Alison Hinds talks Crop Over, cruise and new talent
Published:Thursday | April 25, 2024 | 12:08 AMShanel Lemmie/Staff Reporter
Fresh off the deck of the Love and Harmony Cruise, Queen of Soca Alison Hinds is gearing up to make history as the first soca star to set sail on Tom Joyner’s Fantastic Voyage.
Shoving off from Port of Miami on April 27, Hinds said when she got the invite she was simply ‘floating’.
“So I’m gonna be making history, its the first time that soca is gonna be on that cruise and I will be the only soca artiste on the cruise alongside iconic artiste such as Chaka Khan, Earth Wind and Fire, Method Man and Redman, Ashanti and Ja Rule, Bobby Brown, Kirk Franklin, Ralph Tresvant and a few other artistes as well. So I am coming off of this high from this cruise and I don’t even know what to do with myself right now. I keep telling people I just stand up and watch Chaka Khan and cry and just bawl. My mind is blown.”
Though Hinds is a proud champion of the region’s newest republic, this trip will have her embody Caribbean pride as well.
“I am going to be representing Barbados but I am also going to be representing the Caribbean because I fly the blue, yellow and black wherever I go but on that cruise I am carrying the Caribbean on my back and I am proud to do that and to represent for the Caribbean.”
While Hinds is happy to fly the regional flag wherever she goes, she is hopeful through her Pink Pen Project she will soon have company as a Bajan Soca star.
On the wings of the celebrations for Crop Over’s 50th anniversary Hinds has partnered with the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) to raise some new female talent in the soca scene.
“Within that and under our National Cultural Foundation is this Pink Pen Project where the focus is on young female artistes, singer-songwriters. The producers that created the rhythms that the girls chose to write on are two female producers because just overall we have very few female producers, so I think it was important to have those elements as all female,” she explained.
Within the project, a group of female artistes will get the opportunity to write and co-write on rhythms created by female producers and voice, mix and master those songs preparing them for distribution.
“I do believe that there will be further support in terms of artwork and probably some assistance in marketing and that kind of stuff. So it’s not just gonna be ‘alright record the song and go off and figure it out’, that support is going to continue and I’m really happy that our National Cultural Foundation and the CEO Carol Roberts understands and sees where the need is that they can then help and facilitate.”
Hinds said though many new artistes have attempted to break into the soca space, longevity has seemingly evaded them.
“Its not for those artistes lack of trying,” she began. “And its not that they’re not producing good music, the female artistes in Barbados, the music just isn’t reaching. Its not getting out there. And I don’t know if that’s for lack of marketing or what. It could be any number of things.”
She went on, “Sometimes especially in terms of soca because its so seasonal, people get all focused around carnival. And the when carnival finishes they fall off. So it’s like, when carnival finishes, this is now really your time to push. You keep pushing, you keep marketing. So I think some of it could be follow up because as I said, there are talented young women in Barbados soca music. Whatever that is, this is where the Pink Pen Project comes into play.”
Speaking on the importance of the initiative, Hinds kept singing her old tune that she is tiring of representing Bajan women in soca alone.
“This is just one of the projects that they are doing but, of course its something that’s close to my heart because I’ve always been somebody that encourages female empowerment of women and girls of all ages.”
GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY
She continued, “If you’re looking at the overall development of soca, it can’t just be one person, it can’t be two, it can’t be three. So for me, I want to see female artistes coming out of Barbados. There’s a whole slew I’ve seen come out of Trinidad and Tobago, there’s a few from some of the other islands of course and you know Jamaica is doing its thing. But in terms of female artistes coming out of Barbados, I want to see some females come out and find their own road and their journey and create their own niche and their following and brand. That’s important to the overall development of the genre, it can’t just be one person.”
While Hinds lends her support to the initiative and prepares to represent her home at sea, she like most Bajans are sitting in awe of Crop Over’s upcoming golden anniversary.
Looking back at the song she did to commemorate the festival’s 25th anniversary she said, “It is a little bit humbling because the song 25 that I did when Crop Over turned 25 and now I’m like ‘what in the heck/this song is now 25 years old! What do you mean?’. It’s just crazy.”
She continued, “The fact that this festival has been consistently around for the last 50 years, it’s an amazing achievement for us as a country, as a people, we have to celebrate these things. We absolutely have to celebrate when we as a country reach these milestones and to have our golden anniversary, that’s amazing.”
This year Crop Over will be celebrated from July 31 to August 6.