Pandemic broadens Motto’s musical sights

ST LUCIAN soca artiste Lashley “Motto” Winter has become a familiar face on TT’s music scene.

He has a large number of songs that play heavily on local and regional radio stations. Throughout his five-seven years in the soca industry he has teamed up with some of soca’s superstars, including Machel Montano, Johnny “Problem Child” Fontainne and Ian “Bunji Garlin” Alvarez.

He's also known for his many hit riddims, including the Toatin and Gwada Riddims. He had a successful 2020 Carnival in TT with five riddims, including the Big Ride and Baila.

There were plans, after Carnival, to collaborate with Jamaican and African musicians and artistes. But then the covid19 pandemic came along.

He said the biggest challenge he faced during the pandemic was his mental well-being, as he was not used to being at home for more than two days at a time.

“I was used to coming home for a day straight and then going back on the plane somewhere, on somebody's island, performing. So that was the biggest obstacle I had to deal with – just being home or just having studio vibes all the time, all the time, all the time.”

But the time provided by the pandemic allowed Motto to think about what he wanted and where he hoped to see himself in the coming years in the music industry.

“Do I want to be doing soca music all the time or for 20 years or 30 years? Or do I want to be merging my stuff to target like the American market or the European market?”

This process of reflection helped Motto to begin fusing music together. He wrote over 30 songs since the pandemic lockdowns began.

He described the songs as “crossover music.”

He also realised that “we need to grow soca much more than it is right now from the Caribbean and bring it upwards.”

He said the region’s artistes and entertainers were “stuck in a circuit” where they created music to get booked for the next Carnival.

“So we had that process going for some time. With the absence of Carnival our artistes should have realised, ‘Hey, we should have been doing this sort of broader, worldly music much earlier than we realise now.'”

He said there is enough of the wining up and while it is a part of the Carnival and will always be, there are ways music could be created that was uniquely Caribbean and yet still speak to the wider world.

“There are only a handful of songs that you can really say crossed over, and I believe that artistes just have to follow up and do this worldly music.”

All of this has prompted Motto to start his new vision 2021 movement, through which he plans to make Caribbean music fused with all sorts of genres, including Afrobeats.

“It is things that you are not used to hearing Motto on, and that is the kind of vibe I want to bring to them and make them accept it.”

Now is the time to make the soca fraternity accept something different, he said.

His 2021 Uber Everywhere seeks to do just that. The song sits on his Uber Riddim, which was released last November, and features Problem Child, Lyrikal and himself.

“Overall feel of the music is about 100 bpm. It is very slow when compared to soca. It is definitely Afrobeats mixed with soca. Just the production of the lyrical content (and) you can tell I am aiming for something that is broader than the regular wining Carnival soca topics.”

The song falls in line with his new vision, where he is addressing topics outside the Carnival norm. He said there are infinite subjects to address.

Initially, people were giving the song “static,” but it has now gained acceptance across the region and in TT, he said.

Motto plans to release new music in February or March, when the time is right. His decision will be based on when the world is opening up, restrictions, and what looks promising or not among other factors. TT can look forward to hearing either Afrobeats or Creole Kompa – Haitian-style music.

While TT’s entertainment sector has slowly been opening up again and there have been a combination of virtual and blended events, Motto has not received a call for any virtual events in TT. He has done two or three since the start of the pandemic.

“It is something that is very weird for me. I know I have to do it for my fans and them. It is weird for me...for somebody who is so crazy and energetic. Switching over to a virtual performance is so weird for me and not something that I really like, (but) I have to do it sometimes.

“But I hope over the summer (June-September) things are going to be opening back up and we will have real interactions, real performances and everything else.”