Machel Montano

In the middle of a packed show or club, with barely any room to move, soca artiste Machel Montano wants you to relax and enjoy the music. He’s done it one more time, creating Ramajay, another song that grips party-goers. Montano, who is usually the rage of screaming fans, said, “I always love doing songs like this, and I’ve been into the slow wine these days so I guess there’s gonna be more to come.” The recently released material has a feeling of the “good old days” when T&T’s crime situation was not so worrying. There is also a feeling of euphoria when one listens to it, although it’s not a jump and wave song.

Ramajay is not just for T&T, it transcends the Caribbean onto the world stage. In the song, Montano sings “The vibes nice” and “We come to breakaway,” almost commanding the listeners to savour the moment. Montano, well-known for his singing and performing skills, has been on the stage since 1982, at the age of seven. As early as 1984, he formed his band Panasonic Express now called Xtatik. Montano’s debut album Too Young To Soca, released in 1985, was a hit. The three-time Road March winner has also won several international awards such as “The Bob Marley Award” as “Entertainer of the Year and Male Soca Artiste 1998” in the Reggae & Soca Music Awards—Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.

Montano, though in New York, took the time to answer a few questions from the Sunday Guardian:

SG: When was Ramajay written and who wrote the song?
MM: This song was written very early in July as we were thinking about releasing something for Labour Day in New York. It was written by myself and music producer Jason “Jimmy Nutron” Carter.

SG: What was the inspiration behind the melody of the song?
MM: The melody for the hook was something that just popped into my head as I listened to the beat, and the rest was a mixture of spontaneous riffs and some early dancehall influences like the “woi!.... lawd !”

SG: It seems to have a French-Caribbean feel to it?
MM: We weren’t going for a French/Caribbean feel but I guess it’s in our blood so it found its way in there. After all, the beat is a sort of soca/cadence.

SG: What feeling do you want to evoke from your listeners?
MM: I want them to feel relaxed in the middle of a jam! Everybody packed tightly together, not much room to move about, but the music so sweet that it’s “awrite,” it’s ok, we come to ramajay anyway...and we love it. Something like the Zion Rave scene in the Matrix Reloaded movie! (Laughs out loud)

SG: This song seems to be intended for throughout the year as opposed to only for the Carnival period?
MM: All my music is timeless. Once you’re partying I think this song is a good jam. It was always created as a simple ‘feel good’ groove and I think it works in and out of Carnival. I also got a request from a US dance music producer to do a remix of it and it’s pretty good, so I think that’s going to expand the life of the song way beyond Carnival.

SG: Will you be collaborating with any artiste in the near future?
MM: I’m constantly doing collaborations, I’ve been working on quite a few lately—Skinny Fabulous out of St Vincent, Krystal Kane out of T&T, a couple pop singers from the US, and soon to be released collaboration with dancehall sensation Serani called “Hot Like Pepper.”

SG: What else can we expect from you next year?
MM: Expect the Unexpected...And great music as usual!

About Machel Montano

Montano won his first national competition becoming the Junior Calypso Monarch in 1984 with “The Letter.”. In 1986 he sang “Too Young to Soca,” which became his signature song. He has also sold out Madison Square Garden for two years in 2007 and 2008. Montano has also collaborated with many artistes such as Destra Garcia and Patrice Roberts. In 2003 “Is Carnival,” in which he collaborated with Destra, was the first runner up in the Road March contest. In 2006, Roberts and Montano won the title with “Band of D Year.” Montano has won awards in New York, T&T, Florida, St. Kitts and Jamaica. On the local scene, Montano has been holding the Alternative Concept Concert for the last seven years, which has pulled a huge Carnival crowd. A multi-talented artiste, Montano has also co-written and produced many popular songs. Some of them are “Footsteps” and “Tay Lay Lay.” Montano has also been a regular winner of the Copyright Organisation of T&T (Cott) award.

COTT AWARDS

• 1998-COTT’s 2nd Annual Awards
Song of the Year–“Big Truck”
Composer of the Year

• 1999-COTT’s 3rd Annual Awards
Male Composer of the Year
Song of the Year – Footsteps

• 2001-COTT’s 4th Annual Awards
Male Composer 2000

• 2002-COTT’s 6th Annual Awards
Song writer of the Year

• 2003/2004–Song Writer of the Year

• 2005-COTT’s 7th Annual Awards
Song Writer of the year 2004/2005
Song of the Year 2004/2005, Madder Than That

• 2006-COTT’s 8th Annual Awards
Jingle of the Year – You/Courts Trinidad Ltd.
People’s Choice for Song of the Year – You

• 2007-COTT’s 9th Annual Awards
Song Writer of the year
Song of the Year-Jumbie
Soca of the Year–Jumbie

• 2008-COTT’s 10th Annual Awards
Song Writer of the year

Montano has won three Road March titles

• 1997–Winner Youngest Road March King-“Big Truck”
• 2006-Winner with Band Of The Year" (with Patrice Roberts)
• 2007-Winner with the biggest margin in T&T’s road march history-“Jumbie”