NCF to help with overseas exposure for Bajan soca artistes

Barbadian soca artistes will get exposure for their Crop Over music over the coming year, at various carnivals across the region and the world.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) Carol Roberts-Reifer told VOB’s Down To Brass Tacks call-in radio programme on Friday that having successfully worked with the artistes and producers during the season to promote the best available soca songs, the campaign was about to extend overseas.

“We are getting ready, now that Crop Over is finished, to look at the remaining carnivals as we do it in a circle and come back around to Crop Over,” she said. “So you’ve got Labour Day, we are going to be doing something there…. You come all the way around to Miami, all the way back into Trinidad and get ready for St Lucia and St Vincent and Crop Over again.”

The NCF boss said the campaign has already borne fruit locally, and she highlighted the opportunities which the soca artistes had for work during this year’s Crop Over Festival, noting that “the level of involvement, investment, participation and showcasing opportunities was unprecedented”.

“One was the support we were able to give to artistes in assisting them through the record studios in getting their songs out and getting them up on multiple streaming platforms. We have also been able to embed QR codes in over 50 locations across the island at which you can scan the code, get onto our Sound Cloud and hear all of the soca songs – with some of the bashment ones as well – of the season,” Roberts-Reifer said.

“We were also able to work with a number of young artistes and pair them with producers and arrangers and invest in the production of their songs. So, we would have worked with Blood and his studios and some of his young artists, with Slam City, with Red Boyz and Jus Jay and a number of other studios and produce music for young artistes…and then we actually showcased them on multiple platforms when we were producing events.”

(EJ)