It Is Gospel Time At The Barbados Blog
It is of course Sunday today and I’m in the mood to listen to some gospel music. Today I’m going to feature a medley of Gospel songs from a lady with one of the best voices in the music industry; she is of course the amazing Whitney Houston.
She has had her fair share of problems, but now that she has freed herself from the evil that was around her in that messed up husband of hers. She is definitely back to living her life the way she should be and doing what she does best and that is singing.
Another Big Music Star From Barbados Is Coming Your Way
It is another fantastic day in Barbados the sun is shining and there is a wee bit of breeze, which is good news for a Scotsman like myself. I’m having a day of rest today, which involves me taking things easy and just chilling out listening to some music.
Since my arrival in Barbados as I have mentioned before the music scene over here isn’t really to my liking. That’s not to say I haven’t came across a few artists that I personally feel deserve a bigger stage than just Barbados or the Caribbean.
I recently heard a single called “T- Shirt” by Shontelle who is born and bred in Barbados, if this single doesn’t become a big top 10 worldwide hit there is something seriously wrong with this girls management team and record company. This single has a good vibe to it and is performed by a very pretty girl with a great voice, she definitely has the right look to become a big star.
The Barbados Blog is featuring Shontelle’s video for “T-Shirt”, which is a ballad all about missing her man so much that she adorns herself in nothing but his t-shirt to find comfort. If this girl can continue to write some good songs there is no reason why she can’t get to where Rihanna is now.
Another girl form Barbados that I feel has the potential and talent to reach a much bigger stage than just the Caribbean is Kimberly Inniss.
This Girl Has the Potential To Be A Star, She Has It All And More
As I do from time to time I will periodically visit Bajan Tube just to see what is happening in the Barbados music scene. I occasionally come across something that is listenable but I will be honest and admit that doesn’t happen very often.
I can clearly see why there have been very few Bajan stars out there in the music world. Don’t get me wrong some of what I have heard is kind of okay but it is a bit lame and very few of them are likely to sell many CD’s out with the Caribbean region and Barbados.
In fact Rihanna is the only real music based big star that I can think of ever coming from Barbados, I may be wrong on this one, but she is the only one I’m aware of. By superstar I mean that they are internationally known and that they sell a lot of CD’s worldwide.
Fortunately after listing to Bajan Tube I heard for the first time a lady called Kimberly Inniss who is from Barbados and I was blown away. She was real hot stuff, this girl can sing beautifully, she oozes sexiness, she moves well and to cap it all she is a natural performer. The girl in my humble opinion will one day in the not too distant future become a household name worldwide much like Rihanna has.
Kimberly Inniss is a multi talented lady that is not only a great singer but she is also a songwriter, arranger and producer. She was born In September 1981 and discovered music at a young age and has worked extremely hard to make it in the music business. She is very well known in Barbados and within the Caribbean music scene and has won numerous awards. If keeps on doing what she is doing Barbados will have another star on there hands.
Kimberley Inniss performing her 2008 soca song ‘Merry Go Round’
The Music of Barbados Is Slowly Growing On Me!
I have always listened to music ever since I was a wee kid growing up in Scotland. I’m maybe a wee bit older now and my music tastes are much more varied and wide as I have matured in years. Now a days, I listen to all types of music, well nearly all kinds, I can’t stand some of that European music that I will call Eurotrash.
Sometimes I listen to music when I need to relax or need cheering up, music can also be good for helping to create a romantic atmosphere, I’m sure most of you know what I mean!
I’m from Scotland, which is as most people are aware is part of the UK and we have always have and still do have very strong links with the USA. As a result of this my favourite bands and artists, which I have listened to throughout my life have been mainly, either from the UK or the USA.
Talking to family and friends in Barbados I found it funny how they haven’t even heard of some of my favourite bands of today, such as Oasis, Keane, Maroon 5, The Killers and Belle and Sebastian, and believe me these bands are all big in most countries in the world, they all sell millions of albums every year. I thought they were joking with me, but they were very serious.
I talked to them about older bands from the past and they hadn’t even heard of most of them, such as Stone Roses, Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Beatles, Nirvana. They had barely heard of any of them of, and they are all household names in most countries in the world. If I asked someone from the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, I’m pretty sure they would be aware of every single band that I mentioned.
From living in Barbados I know that the predominant kinds of music that the Bajans listen to is, Calypso, Reggae, Gospel, Steal Pans and R&B. But I couldn’t tell you of many musicians that played these types of music, apart from some reggae and R&B artists, before I began living in Barbados. Now that I’m living on the Island I must admit I’m starting to like some of the Calypso music that I’m hearing and I also find the steel pan music kind of soothing.
I suppose the point of this article is to educate the Bajans that are still living in Barbados or haven’t travelled, to the fact that there are other forms of music out there that they need to start listening too. I would like to think that any Bajans that have moved away from Barbados and are living in more culturally diverse countries, that they have expanded there horizons and are now listening to a more diverse range of music styles.
Party Time at St Lawrence Gap In Barbados
It was a rainy Monday night in Christ Church in Barbados and the wife and me were in the mood to escape the house for a few hours. If you want to experience good nightlife in Barbados, the place to head too, is of course St Lawrence Gap.
For those of you that have never been to Barbados, St Lawrence Gap is 1.3 km stretch of road in the parish of Christ Church, where you will find a diverse array of hotels, apartments, shops, bars, nightclubs, restaurants and fast food outlets. If you want to party in Barbados St Lawrence Gap is the place to go.
What I like about St Lawrence Gap is that if you don’t like a particular bar or the look of a restaurant you only have to walk a few meters and you will find another one to choose from.
