Artiste pushes soca through the pandemic

Singer-songwriter, music producer and musical artist Prince Pronto. -
Singer-songwriter, music producer and musical artist Prince Pronto. -

THE covid19 pandemic proved devastating for the music industry, and has caused the cancellation of Carnival 2021. But singer-songwriter, music producer and musical artist Prince Pronto has channelled that pressure into creating some diamonds of records in The Origin Project.

The 23-year-old producer (real name Joseph Michael Figueroa) and founder of independent record label Trypp Records spoke about the project in a recent telephone interview.

A princely origin

And how did he get the name Prince Pronto? He said it began with his first mentor, producer Julio Nelson. Prince met him when he started learning professional sound recording while in form three at Presentation College. Nelson thought he looked like the 7UP mascot and wanted to call him “Fido” and when he quickly declined he said he was “quick on the draw” so he could also be called “Pronto.” Offered the choice between the two names, he went with Pronto.

The “Prince” part of his name came through his work with Sekon Sta. The artist saw him working in the lab and recognised his talent, and they would go on to form Soca Squad with Mega Mick. Sekon Sta told him he had the potential to be something great and be amazing in the industry, so he should add royalty to his name.

“He said, ‘You’re not a king yet. So you can be a prince.”

Working under ‘quarantine’

Prince has done a lot of work with artistes locally, regionally and internationally, including spending a year travelling back and forth to St Maarten and working with Road March queen Olivia Murray and penning the tune Never Have I Ever for King James and Jamaican artist Shenseea. During the “quarantine” period last year, he worked with EDM collective BlakGold, led by his cousin Ian “Cylenz” Lee and Beres Hammond’s daughter and producer Natassja Hammond, aka The Wixard.

Prince had returned to Trinidad from New York a week before TT closed its borders. At the time he had been experimenting with new songs, so he went straight to the lab at Kitchen Studio in Marabella with Cylenz. He was working on music fusing classical film soundtracks with Afrobeat and different subgenres between reggaeton and dancehall. Together they produced a 40-track package of demos and songs to pitch to major record labels and upcoming artists.

Prince Pronto is the founder of the independent record label Trypp Records. -

Last year during the pandemic he also did work with Freetown Collective, Olatunji, Kes the Band, and Machel Montano.

“It was fun to see how we could dive into the world of writing and create music to represent the soul of the island, where we were and what we were going through.”

The Origin Project

In July last year, Prince began working on a separate project which would later become the Origin Project.

“In ‘quarantine’ it was very stressful. I was separated from my girlfriend, who lives and studies in New York. It was taxing mentally and emotionally. But under that pressure, I was able to find a lot of gems and it became a very meaningful experience.”

Prince explained that he was thinking about if there was no Carnival in 2021 and if this continued for three years or more.

“What I have that holds me down is the music. The ability to tell stories.”

Prince wrote the song Party Central, which was sung by Kerwin Du Bois, featuring Noelle Archer.

“I wanted to get in touch with us as ‘d’ bacchanalists,’ that pure revelry spark and the spirit of Carnival.”

He said Kerwin’s records from back in the day have a lot of swag and attitude that embodies the Carnival spirit.

“He was excited to dive into it. And he did his twists and turns with it.”

Party Central would become the inception of the six-record The Origin Project.

Vincentian artist Skinny Fabulous also heard the instrumental and came up with the idea for the song Selfish. But in the process, two different pieces were produced on the same riddim (the second song was Act Normal) and Prince encouraged him to release them both.

“There is no rule that prohibits an artist from releasing two records on the same project.”

He also began writing the record Go Down for himself to perform. The artist LucratiV, whom he described as one of the most talented and hard-working with BlakGold, came to visit and heard the song.

“He was excited. He said, ‘The song bad.’ So I said, ‘You sing it.’”

LucratiV recorded the song that day, acapella, on Apple headphones, and then did two more professional recordings.

Viking Ding Dong (Andre Houlder) wrote his own song for the project, Fed Up, and Prince said he enjoyed sharing his perspective as a songwriter with him.

“It made him a better artist and writer and he was better able to understand himself. It was the most beautiful thing.”

The sixth and final record on The Origin Project was Private Party with Machel Montano. Prince recalled he began writing it in September and then Montano (or “The King,” as he calls him) sat with it until early December before he began to record the vocals.

Skinny Fabulous produced two songs, Selfish and Act Normal from Prince Pronto's riddim. -

“It was aiming to capture the experience of Carnival and the home space, in light of the pandemic. We thought it was important to say something like that.”

Prince said he had written for Montano before, but this was the first time he had produced a record for him.

“He is an architect. He is very technical and scientific with music.”

Prince said The Origin Project was challenging and included a lot of all-nighters, setbacks and delays, but it was an experience they will all remember.

The Origin Project was released on January 8 and to promote the project the artists released promotional videos.

“A lot of publicists and soca-branded pages went wild.”

The artists also released audio versions for YouTube and Skinny Fabulous released a music video for Act Normal.

Prince said the day it was released it started to trend immediately, and the day after, the album was second place on the US worldwide charts and Private Party the number one song. Unfinished versions of the songs even appeared on a couple of radio stations a few days before the release.

“When the records dropped everyone was like, ‘Whoa, this is quarantine music.’ Music they could connect to. People began to feel that nostalgia, find back their passion and embrace the Carnival spirit.”

He said some people coined the expression that Private Party was the “home march’” He pointed out that while Private Party is a groovy song and Road March 2018 Soca Kingdom is a power song, both records have the same feeling of reminding people of what it was to be on the road.

“It is a sad time to be disconnected from the culture and the norms. It is heartbreaking.”

No Carnival versus virtual Carnival

Asked about the “no Carnival” versus “virtual Carnival” debate, Prince said firstly he supported the Government’s decision that safety comes first. But he also supported the artists who have built livelihoods on it, and he agreed with some of his peers that the decision to cancel Carnival, and not to postpone it, was made too abruptly.

Prince said Carnival was an industry where if one cog is hindered the rest will malfunction. He pointed out not only the artists are affected but also the costume designers, dancers, bands, moko jumbies, young pan players and service providers, including the woman selling corn soup.

“It is an entire ecosystem of people.”

He said virtual shows will not cover everybody in the industry and were just a temporary fix. But he added he had not yet seen a virtual show that has not been hampered by the police service and backlash.

Prince is currently working on a couple of collaborations with BlakGold, Freetown Collective, Olatunji, Mr Killa and veteran singer General Grant. He was also working on collaborations with Africa and the Latin market which will be soca, but records for the “average Joe,” and not tied to seasonal productions. He is also working on an academy to help young songwriters, composers and musicians.

So, pandemic or no pandemic, the music continues for Prince Pronto.

Comments

"Artiste pushes soca through the pandemic"

More in this section