Hearing this talk since Miami Carnival....But...Ah wonda if he could really hold out...
Courtesy Trinidad ExpressMachel Montano is so far holding fast to his decision not to do any live performances in Trinidad and Tobago for Carnival next year.
He will also not hold his popular Alternative Concept (AC) concert for Carnival.
This is sad news for fans who have been hearing his new music on the airwaves and looking forward to seeing him perform.
Already released are ’Hot Like Pepper’ recorded with Serani, ’Tell Me’, ’Bad Behaviour’ , ’Bumper To Fender’, ’Awrite’ and ’Feteing On’ with Skinny Fabulous.
These are singles on a soon-to-be-released album titled Machel Montano Album 34.
Between 1986 and 2009, Montano, who began singing as a child, recorded 33 albums.
Montano has also been in talks with Phase II Pan Groove to record their 2010 Panorama song, making it the second consecutive year he will be associated with the band, but it is understood a decision has been taken that Kernel Roberts of the HD family will provide the vocals.
Speaking to the Express yesterday, Montano’s mother Liz Montano said Machel decided to work solely on his forthcoming album but not do any live performances in T&T.
Machel is performing in Jamaica on January 2, 2010 at a concert billed as ’Shaggy and Friends’ which is a charity concert for the children’s hospital in Jamaica, Liz Montano said.
The decision not to hold the popular AC, after seven years was due to a lack of venues, she said. It comes in the wake of Government’s announcement, which has affected several promoters, not to make the Hasely Crawford Stadium available for Carnival events.
This had been the venue for the AC for the past three years
However the HD band, consisting of Patrice Roberts, Farmer Nappy, Zan and Umi Marcano, all have hits and will be working in fetes for the season, she said.
’Remember he said he wanted to give them space to develop themselves,’ Liz Montano said.
With AC out of the picture the two major concerts planned for that day in Port of Spain are ’Brass The Rebirth’ and ’Temperature’.
Promoter Cliff Harris, who has not yet announced a venue for ’Brass The Rebirth’, said the event would pay tribute to the late Jamaican bandleader Byron Lee who for several years was one of the headline acts of ’Brass’.
As a result, Harris said, the crowd could expect a ’barrage of Byron Lee and the Dragonaires hits’.
Harris added: ’The decision to produce The Rebirth’ on February 6, 2010, came after careful consideration of the market and the overall industry. There seemed a need to provide a medium for young acts to showcase their innate talents. In addition to this, within the past five years, the Carnival vibe has been numbed by an expected schedule of events and particularly on what was traditionally Brass night-one show that enjoyed seven fruitful years, but in 2009 proved successful but uninspiring.’
Roy Maraj, whose ’Temperature’ takes place at the Queen’s Park Oval, will provide a Jamaican flavour with artistes like Beenie Man and Maka Diamond. This in addition to Bunji and Fay-Ann and the Asylum Band, KMC with Red Black and White and Ronnie McIntosh and Shurwayne Winchester and You, to name a few.
Maraj said his rationale for the Jamaican artistes was ’to break the monotony of the local acts who play the same thing in all the fetes.’
Maraj added it was a great loss to the season not to have the music of Destra Garcia (who is pregnant) and Montano.