AS the country’s 50th Anniversary celebrations draws nearer, some local artistes are of the belief that there is not sufficient airplay of Guyanese music at a time when the celebration of local talent should be rampant. Melissa “Vanilla” Roberts is one such artiste who stated that the situation is a baffling one, in that Guyanese music once had massive airplay a few years ago, but now it is so rare on the radio that the general public is left to believe that the artistes are inactive.

“Even when artistes release new stuff, people are not hearing it because the radio stations or TV stations are not playing it,” she said. She added that there is no shortage of local music from the artistes, since they are very much active, and the various studios have a distribution line ensuring that the stations have the material.

LACK OF AIRPLAY
However, it is the actual playing of the material that is the problem. “One day I sat down and I scanned several of the radio stations and I listened to them interchangeably for about three hours, and I didn’t hear one Guyanese song for that time on any of the stations. And we’re supposed to be getting ready to celebrate our 50th anniversary,” Vanilla said.
She knows many artistes who are constantly making music in varying genres, she said. So, the variety is there; it is just that the airplay is not.
“We usually make a joke that if you want your song to play, you have to launch it every day; because, when you do an interview, they play your song. Then you probably wouldn’t hear it back after that.” The songstress said that at the beginning of the year, she had planned to release a new song every month leading up to May 26, but was deterred because she felt it would be a waste of material.

Former Carib Soca Monarch, Kwasi “ACE” Edmondson expressed similar views, stating that while promoters say they can only play what the listeners want, the main issue is getting the music out to the listeners in the first place, so that they can know the artistes’ work. “If you play something constant enough, people will gravitate to it,” Kwasi said. “They [promoters] are saying Guyanese music doesn’t sell, but if you are feeding people only foreign music, that is the taste they will get accustomed to.”
He said that without the presence of copyright laws, artistes cannot earn from their work via loyalties. As such, money has to be made via gigs and appearances. But how they would get hired in the first place, if the public is not given a taste of their work? “The only media we have is Facebook and other types of social media. We, therefore, need support to get our music out there. They’re telling me to go out there and promote myself, but, ‘Why is it that I have to go to another country to be accepted elsewhere before I can be accepted by my own? How can we sell Guyana when we don’t promote our own?’”

NO RESPECT
Local artistes are also not given any respect, especially when placed next to bigger acts at shows.
Many times, Kwasi said, the bigger artistes have tents and fancy drinks, whereas the local artistes can count themselves lucky if they even get a chair to sit on backstage. Situations like these, he said, discourage the local artistes greatly.
“I’m saying we need to embrace our own,” he said, adding: “I wonder if all the artistes decide they won’t sing or dance or act and foreigners take over Guyana, what will Guyana offer culturally to the people that come here?”
Kwasi said that some of his songs are played on the radio, but not with the frequency that would garner enough interest, unless his song is already “a hit”.
These artistes say that they are just a few among those who feel the same way about the situation on the local music industry and the support of Guyanese music. They admitted that they are aware that they need to work and guarantee that they are indeed doing so, but are yet to see the rewards for their work.

TOUGH LOVE
On the other side of the argument are the promoters and DJs, and while they attest that they love and support Guyanese music, they had some tough love for the local artistes: Toughen up and work harder!
Co-founder of Hits and Jams Entertainment Rawle Ferguson, whose radio station is arguably the most popular in Guyana, said that Hits and Jams Radio makes provision for local music, including through its weekly show, “Pump It or Dump It”, where the audience gets to listen and vote for Guyanese music.
There’s also another show that plays Guyanese music on Sundays. He says that the problem is not that the local artistes don’t get support; it’s just that they expect handouts rather than working to create the quality music that people want to listen to.
“Everybody is patriotic; everybody wants the next Guyanese to be the next Rihanna,” he said, “but they have to bring quality stuff. They are lazy; they need to keep bringing out stuff; they need to lambaste the radio stations until they can’t take it anymore.”
Hits and Jams, Ferguson said, would readily host a feature concert for a local artiste who has worked hard enough and developed the quality of music to develop thousands of local fans, rather than spending millions to bring in a regional or international artiste. But it’s just that such a local artiste doesn’t exist.
“They’re not equipped with the knowledge of the system. Entertainment is a tough business, and to get by, you have to be working all the time. And all of them still aren’t going to get through. Hits and Jams radio is the most played, but we are competing with too many stations, so we have to play what the people want to hear,” he said.

GOTTA BE A HIT
Popular Guyanese DJ Malachi “Shizzle” Alstrom, who also hosts radio shows with Hits and Jams, concurred with Rawle’s statements, adding that the universal rule is that to make it to the radio is that the song has to be a hit. “In Guyana,” he said, “there are so many radio stations; so, if one doesn’t play your music, once your music is good, it will be playing on other stations. But if it’s not playing anywhere, ‘What does that say to you?’”
He feels that artistes need to toughen up, and realise that not everything they sing will get the attention they crave.
“People feel as soon as they sing one song, it will be popular, but it doesn’t happen like that. In this business, the artistes would record like 100 songs, then from that they shortlist, and then start releasing them. So, Guyanese musicians need to work harder; they need to up their game,” ‘Shizzle’ said. And in addition to more work, they also need better production for their tracks, as many are not of an acceptable quality.
But the one question artistes continue to ask is: Who decides what is quality and what is not? Either way, it seems as though the local music industry is at an impasse, and both parties have suggested that there should be some sort of stakeholders’ meeting to try to bridge the disparity in opinions.
Until then, both sides maintain that more needs to be done.