Guyana’s music industry is mostly dominated by the sounds of soca, calypso and dancehall music, however, local artiste Martin Massiah is bringing a different sound wave to the stage with the afro-beats-inspired sounds of vibrant drums and vocals to empower afro-Guyanese and other ethnicities.
Massiah, who grew up singing in his local church choir, related that his music and persona surround positive energy and motivational messages that encourage persons to be the best versions of themselves.

“I’m generally a positive person who focuses on motivating persons, inspiring people getting them to fulfill their purpose, that is my general persona and it’s been a pleasurable journey trying to figure out this music thing,” he said.
While, Massiah has been singing for most of his life, his career really took off when he approached a well-known Guyanese producer in hopes of producing an idea he had for a song.

To date, the song ‘Luv Yuh Bad’ which featured another local artiste received a lot of buzz with over 23,000 views on the internet.
Looking to build an empire, the 26-year-old noted that is music career is not just about his talents, but also the talents of every creative that works along with him, whether it be dancers, directors, stylist or producers.

“It is no longer about an artiste M.A it is about the community, the Guyanese community supporting the idea that Guyanese culture doesn’t have to be just dancehall and soca. We have the power to create international quality cultural products that have the ability to touch the world,” he said.

He noted that he wanted to create a sound that would put Guyana on the map similar to its Caribbean neighbours. “Jamaica is seen as the [home] of dancehall and reggae music. Trinidad is seen as the [home] of soca music, and I thought what can we do in Guyana that is different? And Guyanese culture we are very diverse and I wanted to see if there is an area that I could help develop a culture around a specific style of music,” he said.

Massiah’s music is centred on his love for culture and diversity which he believes can produce the next big superstar that can be birthed from Guyana. “I want us to not only build a brand across Guyana or across the region, I want us to really have an international presence,” he said.
A unifying sound

Afrobeats is jubilant party music that draws on West African sources — hybrid languages, propulsive rhythms — and mixes them with delivery and tone from across the Americas, referencing hip-hop and Jamaican dancehall.

Massiah noted that, in the recent years, many Afrobeats artiste originating from various countries in Africa have been creating a wave across the world which he believes is something Guyana or any other country should not be left out of.

He noted that African people are faced with many challenges in life, one of those being having representation of themselves in the mainstream media as well as persons adapting parts of their culture to sell a trend. However, with many international artistes adapting and featuring various artistes from the genre of music, it provides a larger scale for recognition and opportunities for a creative like himself.

He added that the sounds of Afrobeats are to remind persons of African descent that although they are marginalised daily, their talents and creativity that they bring to the table are reminders that they are strong and beautiful in everything that they do and with a unified approach they can conquer the world.
“It is our duty to stand up and work together to really push ourselves to the next level and I think that it really comes over in many of his songs,” he said. “It is not a crab in the barrel mentality where you try to pull people down. Rather than seeing ourselves as competitors, we need to complement each other’s work and that is something that needs to spread across not only in this music arena where you see different people collaborating but in everyday life.”