Salone Music! What Am I Missing?

My friend Tunde in the UK sent me an email with some questions that set me thinking. A slightly edited version of her questions appear below, with my responses. Once again, you are invited to join in, comment, respond, disagree etc. The photograph above is of Emmerson during his US tour (New Jersey leg) in late 2005.

Les – have you had any involvement with Lawrence Coker and this his Supreme Inc – Emerson, Khady Black stuff.

I met him late last year when he brought the Emmerson "Borbor Belle" Tour to the USA. I caught the New Jersey leg. I gather Emmerson is no longer part of Supreme Inc, though Khady Black is. Some acrimony that I haven't been able to get to the bottom of as yet but I'm sure it'll be juicy.

What are your thoughts on these artists generally? Reason why I'm asking – I've just come across Lawrence's website and had the sound on when looking at the various pages. Maybe it's just me but I was a bit perturbed by Khady Black & co. Maybe I'm too conservative and can't see the light with this new genre? Reggae for me has always been the music AND the language. So I find this reggae in English in a SL accent really odd – wouldn't it work better in Krio? As I say – maybe it's just me. Because they are obviously appealing to the folk who are buying the CD's and going to the concerts.

I should re-visit the website, but Khady Black was a dynamic performer live, and though I share your position that alot of the stuff can sound like reggae "lite", we should remember that we ain't the prime audience. Apparently Khady Black is "Massive" in Salone and she certainly had the crowd eating out of her hands here. Flag-waving, "boo-yakka-ing" the whole 9 yards. Her song Mr. President gained her huge popularity & cred. I found her very watchable. I don't have a CD so I can't say whether I would play it regularly without the benefit of "live" performance.

Also – people keep telling me about Emerson Emerson Emerson but I haven't a clue what he sounds like – didn't seem to feature on the Supreme Inc website soundtracks used. As I never go to any SL do's I seem to have missed out on the whole Emerson thing. However my understanding is that he uses krio more.

Emmerson is a different category. Never have I seen a Salone artist generate the fanmania he did. He sold out everywhere. Must have done a dozen shows in Maryland alone. He's recently been in Austria, had police intervene in Brixton, and went all over the USA.

Girls were swooning. No, really. In New Jersey they had to put a police tape barrier around the stage and security guards to intercept the girls attempting to dash across "no-mans's land and invade the stage. It was amazing. And hilarious!

Emmerson's CD, "Borbor Belle is a mix of social/political songs, and straight up party music. He excels in both genre's. The title track and another, "Swegbeh" have that marvellous combination of insight & accessibility. They are songs that contain phrases that become/became instant catchphrases or backtalk. There is now a class of people referred to as Swegbe or Borbor Belle.

When I first heard the songs and learned he was an early twenties Njala University student, I wondered whether he might have a "ghost" writer. Watching him live, I was able to believe he wrote the material himself. Something to do with his comfort and ease with the material. He handled himself excellently on stage and seemed aware enough of his charisma factor to use (not overuse) it to his benefit. He seems to me to be the real deal, though the sophomore effort is always a huge challenge.

I'm not quite sure why reggae is being used as 'SL' music either. I'd understand if it was incorporated into a style that SL musicians were developing of their own but this just seems a wholesale adoption of another culture and an incapacity to do our own thing. Again, maybe I'm wrong and misjudging things – I probably haven't heard a wide enough selection of current SL music trends. One of the very few reasons why I sometimes wish we were nearer London and the SL scene.

For me this is one of the most exciting times musically in Salone that I remember. Actually, I hear more hiphop style stuff than reggae style stuff coming out, but that is the situation continent and indeed world-wide. It has also contributed to the explosion in my opinion.

The effect of Sam Jones (Island Studios) & later, Jimmy B, returning home and setting up studios cannot be overestimated. The model has evolved now so that you have producers that produce "beats" that artists can "ride" or "rhyme". Sometimes it starts to sound a little samey beats wise, but the lyrical expression in English and many Salone languages, is exploding. The singers are addressing contemporary political, social and other issues, sounding much more outspoken as an artistic community than I was ever aware of before.

Will now get off my little soapbox and go back and stand at the back of the room where I probably belong, not having a clue as to what's actually going on out there!!!

Although it is definitely "youth" music, of the youth, for the youth, by the youth, I find it very exciting and believe that if you get a chance to mlisten to a wide selection, you'll be excited too. There is plenty of very good stuff coming out of Salone. Plenty of dross too, but more than enough good stuff to compensate.
(I'll see what I can do to get a selection together for you).