When I was in Barbados last year getting married I stayed at the Southern Palms Hotel on the Gap for 3 weeks, so I have sampled what quite a few of the establishments on St Lawrence Gap have to offer. I must admit some of them were amazing, some were great, some were mediocre and two so called restaurants were memorable for all the wrong reasons, they were probably two of the worst places I have ever eat at in my entire life.
To get to St Lawrence Gap we decided to walk down to the main road and get a ZR. The rain had stopped and it wasn’t too hot. It seemed like a good idea to have a wee stroll before we eat, and we didn’t think the walk would be too much of a problem, it doesn’t seem that far when you are driving it. What can I say apart from that it isn’t too much fun walking at night in Barbados without pavements, especially when it has been raining. It isn’t fun stepping into a puddle up to the middle of your shinbone!
We eventually made it to the main road after about 30 minutes walking and as usual you can always rely on a ZR to turn up very quickly. For once the ZR wasn’t being driven by a maniac, and they never even had loud music blaring out. They had the news on!
The ZR dropped us at the entrance to the Gap, for $3BDS for the pair of us, which represents real value for money, especially when you make it to your destination in one piece! It was only about 8pm and things were fairly quiet.
Our first port of call was a place called Jungles Café, we grabbed couple of stools at the bar with a good view of the band, which were two old English hippies, playing the typical songs that you will always find them playing such as the Eagles, They asked for requests and I said Oasis and they suddenly became deaf, I should have known that Oasis were bit too modern for the old hippies. Never the less they were good musicians and singers and did a good job.
We were almost tempted to have something to eat at Jungles Café; we watched some guy eating a delicious looking pizza at the bar, which was almost as big as him. It was a good bar for a few drinks, it was a nice and relaxing place with a good atmosphere. It was good to be in a bar where the staff are well mannered and provide good service, as any visitor to Barbados will be aware this isn’t always the case. The prices aint too bad either, it was $60BDS for 3 Pina Coladas and 3 Banks Beers.
It was now time to eat and those drinks had built up a real hunger, we had decided that we would eat at the Mexican restaurant called Café Sol, which was fortunately only a few metres further along the Gap. We knew the food would be good, as we had been there numerous times over the years.
When we arrived at Café Sol it was looking real busy, which wasn’t good news as we were real hungry. The waitress asked if we wouldn’t mind waiting at the bar until a table became free, she said it shouldn’t take too long. Thankfully she was correct, we hadn’t event drank half of our drink and we were shown to a table, where we quickly ordered our food.
The waitress came back and said she would wait until 10pm which was happy hour before she would put our drinks through the till, which meant 2 drinks for the price of one, how could we refuse her request.
Again it was another good meal provided by this Mexican restaurant, it cost us $140 for 3 courses each and drinks, which wasn’t too bad at all. I know back home in the UK that Barbados is perceived as being a fairly expensive place to eat, drink and party in. I can put that theory to rest right now, that it is probably on a par with Scotland, which is my home country. I also lived in London for 7 weeks before I moved to Barbados, and I would say that here is defiantly a lot cheaper to eat, drink, party and to be merry in.
We headed to an open-air bar further along the Gap for one last drink before we headed back home. It was now just past midnight and it was time to leave the serious partying to the youngsters. It took us about 1 minute to locate a taxi driver, who took us home for the very fair price of $30.
St Lawrence Gap provided an excellent night out, what I really like about the Gap is that unlike certain other countries in the world, such as certain party regions in Spain and some of the Greek Islands, is that you never come across groups of drunken louts causing mayhem.
Crop Over Fever Barbados, Its Too Much For A White Scotsman
It is the last day of the Crop Over in Barbados, which is the National festival of Calypso music, folk concerts, art and various exhibitions all held in Barbados. It is an amazing extravaganza of music, noise, dance and colour and at times near naked bodies dancing in dazzling costumes.
Crop Over can be traced as far back as the 1780′s, which was a period of time when Barbados was the largest producer of sugar in the world. When the sugar cane season ended, there was a huge celebration to mark the culmination of another sugar cane harvest, hence the island. Crop Over is a five-week long festival of events including of course the Crop Over celebration.
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to attend any of the events this year, due to working too hard and trying to renovate our home at the same time. I will have to wait until next year to experience this amazing festival from close up, as opposed to watching it on television.
Today is Grand Kadooment, which is the big climax to the Crop Over festival, which is a huge street parade of people dressed up in costumes. By watching some of it on television this year, I will be mentally prepared to watch it live next year. All those girls with big booty’s dancing around in those revealing costumes is all a little bit too much for a white Scotsman to cope with.
Here is a video from last years Grand Kadooment
Proud To Be A Bajan, It Sure Is A Catchy Tune
I couldn’t help but watch the Pic-O-De-Crop Monarch music competition in Barbados, which was recently on television, and reached a climax on Saturday the 2nd of August. It sure was interesting to hear the top calypso artists competing for the top prize of a new Toyota Corolla worth $70,000 and $11,000 in cash.
Living in the UK we very rarely get to hear calypso music on either the radio or on television. So it was good to get the opportunity to listen to and watch these very talented calypso artists performing such as, my personal favourites De Announcer, RPB, Mr Impact, John King and the deserved winner Adrian Clarke
Next year I will be making it a priority to at least attend the final of the Pic-O-De-Crop Monarch. I think Adrian Clarkes winning songs “Proud To Be A Bajan” and “Put That In Yuh Song” are both great tunes are as good as anything that I have recently heard in the UK pop charts.
Adrian Clarke – “Proud To Be A Bajan
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