Carnival activities are gearing up in St. Vincent, Antigua, and Barbados.   While the music has been trickling out of Antigua, St. Vincent and Barbados have been dropping tunes left and right.  Antigua doesn’t appear to have many solo artistes in comparison to the other islands.  Perhaps it’s the style of music that Antigua has and the importance of the “riddim box,” that we hear in bands such as Red Hot Flames.  When referring to Antigua’s music, we think about Burning Flames, High Intensity, Taxic, and El-A-Kru.  While people may make mention of an artiste, they still belong to a band.  The airwaves aren’t filled with as many individuals like in Barbados and Trinidad.  Perhaps this is the reason why the music seems to come so late.  They are done more as collaborations and release as albums versus singles.  Nevertheless, I look forward to the new Antiguan tunes in the near future.

Over the weekend, Barbados had a clash of new talent at the popular Crop Over venue, Tim’s On The Highway.  For anyone who has never been to Crop Over, Tim’s is open everyday and all day, for the Crop Over season for fetes, drinks, and food. Upcoming bands, Electrik and Jabae were on the airwaves, advertising the event.  They asked fans to support in the colors red for Jabae and white for Electrik.  I’m not sure why either band thought a clash was necessary.  While I enjoy music from both bands, they are both in need of some work to achieve the status of Krosfyah or the former Square One. 

Jabae consists of talented musicians who have worked the music scene in Barbados for quite some time.  Their lead vocalists, twins, Barry and Bruce Chandler, have great voices, though their stage presence is still in need of some work.  Electrik is a young band but their front line singers have earned some respect among their followers.  Lead singers are Omar McQuilkin, Keisha Christian, and Mikey.  Mikey won the Road March in Barbados in 2004 with his song, “Come Together.”  His ‘wukkin up’ dance movements have been popular in the soca scene prior to his becoming an artiste.  Keisha Christian has had some nice tunes including an answer back to Statement’s, “If I Can’t Be With You,” and last year’s, “Love Zone.”  Omar is now receiving more attention with this year’s, “My Boo,” featuring dancehall’s Hawkeye (check http://toronto-lime.com for tunes). 

Jabae performed some of their previous, yet popular tunes, “Wickedest Wine,” “We Dey Oh,” “Whopatee,” and this year’s new track, “Flames.”  “Flames,” is a HOTT track, hear?  They also did a cover of some of the popular tunes out of Trinidad.  With dancers on stage at some moments, Jabae did a decent performance.  Electrik performed some dub in addition to some of their previous songs, “Love Zone,” “Hold Ya Hose,” “Come Together,” and new tracks, “My Boo,” “Clear,” and “The Road Belong To We.”  While Jabae has a better sound musically and vocally, Electrik has more original tracks and a better stage performance.  Sources say that the crowd responded well to both bands, but Electrik had the slight edge.  I don’t have anything against clashes…but I think for two young bands that need work in various areas, it was rather senseless.  Good luck to both bands as it adds variety to the fetes and overall Cropover experience. 

If you can’t travel this summer, or just need a soca fix there are some local events to attend.  True to Ya Colours mas band, for Broward Carnival, is having their monthly event at the