Music Matters: The Caribbean Edition

Laura and Nigel chat with soca music's lyrical wordsmith, Bunji Garlin, who pushes the envelope of what the sound of Carnival can be with unique collaborations and lyrical wordplay that speaks to calypso's history as a lyricist's art. Bunji, for more than 25 years, has been using the power of words to excite, to educate, to evolve what soca music is globally.

Laura and Nigel speak with the composer of the 2025 T&T Carnival Road March, Pardy, Andre Jeffers about the process of composing hits in an evolved Carnival ecosystem that recognises and demands stories and lyrics more than simple instructions to jump and wave. With two road marches under his belt, Jeffers speaks on the new business models for soca music dispersion and uptake.

Laura and Nigel welcome Joshua Regrello, De Panman to his thousands of fans on social media, who represents a changing of the guard in steelpan music. Spontaneous and dynamic are two adjectives to describe this innovative musician who uses the instrument of Carnival, the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago, to forge new pathways for listening to Carnival music. His effective use of social media to dominate the creator economy of Carnival practitioners, including leading Carnival music singers, is discussed.

Laura and Nigel are back after a long hiatus. They begin the year with the Soca Sessions Interviews with prominent artists, musicians and producers within the soca and Carnival music fraternity. First up is Michael 'Tano' Montano, producer and composer of the 2024 T&T Road March DNA by Mical Teja. He takes listeners behind the scenes of the creation process for modern soca including hits by Kes The Band, GBM Nutron and Freetown Collective.

Laura and Nigel host a panel at the MusicTT RVRB X Conference in Trinidad on Festivals as the new investment opportunities for the regional music industry, with Dr. Jo-Anne Tull from Barbados and Sobers Esprit from Dominica. They speak on the development and business opportunities for growth and data capture of the live music festival industry, with a goal of finding a workable template for effective private and public sector investment.

Laura and Nigel welcome UK-born Barbadian emeritus professor of Recording Industry, author and consultant Mike Alleyne to the podcast as he discusses the efforts and "adjustments" made by the global the recording industry to successfully market indigenous Caribbean music and artistes; Bob Marley, Rihanna, and more.

Laura and Nigel have a conversation with Donovan Watkis of World Music Views about how his push to chart and certify Jamaican music's global sales and streams is converting cultural capital into financial capital. His strong entrepreneurial spirit comes through as he pursues the task of putting dancehall and reggae music on a level playing field within the global music streaming ecosystem, to accurately identify its value.

Laura and Nigel have a conversation with Elizabeth Lady Montano, mother of Caribbean music superstar, Machel Montano, and author of his new coffee-table memoir/biography King of Soca. Published to coincide with the 40th anniversary of his professional career, Lady speaks her truth about Machel, she being the ultimate insider, the former manager, and the archiver of more than forty years of memories.

Laura and Nigel have a conversation where they ponder the future of the Caribbean music industry after the disruption of the two-year COVID-19 pandemic. The evolution of music festivals and Carnivals, the new economy of music for new and legacy artists, the coming-of-age new audiences in and outside the islands.

Laura and Nigel speak with Caribbean-American music executive Nolan Baynes on the ins and outs of the modern US music industry, as he lays out what needs to be done by Caribbean artists and music business to get a significant space in that market. They analyse a few case studies of Caribbean music entrepreneurship and creativity.