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The Dread Wizard (Sharlan Bailey) recently released his latest single, Right Round de Corner, on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
The talented songwriter, musician, producer, and director of the four-member band, Soul Quarters, said of his new musical offering, “It’s more than a song, it’s an expression. I had a melody years ago but lyrics never came. One night while thinking about the first responders and essential workers during this perilous time, I thought everyone must keep the faith, then lyrics began to flow.
“I’ve been thinking selflessly—thinking more of others than myself. I began to regroup, write and work on an album. When the lock-down began, I picked up my guitar and started making music. This latest song forms part of the album which is to be released later this year.”
Bailey described the song as a new-age, advanced calypso.
Right around everyone’s corner “heaven and the stars will align. When you reach the point to resign, you cannot decline. When you are down, hold on and fight it, as brighter days are closer. You must be strong as not too far away is right around the corner...” he said.
He said it would take a lot of time to unravel all the lessons he learned from his legendary father, the late Shadow (Winston Bailey) but one that he steadfastly applies is the practice of groove and pocket.
Dread Wizard
“It’s about the beat and not speed, as music is to make you move—dance. The beat makes you move, not speed,” he revealed.
Also indelibly stuck in his head is the deliberate use of the bass like a drum.
“It gives music soul,” he said.
Bailey composed and produced by Dread Wizard Right Round de Corner but is grateful for valuable input from SMKNMRZ (pronounced Smokin’ Mirrors), Joseph “Dad” Gilbert, Joanne’s Shop in de North Coast, Ritzroom, Selvon “Mistah Shak” Noel, Aaron Gilbert, his management team and all others who in its release.
Bailey, Shadow’s younger son, has been gracing the stage professionally since 2003 as a solo act. He started as a background singer providing chorus and writing encore verses for his brother Shawn in the 1980s. Sharlan’s compositions for fellow calypsonians have taken these artistes to the semi-final and final of the Calypso Monarch competition and into the Caribbean Song Festival Showcase and other regional competitions.
To keep his father’s musical legacy alive, Bailey launched the annual concert, Shadowology, during Calypso History Month in October 2019, one year after the veteran bard’s death.