In some ways, Adrian Dutchin’s triumph at this year’s soca monarch competition was a homecoming.
A consummate showman, Adrian’s high-energy performances have become a staple on the Mash calendar and he has consistently set himself apart from other performers, as is evident by his three title wins in the last four years. Since his debut as a crooner with the now defunct Seven, Adrian’s star has continued to rise. There is his wildly successful collaboration with Jumo Primo as the duo x2, and, of course, more recently, his work with Barbadian soca troupe Krosfyah. Just ask any music literate local about ‘Adrian’ and you are liable to get an earful.
In an interview this week at the offices of Kross Kolor Records, he spoke about reclaiming the soca monarch title, constructing his stage performances and why this year’s Mashramani celebrations need to take place.
A year ago, Adrian was knocked off his perch as the defending two-time soca king. “I was on a low last year,” he recalls, adding with self-awareness, “but it was a good low.” Indeed, he says, it helped to focus on the new, including working and touring with Krosfyah, which he says has given him the opportunity to learn from a number of different musicians. He drew confidence from the experience and was eager to come home and perform for the people. Nevertheless, he also admits that after last year’s results there was pressure on him to do something grand.
With each passing year, the soca competition seems to become bigger and more spectacular. Certainly with his high-concept stage shows, Adrian Dutchin has been a key architect of the trend–though he might modestly attributes most of the credit to his family at Kross Kolor Records.
He is nothing if not consistent and did not disappoint at the finals of this year’s competition. On a night not short on spectacle, he managed to set himself apart from the rest of the field, playing an elaborate set that might probably be best described by what it did not include. You might not have guessed it from looking at the performance, but even he had his doubts. “I was still a bit nervous after last year,” he says, “People said I didn’t perform as usual.” According to Adrian, preparations for his stage performances begin about a year in advance-literally-all the planning begins on the same night that the competition results are released. He says it begins with the song, for which they then try to visualize the stage performance. From that point, the ideas take shape and changes are made as the competition draws nearer. The showmanship is so essential, Adrian says, that it can decide the winner of the contest. “It doesn’t mater how you did before,” he explains, “on the night of the final competition anyone could have pulled out something extravagant.”
He says that even with a bad song, someone with a good stage production can succeed, the opposite also being true, that a bad stage performance can kill even the best of songs. And while he does admit that the competition should be largely about the music, he points out that since the contestants are putting on a show, entertainment is a key element. As an example, he cites the success of Onikha Joseph’s “Keep Death off the Road,” which as a wake-up call about road carnage is hardly your typical soca song. He also thought that Clifton ‘Passion’ Adolphus–who had the unenviable job of starting the competition–was another performer who successfully worked several elements into his performance (Adrian thought he would have done better than he did). “The test is to stay within the limits of the criteria,” he says, “but to push it a little bit.”
Among local performers, Adrian is a peerless showman, but the gap has narrowed considerably. It is a development that he doesn’t worry about, since he believes that all musicians can learn from each other. That being said, he gets some satisfaction from the knowledge that he has been an innovator, although he is keen on giving credit to Kross Kolor for raising the bar generally. “We raised the bar. But nevertheless bet your bottom dollar that come next year we are going to be even better,” he says confidently.
His entry in the competition, “No Place Like Home”, unabashedly celebrates being a true Guyanese. It is an original composition by Adrian, with production by Sean ‘Mastamind’ Noel of Mastamind Productions. In it, he sings, “It don’t matter where I go/It don’t matter what I do/Every time I’m out there representing you.”
It draws on his experience as a touring artist and the attachment that he retains to the county no matter where he is in the world. It was an attitude that he also encountered among many other Guyanese during his tours overseas. As a result, he was confident about a positive reception here and he expects the same at Caribana 2008 in Canada, the Labor Day celebrations in New York and the Notting Hill Carnival in the UK, all places with large settlements of Guyanese immigrants.
With this song, Adrian says he set out to create something that would leave a permanent mark on the annual Mashramani celebrations, an ambitious task if there ever was one. To be sure, it is a cloyingly sentimental piece and one that could have easily faded into oblivion in the hands of a lesser performer. That it has succeeded as it has, is truly testament to his abilities. (That is not to say that Adrian is completely satisfied with the finished product, which he is still trying to perfect. Among his plans is a remix–possibly featuring Maximus Dan– with what he describes as more of a Caribbean flavour.)
There is a certain nationalistic fervour that has dominated all of Adrian’s performances in the soca monarch competition. Granted, among musicians, nationalism is not a particularly new posture, though it is always seems to be fashionable. And, surely, it continues to be severely tested, by the degeneration of national security and the divisiveness that pervades the political landscape.
“The people who are doing it are not sane-I mean, you must have a heart to see what you’re doing to your country and to the people,” Adrian says. “We are bringing down ourselves as a nation and I really think this is a time for the people to come together as one.”
He thinks that the country needs its people to unite and the government needs to address those issues that have pushed people towards the insanity that has occurred. As a musician, he is playing his part and he says that a number of local acts are working to organise a peace concert, where they hope to bring people together through music.
As a result of the recent tragedies in Lusignan and Bartica, there have been calls for the postponement and even the complete cancellation of this year’s Mashramani celebrations. For his part, Adrian believes that the country should observe the holiday, because of its potential for bringing the people together and lifting their spirits. “A lot of people are in a down mood,” he says, “[Mash] might help people to be up-spirited and it might ease their minds.”
