EVEN as the debate about Guyanese music on the airwaves remains fresh on the minds of the stakeholders involved, one local artiste has emerged from the shadows and is throwing his voice and other new-found talents back into the ring to be The last time Clinton “Passion” Adolphus produced new music, or even performed, was in 2014 at the Carib Soca Monarch Competition.
Now, with the country in full gear and high spirits for the 50th Anniversary, he’s decided to make his own contribution to the Jubilee in the form of two original songs, “Independence” and “Arrowhead”.
Both songs are chock-full of patriotic tribute to the country, her people and her rich culture and history, and Passion says that he is sure that Guyanese will love them.
In fact, he has started the familiar one-man show of promoting his music via Facebook and other social media platforms, and will soon begin to approach radio stations in the hope that his song will get some distribution.
So far, he admits having received feedback on his tracks from followers and other supporters on social media, and attests that most of the comments have been positive thus far. He has also been paying attention to constructive criticism for future works.

CUTTING COSTS
But Passion admits that his hiatus was not down time at all. In fact, while out of the spotlight, the artiste said that he has been constructing his own studio in which to build and engineer tracks for his music, in the hope of cutting down on the cost of producing new tracks.
“These things cost money, and to get a song done in the studio, you have to build a track; you have to record; and you have to get it mixed and mastered. So, it’s like $60,000 for every song,” he said.
“Then, there is the quality. Good producing and engineering makes the song sound good; and local artistes are having a big problem with that.”
Passion’s sentiments mirror those of popular DJ, Malachi “Shizzle” Alstrom who recently said that one of the things Guyanese artistes need to do to get the attention they desire is work on the quality of music they put out.
Passion himself was not taking sides, but did admit that quality tracks have, for a long time, been a problem for artistes.
“What’s killing us is engineering. We could have a good song, but it’s not put together properly.

QUALITY CONTROL
“There’s a problem with quality; Guyanese have been saying that a long time. Normally, they’re supposed to have an engineering or mastering studio, but we don’t have that here,” he said.
In the absence of such resources, then, Passion believes that if he cut the cost to make music and learned the trade himself, he could not only make more music on his own, but also offer local artistes the same building and engineering services at an affordable cost. This would then cut down on some of the expenses that local artistes face in an already low-yielding industry, and perhaps lead them to produce more music, as the promoters and DJs have been calling for.
“I have been training with experts to do my own stuff. All of the work for my ‘Independence’ track I did on my own, besides recording the voice, because I don’t have voice recording equipment,” he said.
He has also sourced advice and guidance from other track makers and producers like Ian Johnson.
With his newly honed skills, Passion says he will definitely be more active in the future. He also hopes to work with more artistes in the near future.