Major Love for St Vincent from Major Lazer, Machel

DJ’s and artistes worldwide converged at the annual WETT Republic Cooler Fete in Trinidad on September 23, to perform to a sold out audience.{{more}}

The fete, usually held the day before Republic Day, in commemoration of the holiday, featured as the lead act this year, Major Lazer. Major Lazer is a world renowned group consisting of DJ’s, Artistes, Producers and Dancers. Their work ranges from the Electronic Dance Music (EDM) genre, to a whole new style of western music fused with Caribbean influence. Major Lazer is headed by founder of the group, Diplo, who is known for his work with Beyonce (Girls- Runs the world), Usher (Climax), M.I.A (Paper Planes) and most recently the controversial Snoop Lion Album. Diplo/Major Lazer recently worked with Bunji Garlin to remix his very successful Differentology record, and also Machel Montano on ‘The Fog’ Grandtheft Remix. Diplo is responsible for the present international 2013 hit single “Bumaye-Watch out for this” by dancehall artiste Busy Signal.

The audience at WETT fete did not know what to expect, but were ecstatic to see not only Major Lazer, but Bunji Garlin and Machel Montano grace the same stage in the same set. Machel Montano teased the crowd with a snippet of his new song, “Sound Bang” a Major Lazor production unlike any other soca song ever produced. The production team of “Sound Bang” consisted of 5 producers, from Los Angeles, Trinidad and St. Vincent with local producer Alex “Kubiyashi” Barnwell representing for St. Vincent.

When the song was played for the first time at WETT fete, the crowd erupted in an excited frenzy, amazed and in total disbelief at what they heard. Machel Montano quickly stopped the song and made a dramatic exit off the stage. The Song has been teased other places as well in Toronto, Canada, and Boston, USA with the same effect. The official record is expected to be released soon on the Mad Decent label worldwide.

Diplo gave several shout outs to the people of St. Vincent and took his time to sign the Vincentian Flag along with his team including Machel Montano. Diplo/Major Lazer is no stranger to St. Vincent as he has spent time on the island of Bequia DJ’ing at Penthouse years ago. He revealed to local producer Alex Barnwell back stage at the fete that he, along with his band member Jillionaire (Christopher Leacock of Trinidad) and the rest of their team, is looking forward to doing more shows in the region, and specifically St. Vincent.

Barnwell is currently working on several regional and international projects, and has recently left his full time job to pursue his career as a music professional, internationally. Barnwell, who has numerous international Soca hits under his belt, stated that he has great respect for his roots and proudly represents St. Vincent wherever he goes. He further revealed that being able to be a part of such a global project has been a humbling and enlightening experience.