NESBETH IS one of the featured acts for this year’s Barbados Reggae Festival. If you are not a reggae fan you have probably never heard of him.
If you are a reggae fan you probably knew his hit song but did not know the artist’s name until recently. The song is big, but has been made bigger by recent heavy radio rotation, in promotion of the upcoming event.
Imagine if the power of the airwaves was harnessed as passionately for pro-social purposes.
Don’t believe the hype when media people downplay their influence over society. The artistes coming in for the festival are currently pun de replay pun de airwaves. To quote Lil Rick, some of the songs are “tunes the turntables forgot”, like those of Vintage star Half Pint, and some are tunes the computer now has to get accustomed to like Nesbeth’s music.
Nesbeth’s trod to stardom may be encouraging and sobering for local reggae artistes who struggle to realise their dreams of making it big in the music industry.
Despite the success of the Barbados Reggae Festival, it has long been a source of frustration for local reggae acts. Bajan reggae and dancehall artistes covet a spot on the biggest public stage available to them, while over the years expressing resentment over a perceived lack of respect by the organisers, FAS Entertainment.
Low pay
Persons close to the industry would have heard artistes grumble about the low fees they are paid in comparison to their Jamaican counterparts, poor accommodations backstage, and having to perform to empty venues because as they were scheduled so early in the show, patrons had not yet arrived.
FAS Entertainment has attempted to respond to the complaints over the years, most notably by trying a “Bajan Reggae Night” during the festival.
Nevertheless, the rumbling seems to have died down a lot, as Barbadian artistes come to realise and accept that patriotism and nationalism will not influence Barbadian business. The promoters are loyal to the bottom line. If you are not drawing bottoms to the venue, then you are at the bottom of the line.
Nesbeth is a big draw. He is living his dream due to the popularity of his first major hit song My Dream. A popularity supported by DJs willing to push the song; a support few local artistes receive. But this new artiste to the festival is no overnight success. Nesbeth’s dream is more than 20 years in the making. That is how long the artiste has been recording music. His first release was in 1993.
My Dream is catchy, well produced and positive. Nesbeth has lived the lyrics he sings when he says, “Mi a thank God fi mi blessing. Now mi can afford fi give back to some of the same people dem, weh use to seh things. All who use to seh “him naah buss, him cyah buss.”
Translation: The artist is giving thanks to God for the blessings that have allowed him to give back to some of the same people who used to say he would never make it in music.
Him buss
Nesbeth has made it across North America and Europe, bringing acclaim and revenue back to Jamaica. Now he has made it to the Hill. Not any old artiste makes it to The Hill. It is rumoured to be one of the best paying reggae gigs in the region and a rival to some reggae shows outside the region. If a performer is booked for this event, it is safe to say, “him buss”. It works a little differently if you are from here. Our most celebrated dancehall artists to date crossover to soca to realise their dream.
There must be thousands of aspiring Jamaican artistes who are still waiting to live their dream. Each year a few of them will breakout. They will have to be good of course, but it must help, living in the Mecca of reggae and dancehall. For an artiste living in the reggae and dancehall outback, the dream can seem like a real long shot.
In an interesting plot twist, one of the heads of FAS Entertainment, Al Gilkes, informed the media that the group may soon have to start sourcing acts from outside of Jamaica. Gilkes indicated in a televised interview that Jamaican acts may become stale and that it may be time to look elsewhere for reggae talent.
Suffering
This conjures up the humorous image of microscopic local artistes jumping and waving their hands to get the attention of giant promoters stepping over them in search of “fresh” talent in other islands and farther afield.
One does not get the impression that FAS is interested in the business of developing a local reggae industry. They seem to see themselves as importers rather than innovators. In this they are no different than most major Barbadian businesses.
It is much simpler to bring in ready-made hits and ready-made products from an established production line, than it is to conceive one locally from scratch. FAS would appear to be well placed to lead that industry but with so much on their plate already, maybe they are content with being a corporate consumer.
Consider though, the vast waste of talent and loss of possible revenue we are suffering because of lack of cultural industry business innovation. Imagine if a businessman from overseas had not spotted Rihanna’s potential. Would any of us have? How many Nesbeths are on the blocks in Barbados because we do not have the infrastructure and systems to capitalise on raw talent?
Of course it took Nesbeth 20 years of grind to get to this point. He had to work, work, work, work, work. This should cure an artiste of the feeling that Barbados is uniquely oppressive when it comes to performing arts. It’s a struggle all over.
It would be wonderful though, if 50 years of Independence had made us uniquely supportive.
Adrian Green is a creative communications specialist. Email Adriangreen14@gmail.com
