by Howard Campbell
SOUTH FLORIDA – Weaned on the timeless Calypsos of his native Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaican roots-reggae, singer Jah Bami is an unapologetic Caribbean man. Though his recent work leaned heavily toward dub, his latest project is straight soca.
That project is called the SeaSide Villa Riddim, which features songs by a number of artists including Jah Bami, who contributes Soca Trend alongside Ted Ganung.
The SeaSide Villa is scheduled for release on July 12, just ahead of summer Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago. Scoring a hit song during that period can be lucrative.
“Having a hit song for the Carnival guarantees you doing a lot of events globally and now, almost every country on Earth have a date in their calendar set aside for their celebration of Carnival and parades of bands,” said Jah Bami.
Based in South Florida, Jah Bami, 41, is from the village of Curepe in eastern Trinidad. It was there that he first admired the sounds of legendary Calypsonians like The Mighty Sparrow, Lord Nelson and Shadow.
Interestingly, the artist that had the most impact on him was far removed from soca and calypso. He was a Jamaican roots-reggae singer named Hugh Mundell.
“I first heard Hugh Mundell from my father at a very young age. My father being a DJ had a lot of vinyls of Augustus Pablo and Hugh Mundell and many others which I was allowed to play on his set, while learning to DJ at age six-nine and Hugh Mundell’s voice would make me think he was like the reggae Michael Jackson,” Jah Bami recalled.
Mundell, best known for the epic album Africa Must be Free by 1983, was murdered in 1983. Pablo, his mentor and dub visionary, died in 1999.
In recent years, Jah Bami has toured as Sons of Dub with fellow Trinidadian Ras Jammy and Addis Pablo, Pablo’s son. They released a number of critically-acclaimed songs including Jah Chant and Unconditional Love.
For now, his focus on the SeaSide Villa beat which has songs by Keystal Khan and KKay, also from Trinidad and Tobago.
