry panel and conference.
Miribai CEO Josanne Leonard says, "The Caribbean is a serious producer of intellectual property and this needs to be recognised and bought into by the global market. We produce so much music but the value chain is outside our home territory, which makes it difficult for us to optimise on its creative value. We need to form better relationships with the worldwide music establishment, hence London Calling being such a key event for us."
While it is Jamaica’s dub, reggae and dancehall sounds that receive the most recognition, the other islands, particularly Trinidad, are similar musical hotbeds albeit without such strong grassroots industries. According to Caribbean music specialist Patricia Meschino, Trinidad has "produced more musical genres than most of the other islands combined. It is the birthplace of calypso, its danceable descendant soca, Indian chutney, parang (originally a Spanish language Christmas music with roots in nearby Venezuela) and a mind-boggling array of hybrids of the aforementioned genres".
Outside the elite of veteran and contemporary Jamaica artists and Barbadian pop star Rihanna, Caribbean talent currently doing well includes St Lucian reggae singer Taj Weekes, soca artists Rupee, Alison Hinds, Edwin Yearwood and Trinidadian soca singers Machel Montano, Destra Garcia and Bunji Garlin, yet still the musical profile of these islands remains relatively low, particularly in the UK.
However this may be set to change. In December 2007 the European Union initiated an Africa, Caribbean and Pacific economic partnership agreement (CARIFORUM) that in principle should bolster the Caribbean’s profile across Europe in a number of sectors, including culture. As the various Caribbean governments recognise the potential value of their creative economies they will treat them more like the valuable export commodity they are. "The Caribbean’s traditional areas of revenue - bauxite, sugar, coffee, minerals, bananas - are under threat, but there has been major growth in the creative and cultural industries," says Leonard. "We need to be leading in the area of exporting creative commodities. If the CARIFORUM agreement is honoured there should be a much better market place for us to do this."
Out of all the islands, Trinidad’s government has made the most progressive steps by forming the Trinidad and Tobago Entertainment and the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company, organisations Caribbean calling with the objective to facilitate the development of a globally competitive entertainment/film industry.
"The formation of these bodies," says Leonard, "was affirmation the Trinidadian government was taking the creative economy seriously. Now we have to work on rolling out this kind of initiative across the Caribbean."
Over the past five years, with the increase of cable TV, mobile phone ownership and entertainment websites/blogs it has become easier to track cultural happenings on the other islands and consequently the Caribbean music scene feels more united. Jamaican dancehall artists collaborate with Trinidadian soca singers (see TOK and Bunji Garlin track Get Up Stand Up); websites such as outaroad.com, triniscene.com, one876entertainment.com and the Headline Entertainment newsletter which runs Caribbeanwide news stories and finds artists jetting to and fro between neighbouring islands for shows on a weekly basis, have all helped unite the countries.
A key development was the 2005 launch of pan-Caribbean channel Tempo. Founded by MTV, it has since been taken over by a team of local investors headed by Frederick Morton and has become the number one chart that artists look to
for local recognition. Odessa Chambers, music TV presenter turned head of the Jamaican division of Chris Smith Management, says, "Tempo has introduced Caribbean artists to fellow Caribbeans who wouldn’t have previously been aware of them. Before Tempo Jamaicans were more likely to know about a new American rapper than a new Trinidadian soca singer."
Although there are no Caribbean artists or producers, bar Rihanna (Def Jam) and Sean Paul (VP/Atlantic), with major label deals in the UK at present, the current ‘low-profile’ climate for Caribbean music is nothing new for the stalwarts
who have made the region’s sounds their daily bread. For labels such as DEB, Trojan, Soul Wax, Jamdown, Jet Star, VP and VP owned Greensleeves, it is business as usual as they are used to the peaks and troughs. Olivier Chastan, president of Greensleeves Records & Publishing and vice president of VP Records, says, "VP and Greensleeves have 50 years of experience in reggae and this is a familiar pattern. Bob Marley grew the market in the Seventies, Supercat and Shabba Ranks in the Eighties, Shaggy, Beenie Man and Buju Banton in the Nineties and Sean Paul in the Noughties. It goes up and down, but the most important thing is that reggae is always relevant because it is one of the last genres of music that remains pure and raw, and thus connects with consumers in a very unique way."
This connection is evident in the slew of pending reggae concerts due to take place in summer 2008 across the UK. Legends Lee "Scratch" Perry and Eddy Grant are booked to play Womad, Jimmy Cliff is set to brave the mud at Glastonbury, The Abyssinians will perform alongside Dillinger at Camden's Jazz Café and contemporary dancehall artists Bugle, Serani, Munga and Assassin will grace London venue Stratford Rex, with the tickets a whopping £40 on the door. Moving away from reggae and other genres traditionally associated with the Caribbean, Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados all have fledgling rock and alternative scenes and it is this new school of musicians making alternative sounds, but with a distinctly Caribbean flavour, that we tip to get the juices flowing of even the most jaded A&R.
Attending London Calling will be band members and representatives for Trinidadian rock groups Jointpop, Tripped & Falling, Orange Sky and 12 The Band, the acts will be looking for a range of opportunities including licensing deals, publishing, management and distribution. Gary Hector, lead singer of Jointpop says, "There’s a movement going on across the islands with people like ourselves building alternative scenes. Nobody in Europe associates the Caribbean with rock and that’s why an event like London Calling is so essential. People can discover the real Caribbean and by real I mean what’s really happening there."
