Terri Lyons to local artistes: 'Know your worth'

There were many fallouts from Adidja “Vybz Kartel” Palmer’s non-performance in Trinidad and Tobago on May 31.

The Jamaican deejay was scheduled to perform at the One Caribbean Music Festival, but contractual issues with organiser, Jacho Entertainment, resulted in him not showing up.

Caribbean calypso queen and former calypso monarch Terri Lyons said there are lessons to be gleaned from what transpired, and, in a reflective social media post, called on this country to love its culture more.

In an Instagram video on May 2, Lyons called on Caribbean artistes “to know their worth.”

Asked during a phone interview with Newsday to expound on this statement, Lyons said her video was not about money, but rather, highlighted that artistes and the public need to appreciate and value their culture more.

The fee paid to Kartel raised the brows of many, as it was reported that Kartel agreed to perform for a US $1.35 million fee. The entertainer was paid US $950,000 of the contracted fee.

Lyons believes the major takeaway from all that happened was how much Jamaicans love, respect and stand for their culture.

She said Jamaican artistes ensure that their forefathers, who fought for their culture to be honoured, are respected by the world.

“(TT) John public don’t love their culture, most of them. You feel them filling out that stadium so for locals?

“And we have to remember, we have to stop doing this seasonal thing. Jamaican music is not seasonal,” she said.

TT’s music, mostly generated during Carnival, is treated as festival music.

But this was not so long ago, as there was once a more vibrant music industry singing to universal topics and creating music outside of that period. Icons like Black Stalin (Leroy Calliste) and Lord Nelson (Robert Nelson) sang to many human issues and matters, she said.

“Yes, there was part of our musical past where some calypsonians made the music political because they began aligning themselves with political parties.”

She said this affected the industry for a long time and is partly why she stays away from political songs.

Musicians should be free to speak their minds, whether it was about love, struggles or politics, without fear of victimisation, Lyons said.

“That is what calypso is: a melodious educator.”

But while calypso is moving away from largely being seasonal music, again, it was still a struggle.

One way to address this is for calypso and calypsonians to improve on quality and presentation, she said.

“We have to sell gold products if we want it to be respected as gold,” Lyons said, adding that authenticity is an important factor in this change.

“It have plenty artsite that does go out there, and when they go out there and they talking, their accent still sounding Jamaican. What yuh doing?”

Many DJs do it too, she said.

Jamaicans, she observed, are always authentically themselves no matter with whom they work.

“The reason why all these artistes gravitate to Jamaica is because they stand up with their thing and don’t stand s*** with their artiste,” she said.

She also defended Kartel’s right to be firm on contractual requirements met.

“If I say I need ten things on my contract to be filled and you only fulfill six, I need to put my foot down.”

Lyons said other international, non-Caribbean artistes would also cancel if contractual agreements were not met. This teaches people to respect the work and craft of artistes.

“When I tell artistes to know their worth, it is not knowing their worth by price; it is know the worth of what you have in TT, that you all aren’t respected.”

She called on artistes to stop being influenced and be influencers instead.

“Bob Marley lived in England (UK), spoke to all kinds of people and never once did I hear him drop his accent.”

Even though discussions about building TT’s culture would have occurred before, many ideas generated were not enacted, Lyons said.

“Every year is the same thing. Then Ash Wednesday we stop and wait until a next year. Tell me how much things concerning culture you see going throughout the year after Carnival?

“Where are all the calypsonians?”

She said she often advises many of her fellow performers to develop social media pages, improve on their music and do photoshoots, but many do not have the finances to do so. She believes a collective approach is needed to ensure calypso and soca gets the respect it deserves.

“It is not just us. It is John Public too because we cannot do it alone. And we need the numbers. We need the diaspora.

“All we have to do as Trinidadians is push the culture and let people know calypso was started right here in TT.”

Lyons often visits schools and teaches children about calypso, its icons and the importance of it to them and the society.

“Whether they decide to be lawyers or doctors, they are still supposed to know their culture.”

She said even some children of popular soca performers do not know the icons of their culture.

“My son knows culture because of me. I play the music in the house. I make sure he knows his culture and puts that first.”

Give local artistes asking price

Meanwhile, promoter Randy Glasgow thinks local artistes should be paid as much as regional or international acts.

In a media statement, he said soca and chutney artistes should be paid what they request.

“If one Caribbean artiste could be paid TT $9 million plus for a concert appearance in Trinidad, along with some other astronomical fees for other reggae singers, without a discount or a beat down on price, (then) our stars including, Machel Montano, Kes the Band, Bunji Garlin, Voice, Lyrikal, Patrice Roberts, Raymond Ramnarine, Nadia Batson, Ravi B, KI, Fay Ann Lyons, Nisha B, Yung Bredda, Nailah Blackman, A Team Band, Olatunji, Iwer George, GBM Nutron, Crazy, Shal Marshal, Ding Dong, Lil Bitts, Benjai, and so on should be paid their asking price.”

He said most TT promoters pay the most to Jamaican artistes, and he urges promoters to keep the “big money payouts” for local artistes and groups.

“It's easy to recognise the love we extend as a country to others is not reciprocal,” he said.

Copyright fees a major issue

Songwriter and executive producer Shumba Muwahli agreed with Lyons that TT’s musical products need improvement, particularly in subject matter and quality.

Artistes make music by speaking about things that affect people’s daily lives, Muwahli said.

“Outside of Carnival, you would not be able to relate to just party music or liming music. We have to increase the amount of music that has deeper subject matter.”

Younger artistes, he said, are more open to experimenting with deeper, more universal subject matter, he .

“I think the new generation of artistes are more willing to experiment, try new things and open new doors.

“For some time, it felt like it was not going to change because a lot of the artistes were stuck in their idea of how it should be. It was difficult to try to get them to experiment or try something new.”

He believes TT will get to place where its music will be respected year-round and reach more places.

He, however, disagreed with Lyons on code-switching, as it sometimes becomes necessary, he said.

“Generally, it is not going to be accepted if it is not, in some way, representing the culture the music comes from.”

He thinks a balance needs to be struck.

For example, Shumba said, TT-grown, internationally recognised dancehall artiste Prince Swanny sometimes uses Jamaican dialect.

He too believes a collective approach is needed for the music to be more respected and profitable, and that government and other organisations should get more involved in the development and promotion of the music.

Local copyright collections, he said, is a major issue – a stark contrast to what he has experienced abroad.

“That would create a lot of loss for a lot of artistes. A lot of people do not know how much funds they are missing out on what they are supposed to be collecting.”

He, too, called on artistes to explore subject matter outside of the Carnival period, and to pay attention to the quality of music, their mixing and mastering as well as vocal recording.