5 Questions with Koriq

Koriq has played keys for Tarrus Riley, and the Black Soil Band for years. The band is world-renowned - with each musician adding their unique style and flair to create a blend that makes fans salivate. But when Koriq isn't bouncing a clave rhythm along with his colleagues, or adding his own vocals to the Simple Blessings singer's, he is working assiduously at introducing his own unique vocal sound to the world. So far, Koriq has released a few singles that include; Like I'm Gonna Lose You, So Freely and No Weapons Allowed, and most recently, Guilty Eyes.

However, the song which has got him the most attention, is Let's Do It In Jamaica - his entrant in this year's JCDC Festival Song Competition, which was disqualified from last year's finals. Despite the hiccup, the energetic and inviting song remains in rotation.

'Let's Do It In Jamaica', was eliminated because you wouldn't be present at finals to perform it. It's now in rotation on radio. Would you consider it a successful production, despite not actually competing?

Let's Do It In Jamaica may be my most successful song to date. Perhaps because of its involvement in the JCDC competition, and the promotion surrounding that. At the risk of sounding like I'm blowing my own horn, a good song is a good song - whether it's a leader in a competition or it's disqualified. I do believe I wrote the kind of song that would have life even after the competition.

Would you enter the competition again?

It was a good experience for me. I'm not planning on entering again, but never say never. It's a possibility, but there are no plans.

As a touring musician in a band, how do you find time for your solo pursuits?

It does get difficult to find time to do my own music and productions as a member of a touring band, but if you're in music, or the arts, you realise that it's not really one-way. Sometimes you're extremely busy and sometimes you're not - it's really a matter of balance.

The good thing is that being out there on the road with Black Soil, presents opportunities to actually get the music out there. So you're meeting people all over the place - deejays, radio personalities, promoters - people who can get the music out there for you. It's a fair trade-off, and balance.

What is the most far-flung place the Black Soil Band has taken you?

Black Soil has been to many, many parts of the world. I think my first tour with Black Soil was in the United States, which was an extensive tour. Then, the European circuit. Perhaps the farthest we've ever gone is maybe Australia. In recent times, the last show I did was in Ghana. Prior to that, we were in Zimbabwe, Uganda. We visited Kenya a number of times. Yeah, it sound like the answer to that would be Australia and Africa.

It is more expensive to tour with a full band. So, why do it?

Certainly, it's expensive to tour with a band. I mean, airline tickets alone is a testament to that. Why do it though? It's a very different experience when you watch an artiste singing on tracks, than watching the same person sing with a band.

There's a popular Jamaican artiste I saw him performing on tracks and people walk out. Great artiste, but people walked out. I saw the same artiste a few weeks later, with a band. Believe me, it was electrifying. It started to rain and people stood up in the rain enjoying the show. It's the whole experience, rather than a watered-down, limited version.

Bonus: We're sure you'll be pressing keys with the band for a while. But what should we expect from Koriq in 2019?

Life is full of surprises. You can't be too certain that what's currently happening, is going to continue for very long. You really can't be too sure. You have to just roll with the punches. But what you can expect from Koriq, in the coming months is more recording, music being put out there, promotional work, more videos - and I don't want to limit it to music videos, but being more interactive with and grow my audience.

That is the main thrust right now, to try and grow the audience - expand my reach.