GB releases new single

GREGORY Ballantyne, or GB as he is better known, has released a new single– but it is not a calypso.

The song is called Apamata, a number about the poui trees. Apamata is the local name of the poui tree in South and Central America. It is done in Spanish and English and references the various names by which the poui is called in the region.

The prolific songwriter felt if his new track were sung by a woman it would have the impact he was craving. And so he sought the voice of songbird Marilyn Williams.

GB said when he took the song to Williams backstage at Kaiso House during the Carnival season, she sat in his car and smiled broadly, then exclaimed: “Fantastic! I will smash this.”

Her reaction at the end of the production was even more revealing: She said: “The poui has been blooming for God knows how many years, and no one has ever done a song on it, bar Cowboy Jack, several years ago. We’ve done it, and I’m so proud of the song.”

GB then went to some of his friends to test the song and when he played it for them after a game of football on The University of the West Indies (UWI) campus recently, he said one exclaimed: “I feel like I need a rose between my teeth.” Another simply said: “Smooooooth,” while one Sean Mills sat bemused and short of words.

And indeed the song truly romances the soul.

GB’s own reaction was: “My vision for my music is certainly not limited to Dimanche Gras and calypso per se. This is the first in a series of songs that will be very unlike what we have come to expect from TT. I think its my best production to date.”

Among the musicians featured on the track are arranger Leston Paul at his brilliant best –according to GB, Leon Moore of Charlotteville, Tobago, on the mouth organ, Nigel Rojas of Orange Sky who actually plucked his acoustic guitar to the rhythm of the poui petals falling and Denice Millien and Keone Osbourne, the chorus vocals.

GB concluded: “I am really proud of the project. It’s legacy music.”

A video for Apamata will be released on YouTube soon and the CD will also be available shortly after.

The lyrics of Apamata:

Poui blooms

Pink and yellow plumes

Early months of the year

Northern Range

Goes through a change

Every corner. Every square

Rolling hills

Standing still

Burst into smile supreme

Erie sight

Overnight

Nature’s spring magazine

As pink and yellow pastels paint over the El Tucuche green

“Madera Negra”

Ecuadorians would say

“Lapacho Negro”

Down Argentina way

“Taheebo”

“Pau D’Arco”

Surinamese would cry

Colombians say

“Guayacan Polvillo” up in the sky

In Brazil “Ipe Do Campo”

“Flor Amarillo” in Venezuela they cry

Chorus

Apamata Trinitaria

Apamata Bonita

Tabebuia Pentaphylla

Tabebuia Serratifolia

Poui blooms

Lighten my doom

Without making a sound

As her canopies

Fall from her trees

And collect on the ground

Candy crush

Then yellow blush

Carpets for dusty roads

Spinning bells

And carousels

Gravity holds their code

As a payload of plumage in pink and yellow they unload