Save Soil riddim focuses on global crisis

Trinidad and Tobago watched on proudly as Machel Montano and Marge Blackman performed their new single at the Maha ShivRatri celebrations in India on March 1.

Touch the Ground was done collaboratively between Montano, Blackman and Ryan “DJ Private Ryan” Alexander. It is also a part of the wider Save Soil Movement.

DJ Private Ryan said people can expect songs from a number of regional artistes in support of the movement.

Talking about his involvement in the project, Private Ryan said the movement highlights the global soil crisis.

Montano and yogi Sadhguru were recently on tour in the region to promote Conscious Planet’s Save Soil Movement. Opindia.com says, “Conscious Planet is a Global Movement, launched by Isha Foundation that is led by global spiritual leader Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev that promotes a more conscious attitude to the soil and the planet.”

Private Ryan said he received a call from Montano’s team earlier this year who said it wanted to work with him on a project with Sadhguru.

“They gave me information on the cause. So I watched a video on it and I saw what the grand purpose was and the idea was to unite the Caribbean too and highlight this crisis.”

He got a briefing about the type of song the team wanted to present and then he started to build the riddim from there, he said.

Private Ryan began by building the beat and then began crafting the kind of song he wanted to hear on the riddim. That was when Marge Blackman was approached.

“Marge Blackman then wrote this beautiful song called Touch the Ground which then became the song that was Machel and Marge Blackman.

“To expand on that project, the project is one that is actually going to feature artistes from around the Caribbean. So it is not actually just Marge and Machel. It is going to include artistes from Belize, Guyana, St Vincent, Grenada, Antigua.

“So you are going to see those things being released over time. So you’re going to see artistes like V’ghn, Alison Hinds, Ricardo Drue, Freetown Collective. There are a lot of different people who are going to be on this riddim project which is going to be highlighting this problem that the world is facing if we don’t reverse it.”

He is also co-producing the project and Machel is its executive producer. Apart from the Save Soil riddim he has a lot of music that is coming. It is all fusions because it is based on his ability to use his knowledge of music from around the world and then fuse it with soca to make a global sound, he said.

In 2021, despite there not being a Carnival, he developed a lot of projects such as The Sweet Tooth Symphony which featured artistes such as Erphaan Alves and Sekon Sta.

“This year I wanted to still represent musically for the culture and bring forth a lot of artistes despite not having the festival. So this year, under my production name Battalion Music…I was able to put forth a couple projects.

“Tumeric water was one which featured Erphaan Alves, Sekon Sta, Nessa Preppy, Mela Caribe and Lyrikal."

He also worked with Terri Lyons on the single Can You Feel It, which he co-wrote and which also features his vocals.

Another was the Beauty and the Beast project featuring Lyrikal and Viking Ding Dong among others.

“So you can see there is a lot of music that I put into the space that got good response.”

Private Ryan said he also held back some things anticipating the July/August holidays and Carnival 2023.

But he has also been heavily focused on creating songs in and out of the festival, he said.

At the time of writing, he hoped to release a song called Soucouyant with GBM Nutron and David Rudder. He also hopes to release a new song with new artiste Mela Caribe.

He is also blending Haitian/French Caribbean sounds to create a new fusion as well. He said there were no rules to what soca could be and that – despite all of the fusions – the songs were still rooted in soca.

As pandemic regulations are being relaxed globally, Private Ryan sees an opportunity for the world to re-envision the entertainment sector.

“As the protocols are being relaxed a bit, it is allowing us to re-envision what the events world would look like after being on pause for two years.”

DJ Private Ryan said he got a taste of that because he was able to do his annual event Soca Brainwash in New York and Miami last year. He said he has been prepping for the past two years as to what the new entertainment and events landscape would look like.

“As we look forward to the mecca, what would the return of TT Carnival look like in terms of my own events and working alongside other promoters, producers, DJs and everything else?”

DJ Private Ryan said with the possible reopening of the sector, as a promoter, he is first considering safety.

Ensuring the safety of his patrons is paramount, he added.

He said even though the pandemic is waning, the industry could adopt some good hygiene practices from the pandemic.

“There are innovations. We are moving to a cashless world. How do we then, for the safety of the foreigners, how do we create an eco-system that limits the amount of cash they have to walk around with?”

When it comes to the food and beverage industry in the post-pandemic world, how should the industry implement and embrace new technologies to enhance the experience, he asked.

“The way you utilise social media and real time because you live in a world that is moving in real time and people like real-time interactions? How do we then make it where it is almost as if the event is interacting with you in real time apart from just the DJs.

“Those are the kinds of things that are in my head in terms of how we can evolve this festival and the event landscape….”

These were some of the considerations he was looking at going forward, post-pandemic.

At the time of the interview, Private Ryan said the new Save Soil releases were then expected within the next two to three weeks.

He said he was excited about it because it is one of those projects which unite all of the islands musically. He also wanted TT to look out for his upcoming album.

He said Battalion is now his umbrella brand which would house his music as well as apparel and merchandise.

As he continues broadening TT’s musical presence and space, Private Ryan intends to introduce new talent to the space.

“People who may not have been given the forefront, in terms of their ability to record some good quality music. Just bringing them to the front of people’s minds.

“I am glad I was able to do that with Freetown with Feel The Love and I’m glad as well too this year I was able to bring Terri, she is such a great artiste…,” he said.