Growing Support For EDM Over Reggae In Europe
Published:Wednesday | April 19, 2017 | 12:00 AMCurtis Campbell
European reggae singer-songwriter Patrice Williams, believes Europe has switched the majority of their support from reggae to electronic dance music (EDM).
"Caribbean music, especially live, is very popular in Europe. The influence of Caribbean music in the mainstream music market is quite obvious, I would say. Myself and others are working hard to make sure reggae makes it back to its rightful place in Europe and beyond, but the focus has shifted to electro over there," Patrice said.
He endorsed the recent trend that has triggered a top 20 Billboard hit for rapper Tory Lanez, who sampled Tanto Metro and Devonte's, Everyone Falls In Love. There was also a remake of, Who Am I, by England-based rappers, Krept & Konan, which received over 40 million views on YouTube .
"I think that hip-hop music has always been based on sampling other people's songs and twisting them differently. Many of hip-hop's founding fathers were Jamaicans living in the Bronx, so it was a natural thing for them to sample and remix their musical heritage. I don't think it's a new trend. Probably it's had a revival. And since the two styles go well together, it's an obvious choice to do that," he said.
According to Patrice, "I personally believe that one should add something to the culture he's inspired by. I feel that many European and American reggae acts don't think that's important.
Relevance
What that means is that you are only relevant as long as you're not standing next to the real thing. It means that you're producing music for people locally without threatening the status quo."
"In order to be relevant in a world of huge pop and rap acts, you would have to bring things with the same production value to table. Bob Marley did that during his time. Yet kept it real all the way," he said.
Patrice's debut album Nile, peaked on charts in Germany, Italy and Austria in 2005. His 2016 single, Burning Bridges, from his latest album - Life's Blood currently has 600,000 views on YouTube.
The artiste recently performed at Timbuktu festival, SXSW in Texas, USA. He is booked to appear on this year's Summerjam Festival in Germany, and Cruilla Barcelona Summer festival.
Patrice is a Sierra Leonean-German singer-songwriter, music producer and film-maker. The artiste grew up listening to artistes such as Fela Kuti, Bob Marley, Champion Jack Dupree, Max Romeo and Buju Banton.