Fay-Ann: Staying creative boosts strong Carnival start

SOCA stars Bunji Garlin and his wife Fay-Ann Lyons-Alvarez have credited staying creative during the pandemic for their strong start to Carnival 2023. The soca power couple set a high bar for the remainder of the annual I Love Soca series, with a scintillating performance on Tuesday's opening night at Barcode, Scarborough.

After a two-year hiatus owing to the covid19 pandemic, Carnival 2023, dubbed the mother of all carnivals, was launched in November and will officially be celebrated on February 20 and 21.

After thrilling the Barcode crowd, Bunji, who has renewed the focus on power soca this year, said his main objective is to bring the energy.

“Our main focus especially this year is just energy – our focus is just to honour the music in the realm of what the music is. The music that we do is high-energy music – high energy is what we offer.”

Bunji has 12 songs for the 2023 Carnival, including The Circle, Bottles, Position, Hard Fete, Bounce, Umbrella, Lift, Pop Champagne and A.T.S.A. (Across The Stage Again).

Fay-Ann has also enjoyed good reviews with her 2023 song Upgrade proving a hit.

She said, “We’ve been doing music all through the pandemic. Even though we knew we were on lockdown, we knew that nothing lasts forever, so we continued the artistic performance of keeping in tune to the music.

"What that did, is keep us in tune so by the time the place reopened we weren’t fighting to get in the groove – you’ve maintained your space that you need to be creative.”

Fay-Ann said most of their music was written during the lockdown and combines elements of pre-pandemic Carnival as well as current circumstances.

“I was there when he (Bunji) wrote like 99 per cent of them. He put his heart and everything he has into it and for mine, I did the same when I wrote my songs. So all the songs are a culmination of experiences – before the pandemic how we use to party, what happen, how we felt with the changes through the pandemic.

"For us, we felt that our music help us to stay sane and grounded – being creative, keeping your hearts and your minds busy.”

Fay-Ann said they remain mindful of the dangers of covid19.

“We’re back on the road. We know what it feels like to be off the road and have the road taken away from you, and now we’re back out. We’re back out more cautious and more sensible so you’re kind of mindful of how you’re partying – before you could have partied without covid19 on your mind.

“The pandemic is not over so we’re not going to paint a delusion that covid19 has just magically disappeared, but we do appreciate the freedom that we have now.”

She said the fans are showing their appreciation for the music.

“The fans didn’t change...They held on and said, listen, we’re going to stick with our culture, this is who we are. Now that Carnival is coming around, we’re seeing the excitement.”