M.I.A. fund raiser
Caribbean L 30 ife, APRIL 16-22, 2021
in the US and United Kingdom.
Jamaican-born Tomlinson
told Caribbean Life on Tuesday
that Riley – known for
his impressive catalogue “Good
Girl Gone Bad,’ “Lion Paw,”
soca track with Machel Montano,
“Memory,” classic single,
“She’s Royal,” and his EDM
hit with Major Lazer and Ellie
Goulding “Powerful” – “is no
stranger to hits, as well as
experimental sounds.
“’Like That,’ which is a fuse
of dancehall and R&B flavor,
has a groove, which will get
females dancing and feeling
beautiful at the same time,”
Tomlinson said.
“Over the past few years,
reggae and dancehall have
been placed under scrutiny for
the evolution of its sound for
Tarrus,” she added. “We need
to enjoy the music, enjoy the
sounds, don’t get caught up
with labels.”
Riley told Daily Beast: “Don’t
watch the tempo, because I like
doing new things.
“People are concerned with
names, labels, trap, rap, hiphop,
dancehall,” he said. “I
can’t bother with them things.
I have always been doing different
kinds of sounds, and I will
continue.
songs are marked with “evocative
political and philosophical
commentary.”
It said her music combines
elements of alternative, dance,
electronic, hip hop, and “world
music with eclectic instruments
and samples.”
M.I.A. began her career in
2000 as a visual artist, filmmaker
and designer in West
London before beginning her
recording career in 2002,
Wikipedia said.
It said she was one of the
first acts to come to public
attention through the Internet,
and rose to prominence
in early 2004 for her singles
“Sunshowers” and “Galang.”
M.I.A.’s first two albums,
Arular (2005) and Kala (2007),
received widespread critical
acclaim for their experimentation
with hip hop and electronic
fusion, Wikipedia said.
It said the single “Paper
Planes” from Kala reached
number four on the US Billboard
Hot 100 and sold over
four million copies.
Her third album Maya
(2010) was preceded by the
controversial single-short film
“Born Free,” Wikipedia said.
It said Maya was her bestcharting
effort, reaching the
top 10 on several charts.
Her fourth studio album,
Matangi (2013), included the
single “Bad Girls”, which won
accolades at the MTV Video
Music Awards, according to
Wikipedia.
It said M.I.A. released her
fifth studio album, AIM, in
2016, scoring her first US Hot
100 number-one single as a
featured artist on “Franchise”,
a 2020 single by Travis Scott
with Young Thug.
Wikipedia said M.I.A.’s
accolades include two American
Society of Composers,
Authors and Publishers
(ASCAP) awards and two MTV
Video Music Awards.
She is the first person of
South Asian descent to be
nominated for an Academy
Award and Grammy Award
in the same year, Wikipedia
said.
It said she was named one
of the defining artists of the
2000s decade by Rolling Stone,
and one of the 100 most influential
people of 2009 by Time.
Wikipedia said Esquire
ranked M.I.A. on its list of the
75 most influential people of
the 21st century.
According to Billboard,
she was one of the “Top 50
Dance/Electronic Artists of
the 2010s.”
M.I.A. was appointed Member
of the Order of the British
Empire (MBE) in the 2019
Birthday Honors for her services
to music, Wikipedia said.
Continued from Page 29
Continued from Page 29
gres, said “the blues is not sad
music.
“They might be talking
about terrible conditions,
about terrible losses, but the
bottom line is hope,” he said.
Byram said “4:00 AM,”
which was released on April
9 on PIAS Records, is the
follow-up to the trio’s potent
2018 debut release “Mo Jodi”
(“I’ll Die Today”).
Danae said “4:00 AM’s”
music and themes are a reaffirmation
of the group’s origins.
“It is linked to the name of
the band,” said Danae, whose
ancestors were slaves on the
French Caribbean island of
Guadeloupe.
The trio is named after
Louis Delgrès, a Creole officer
in the French Army who died
in Guadeloupe in 1802 fighting
against Napoleon’s army,
which was sent to reinstate
slavery in the French Caribbean.
“Here’s a guy who actually
decided to give his life rather
than go back to slavery,”
Denae said. “Once you have
that in the background, you
understand the themes in the
songs.
“Our first album was linked
to what Louis Delgrès did
in his fight for freedom,” he
added. “Now, in this second
album, it’s about our times.”
Partial translation of the
Creole lyrics of “4:00 AM” goes:
“Yes, I was just a child/That
you cradled in your heart/I
did everything I could/You
left me and went away/Even
today, I remember/Everything
is still so clear/I see you back
on the boat/You left me and
went away.”
As the son of Guadeloupean
parents, Danae was born and
raised in Paris, once the center
of the French colonial empire.
Byram said Danae’s perspective
on colonial and postcolonial
history informs his
music and his message.
“My father came to mainland
France from Guadeloupe back
in the 1950s, and my mother in
1962. A lot of people from the
West Indies moved to France at
that time,” Danae said.
“And many years later, we
can see the same thing happening
with people from Africa,
risking their lives trying to
give their families a chance of
a better life,” he added. “This
is the background of what we
address in this album.
“We are all dealing with
COVID and it’s taking up all
the space,” Danae continued.
“Everything you can see and
hear is related to the pandemic,
and we forget that for these
people, still struggling, reality
has not changed. “So we try
to keep shedding some light
on them and their situation
just so, as a society, we don’t
forget. We have to be there
for those who can’t speak for
themselves.”
Byram said “4:00 AM” features
powerful songs such
as “Assez, Assez,” (“Enough,
Enough”) the first single from
the album and a snapshot of
the tragedy of immigrants
dying at sea while trying to
reach a new place.
“La Penn” (“The Pain”) is
“an unusual cry of a poor guy
that becomes a terrible person
just because of bad luck,” she
said.
Byram said “Aleas,” (“Hazards”)
speaks of the anguish of
separation, “the age-old story
of the immigrant leaving family
behind as he looks to settle
in a new place.”
“Se mo la” (“These words”),
according to Byram, “addresses
the racism in those words that
‘burn my heart, while “Lese
mwen ale” (“Let me go”) and
“Libere Mwen, Libere Mwen”
(“Free Me, Free Me”) “speak
simply and directly about slavery.”
Continued from Page 29
Singer M.I.A. stands on the stage at the Theatre Royal in London, Britain, Nov. 24, 2019.
REUTERS/Henry Nicholls, fi le
It’s ‘4:00 AM’ for power roots trio Delgres ‘LIKE THAT’
Members of the French creole band Delgres. From left:
Baptiste Brondy, Pascal Danae and Rafgee. BOBY