King Shepherd wants good music on the air

IT’S DÉJÀ VU …all over again for Soca artiste King Shepherd, as in previous years he does not believe he is getting adequate air play.

It was long before the official start of the 2009 Crop Over season that he released the monster hit Wuk Up On It produced by Radar Sounds, but it languished in the studios of the local FM stations until one DJ caught on to it and others followed. The rest is history.

Though the track is a must play at fetes and limes island-wide and is still in heavy rotation this year King Shepherd finds his new tunes are not getting airplay.

“Actually me and Blood released one day apart from each other last year which we did this year to. I don’t really know what is going on, this is the same thing I suffered from last year with Wuk Up On It, anyhow I am focused, I know what I am doing and I am looking to the international market,” he lamented.

The Guyana born Shepherd says he is tied to Barbados not only because he supports the culture but because it is the Barbadian people who have made him the artiste he is, while not pointing fingers and even congratulating the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) for the execution of the festival, he says more can be done.

“We need to produce good music and the DJs need to play music that makes sense, not music that they like or their friends’ music or because they’re DJs and some of them are singers, you need to play the music that can make a difference, the music that can speak to the people, the music that has a message,” he said.

Referring to comments attributed to the Minister of Education, Ronald Jones who expressed concern about the lyrics in local music Shepherd believes the minister’s comments may have been mis-understood.

“Most of the music that is getting pushed on the radio would not play a vital role in our culture which is Crop Over. I don’t think most of the people visiting us can dig the kind of vibes that are being pushed on the radio and I think that the music that makes sense and speaks about our culture needs to be played. I think the Minister wants us to produce music that makes sense.”

This year King Shepherd has released I Get She Wet and Don’t Bite Me, both a spinoff of  Wuk Up On It and can be found on the album Womaniser Edition – Protect Yourself which he says was produced to heighten the awareness of HIV/AIDS.

“I believe that most men have a womanising part of him that they don’t wanna reveal, so I’m just being brave revealing that part, that is where those two songs came from, it is about womanising but they are not vulgar.”

You can find King Shepherd on stage at several events during the seaon.

• Interviews,
• Music,
• King Shepherd,
• Radar

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