The Unspoken Path
by Aprille Thomas
“Doctor, lawyer, engineer,” these terms aren’t unfamiliar to any of us. The majority of us grew up hearing them rattled off as those acceptable careers- the ones we should all aspire to. What parent wouldn’t love to say, “My daughter is head of Neurology at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital,” or “My son graduated law school and is working his way up to one day be head of the Caribbean Court of Justice?” C’mon, we already know the answer.
Now let’s flip the script here, think back to when you were going to do Caribbean Secondary School Education Certificate examinations, otherwise known as CXCs. Imagine that you had told your parents you wanted to pursue a career in the music industry, rather than one of the aforementioned revered career paths. Think about what your parents would have said after they stopped laughing. We all know the arguments- ‘music isn’t a financially viable career,’ or ‘Barbados is too small for that.’ Coming off the high of the recently held Barbados Music Awards (BMAs), I would beg to differ. Now we could sit here and argue about the specifics of the BMAs- whether or not they’re fair or biased, or whether they do or don’t celebrate Bajan music, but one thing is for sure, the BMAs highlight the fact that there is something stirring in the music industry in Barbados.
Living in tune with your passion
Let’s take a look at some of the winners. Richard ‘Dick’ Stoute celebrated his 65th birthday at the awards where he received the Living Legend award for all his work done in the industry. Stoute is well known for his dedication to developing young talent with the Richard Stoute Teen Talent competition, the Richard Stoute Over 21 competition, and if any of us are a little older we would remember him back in the days of Spouge. This is a classic example of a man who made a living out of music.
Stoute proudly states that he never worked for anyone; he was always his own boss. He tries to pass on this spirit of entrepreneurship to the contestants of the Teen Talent competition, by giving them the opportunity to sell tickets and make a profit. And though it needs no justification, some powerful names such as Alison Hinds, Edwin Yearwood and Rupert ‘Rupee’ Clarke have passed through the competition. Stoute managed to take himself from an entertainer to an event promoter, music teacher and mogul for upcoming artists.
Another big winner at the 2011 BMAs was Anderson ‘Blood’ Armstrong. Blood took home five awards including Male Entertainer of the Year and Producer of the Year. While we will all agree that some of the highs of his success were back in the Square One days, Blood is still very prominent on the local music scene, both by taking titles such as his most recent Party Monarch 2010 and making hits as a producer. For Blood, music is life.
However, not only veterans have made music the focus of their lives. Younger artists such as Ayana John, NexCyx and CoverDrive have sacrificed time and money towards creating a path for themselves in music. Buying outfits, plane tickets, and instruments with sometimes little to no sponsorship can be challenging for young artists, but they have made a commitment to their careers and as Indra Rudder said when accepting her BMA for Best Soca Single, “I work hard, I push like a penis every day” (Indra just got back from Europe attending meetings and seminars and you can follow her movements on Twitter, @indranimusic).
Sounds of the future, melodies of what could be
The music industry in Barbados is growing, but it still leaves a lot to be desired. There are numerous gaps in areas such as contemporary music education, music/band management and music production and promotion. What we need is for people to take this industry more seriously. So many undergraduates at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus study management, so instead of all flocking to manage a hotel or a restaurant why not look into managing bands or musicians?
So many Barbadians study music outside of school yet graduate and complain that they can’t find a good job. Instead of lying around and eating your parents out of house and home, why not try teaching music to children? And add some of your personal flair to the teaching!
Instead of complaining that there’s nothing to do on a Monday night, why not plan an event for people to discover new local music? Like it or not we are the future of the music industry and we can’t sit around and wait for someone to make the path for us. We refuse to embrace agriculture and now all our country is riding on is tourism, but with some work we can develop our music industry to the point where it could provide financially viable jobs for citizens, we just need to take ourselves seriously.
So take a hint from people like Ronnie Morris, Alison Hinds and Ricky ‘Lil Rick’ Reid, who have made lives for themselves in the music industry. Suppose they had all decided to be doctors and lawyers? I’m by no means crying down those professions, but entertainers are also very instrumental in maintaining the balance in our society and quite frankly I don’t think one is any more important than the other.
Check out these possible careers in the music industry:
• Singer
• Songwriter
• Keyboardist
• Drummer
• Instrumentalist
• Artist/band manager
• Event promoter
• And the list goes on…
