Entertainment

SOCA HITS BACK

By GERMAINE SMITH, Staff Reporter

Bunji Garlin - contributed

LOCAL REGGAE SINGER I-Wayne has reportedly kicked off a musical war of sorts, after he criticised soca music in a U.S. magazine.

The silky-voiced crooner, known for his fiery imagery and slangs, is quoted in the March issue of Vibe Magazine, saying that soca music was the "Devil music" among other things.

His comment, which also included the statement that the music was "dancing with demons", dropped 'bombs' in the calypso community, sparking wild bouts of condemnation for him in some corners, and stout defences of his stance in others.

Internet chatrooms and soca websites became loaded and are still loaded with harsh comments about the singer's statements, with others defending him with equal force.

The fiery situation was turned up two notches recently when popular Trinidadian artiste Bunji Garlin recorded a stinging counteraction to the comments, titled 'Yuh Bad Or Wha'.

Among the heated lines in the track are:

"Yu mad or wha? yu bad or wha?

A yu alone waa dis Trinidad or wha?

Yu mad or wha, yu bad or wha?

Oppose a whole nation like yu bad or wha?"

Contacted this week in Trinidad, Bunji Garlin told THE STAR he has nothing personal against I-Wayne, Jamaica, or Jamaican music. He said he was, however, only retaliating against the comments.

"What caused me to do it was the statement made that Soca music, as far as whoever was concerned, was devil music," he said.

"This same soca music is the cultural backbone of a nation, and it is the thing that the artistes and a nation have to survive on ... this music is what we live and breathe, so me being an ambassador, when the people receive the information, the first person they look to to defend it in other words, or to make a statement is me, and how I look at it is that I wouldn't allow anybody to disrespect my mother," he said.

"Trinidad and Tobago is my motherland, yu understand, so I have to defend what I live for and believe in. And even if it means that I have to die doing it, then so be it. That is what led me to retaliating to the statement ... if somebody is not wise, they will not know that the tune was done in retaliation against the statement of I-Wayne, and they could think that I am singing against the whole of Jamaica, which I am not doing."

Garlin added that the tune has taken off in Trinidad, New York and London, and the irony about it is that his friends in Jamaica think it is a good song. He noted that Harry Toddler and Kiprich and a group of local artistes even called him up one day and playfully recited the chorus to him.

"Amazingly enough, the biggest supporters of this tune have been Jamaicans. How? I don't know why, but I was told by some that they appreciate the way I stood up for what I believe in, because if it were a Jamaican he would have done the same thing."

Bunji added that he never expected things to blow up so much, and even though the battle lines are drawn, he does not intend to cause any fuss in the music. In fact, he noted, he should be in Jamaica quite soon.

Efforts by THE STAR to contact I-Wayne and his management team were unsuccessful.