Freetown Collective makes magic at SoundForge

Freetown Collective brought magic to the stage with its sailor-mas-themed concert, Welcome to Freetown: All Hands on Deck, at SoundForge in Mucurapo, Port of Spain on February 4.

Inspiration for the show’s sailor-mas theme came from musical director and singer Lou Lyons.

“I will always be sailor. You know how you see some old men and that’s who they are? Well, until I die, I will always have a sailor tunic to play traditional mas. l don’t have to play in any band, but I will just be on the road as a sailor.”

Lyons added that research is a key component in putting together the band's shows, with the research on the mas starting right after last year’s concert.

“Sailor mas itself is so rich in terms of how it mirrors society and who we are. I believe that everybody have a sailor in them.”

With that perspective, the band prepared the three themes presented during the show. The first was that sailors want to explore the world.

Lyons explained, “Chapter one...was about, ‘What are our world ideas? How do we feel about wars, politics, our own position in the world?’

"All sailors do what they do out of passion, so chapter two of the show was about love. What is the love we have for ourselves, our craft, for one another?”

The last theme played on the idea that sailors are “drunkards.” The last part of the show carried the idea of drunken celebration through Freetown’s music and performances.

Lead vocalist Muhammad Muwakil took patrons through the years of Freetown’s music. He also expressed his gratitude for the turnout, freestyling during a song that their first and second shows had audiences of five and ten people respectively, even laughing that in their third show, only Lyons and himself were present.

The show was well received, with the crowd gathering at the front of the stage, lending their voices and energy to each of the songs performed.

The band dedicated the performance of Space for a Heart to well-known and loved Newsday columnist BC Pires, who died of cancer in October 2023. Speaking to Pires’s son and daughter in the audience, Muwakil said, “He taught us how to exist in this world. You will always have a home with Freetown. Anything, anytime.”

During the song, the entire crowd sang loudly, with some even tearing up.

Song lyrics like “I was born to be a storm/ Keep my heart dry while others drown/ I tell myself I’ll carry on/ I’ll carry on… The me I am with you’s a better me,” echoed Muwakil’s sentiments after the show.

“BC was an adviser, a brother, an uncle, a mentor, everything. He was somebody who really told us (Freetown) the truth when we needed to hear it, regardless of if we wanted to or not.

"There were times where he would have given bad reviews. Sometimes you have to see that side to yourself and when someone is that truthful with you, and then they compliment you, then you know you can receive that with some level of grace and you can trust them.”

Freetown shared the stage to perform some of its collaborative hits from recent years. Soca singer Nessa Preppy took to the mic to sing their song Sha La La.

Young King 2024 and Soca Monarch finalist Mical Teja Williams also brought his DNA to the stage to perform his hits, including the song Mas, on which he and Freetown collaborated.

Teja, in a recent interview with Newsday, spoke about the process of writing and creating the song Mas.

"Mas was a rel spiritual journey song. It put me in a space where I started to really think about the lyrical content and what we saying some more."

The show also featured guest performances from talented artists Sharifa Selman, who started her set with a soulful, acoustic rendition of Nah Leaving by the late Denyse Plummer, which delighted the audience, before moving on to original songs like Long Way Home.

Self-titled “new calypsonian” Jimmy October (L'shun Emmanuel) brought his own magic to the SoundForge stage with energetic performances of Magic and Soca Party, with the audience carrying the chorus.

October said, “The energy was extra special tonight. I felt the crowd, I felt the electricity happening and that was beautiful.”

Coutain (Denzil Coutain) also took to the Freetown stage for the second year, getting the crowds moving with his song Kompany. He also teased his new song, Bingi, from his new album, which will be released sometime after Carnival.

Speaking in a phone call with Newsday, Coutain said, “The show was a heartwarming experience. Every time gets more and more in depth. It’s such an appreciative space. It’s a pool of pure goodness and pure energy.”

He added, “The Collective (Freetown) is the same. They’re embracing and warm. They’re always respectful of the generation before, but looking out for the generation to come.

“Welcome to Freetown itself: the concept is like a village. You know the saying, 'It takes a village to raise a child'? I’m like a child to them. They for sure from day one always believed in me, cared to hear my input. Freetown, Muhammad and Lou, the brothers giving free knowledge about the industry and life on a whole. The next generation is hoping for that."

Asked what’s next for Freetown, Muwakil said fans can look out for the Tight Spaces acoustic tour, which will likely happen in the next two months, at SoundForge. He added that the band's newest album, Beyond The Machine, will be released very soon.