How can you participate in Crop Over one day and go to church the next? It’s a question that the newest member of the Pic-O-De-Crop festival band, Corey Forde is all too familiar with.
And each time it’s posed to him, his response is the same – it is “we culture”.
Almost from the time he could walk, the now 29-year-old operator of the band’s drum machine, was taken in by music. He was playing the keyboard at age four, then went on to trumpet and later, the clarinet, though the keyboard would remain his favourite.
“I was in the school band, first trumpeter. When I first went to Alleyne School and in joining the orchestra, I wanted to play the piano, but they said there was no piano, but Kenrick Moore (of the Police Band, now deceased), he told me you have nice teeth and he said come play the clarinet . . . but I still had that love for the piano.”
He would remain connected to music in one way or another, taking it even more seriously from about age 15 when he knew this would be his life – and the music of Crop Over came naturally.
“I would do the Cavalcades and then go to church. People would say but how you could do a Cavalcade and then go church next morning? Crop Over is we culture. I would have to leave Barbados not to be involved in it.”
He has played in numerous bands, from Electric to Jabae, Strategy, Virtuosity – a lot under his belt for still a lad of less than 30 years old.
“It’s hard to pick a highlight because there are so many different avenues. In the band Virtuosity, I was working down Sandy Lane and that in itself was another marvellous experience because you are there and you are seeing the movie stars and they just walk by.
“My first time on stage with a big crowd was Party Monarch on the East Coast when I came and saw like 30 000 or 40 000 people and you get these butterflies in your stomach and forget everything. I don’t get them as much now.”
But the butterflies came again, and this time it was the invitation to join the Festival Band that brought them flapping.
“I was speechless. I said this could not be happening . . . I used to watch these fellows when I was a little boy on television and now I’m here with them playing. It’s overwhelming . . . I met with Superintendent [Keith] Ellis [director of the festival band]. They called me the Friday and rehearsals were Monday. It was a quick transition.”
But as the saying goes – the only constant in life is change.
“Then the game changed because I would play keyboard and operate the drum machine at the same time. When you see most bands you would see one guy on keyboards and one on the drum machine, but I’m used to multitasking now for about ten years.”
Forde will now be the one helping fill in the sounds of the band using technology – a job made vacant by the recent dismissal of former drum machine man, Mikey Hulsmeier. The information technical officer with the Supreme Court, is also musical director with the band Soka Kartel.
“How I balance it? Just prioritising time, that’s it. You look at the time frame and try to give yourself some rest in between. Being a musician you always do a lot of driving at night, so you still want to make sure you make it to the next day . . . .
“Soka Kartel is the best in young Barbados talent combined. We were in many different bands. We just decide we would come together and form one band and since we formed we’ve just been progressing and progressing. It has been an awesome journey. It’s been a fun journey so far. Lots of hard work, sleepless nights.”
His highlight so far this season – getting up on stage and actually performing a soca song himself.
“I stepped out front with Blood and Mikey with a song called Wuk Up Yuh Waist Go Down, as MRocca. So that is my highlight. I came from behind the keyboards, co-produced the song with Hypasounds, that’s another studio I work with; I also work with King Bubba, and if I add up all the songs I have touched for the season it would be like 40-plus.”
And amidst the sleepless nights, long weekends and overall pressure of the season, the hardworking, effervescent young man is just loving every minute of it.
“I do it all for the passion, for the love of music, wanting to see music progress to the international stage . . . We’ve gotten far, but we could be further. Just next door in Trinidad, I would say they are like three years ahead of us.”
Trips across the region had shown him that in places like Trinidad, entertainers had been known to have songs reserved for years, tweaking ever so often until they felt the material was ready for the market. It’s something Forde believes helps with the quality of their product.
“I believe we have the talent, people just need to be more motivated. They need to find the time because you will reap the benefits in the end.”
For his part, Forde longs to be one of the island’s well-known and great musicians.
“When you study it, you want to nurture; you want to have a crop [of young artistes] so that when the older artistes in the business decide they are finished, we are not left with a big gap. We want to keep it going.
“When I look at where I am now and where I came from, it is a big improvement. As an artiste you have to constantly be upgrading yourself. People always say you are as good as your last show.” (Green Bananas Media)
