This month’s listening picks from the Caribbean — featuring new music from Keshav; Dibo D & Randal Corsen; Nailah Blackman; and Popcaan ft Toni-Ann Singh
Keshav
Remains (Heavy Drumz)
Multicultural Trinidadian (born there, raised anywhere, lives here) Keshav Chandradath Singh has released a singer-songwriter project—his debut album, “for international consumption,” as he puts it, that positions this musician and producer outside the soca of his popular and EDM. the environment. The somber tone of the album’s lyrics speak of a relationship past its time, beyond redemption. This, however, should not be a stop – Adele has successfully mined the pain on her album 21. This pattern of narration and reflection, coupled with the latest sound and music, takes this album up the ladder of pop music released in the Caribbean. In the song “Mbetet”, we hear: You put the gun to my back and shot me straight in the chest / But you thought I’d fade to black, my spirit rises again. Love hurts. If this album is healing from that hurt, listeners can move beyond heartache to danceable joy. A revelation.
Dibo D & Randal Corsen
Sin Barrera Music (ZenneZ Records)
The music of Curaçao is an enigma to many Caribbean people – not necessarily because of a lack of access, but, with the rich Papiamentu language, many can be very lost in terms of stories and ideas that share a commonality. The rhythms and melodies, however, can be easily heard and understood. Antillean composer, arranger and pianist Randal Corsen teams up with the island’s favorite and sublime vocalist, Dibo D, to produce a stylish album that samples the island’s native genres and explores them in a way that suggests metropolitan production values are the norm there. . Big band horns and strings are juxtaposed with contemporary island genres like ritmo kombiná, Latin pop, zouk, Brazilian funk, soukous and folkloric danzas and heritage rhythms like tumba and seú (slave songs sung at harvest). Songs of hope and appreciation play alongside reclaimed boleros and old poems remade as ballads. Music without borders.
Nailah Blackman
Teknique (Sokah Experience)
There is a new group of singers from the Caribbean and the African continent – Shenseea, Koffee, Tems, Tiwa Savage, etc. – making bold moves to place ethnic genres in the global consciousness. Add Nailah Blackman to that list, and this album as an example of how the cross-fertilization of global and regional rhythms is introducing a new way of listening to pop music. Tight production – taking in Afro-Caribbean rhythms and mimicking Afrobeats – distinguishes this 19-track album clocking in at just under an hour. Bangers, actually. Nailah and her team have created a series of songs that range from fun to meaty to thought provoking. Album opener “Best Friends” stands out: Bind your love, for better days / Even in the drought, show me the rain… From there, singing along and doing TikTok dances can easily happen. Nailah’s Soca heritage is certain; what her grandfather Ras Shorty created has evolved and is ready to explode here.
Popcaan ft Toni-Ann Singh
Near Me (OVO Sound) • Single
When love is so intense that one becomes confused and unsure, it is a sign that things are either moving too fast to understand, or that one is not used to true love. Either way, the idea that this couple couldn’t easily resolve their doubts is a book in a number of love songs that go back a long way. Jamaican beauty queen and former Miss World Toni-Ann Singh teams up with dancehall star Popcaan on this track to give their unique perspectives on this romance. Singh tells us: I met a few lifetimes ago / You were Anthony, I was Cleo / I made the world a place only we know. That enduring and complex love story inspired plays and movies. Her suspicions, prompting him to flee, are supportively countered by Popcaan: You don’t need to run away / Stay by my side… / But if you’re going, I’m going. Fortunately, this is not a Shakespearean tragedy, but a modern dance ode to love. One can happily sing both sides of this love story.
