JOEL Lynch has always had an interest in music, doing some drumming back when he started to follow his love. He is now an accomplished singer, making his own music and distributing it on all music platforms.
He has been travelling back and forth between here and the US for over 20 years and started deejaying in the States, where he made quite a name for himself.
Popularly known as Mineral, he explained that the call name evolved from people calling him Jewel.
This father of three is supported by engineers and producers who help him refine his sound.
He has a new single titled ‘King,’ due out next month and is currently doing a nation-wide tour to promote himself and the new song.
He has already appeared in Linden and Berbice and his next stop is Bartica, before returning to Georgetown for the final show.
“I’m leaving Georgetown for last,” he told me in a recent interview, because he’s best known in the capital city.
He plans to build a promotions platform, ‘One Vibes Entertainment ‘, to further spread his sound of track dancehall.
Conscious of the social tension at play in our society, Mineral wants to spread a message of unity and happiness through his music.
Many in Georgetown know him through the spell of deejaying he did before transitioning to singing.
“A deejay must learn to ‘read the crowd ‘,” he told me, pointing out that this requires a thorough knowledge of both popular music and what he termed “old school”.
“They have to be able to play songs that will keep the vibes going”, and this sometimes even necessitates a change in the style of deejaying.
After completing the show in Georgetown, Mineral will be heading to the Caribbean where he hopes to capture a wider audience.
A gregarious Sagittarian, he has noticed, on the platform ‘Spotify’, that the majority of listeners to his music are West Indians .
Before deciding to pursue a music career, Joel established a bus service, Class One Bus Service, carrying passengers to and from Suriname either by plane or bus and also bringing car parts.
He proudly announced that his service is one of the best, making travellers as comfortable as possible. He candidly declared, ” Without them we can’t make money”.
He also ‘dabbles’ in real estate, selling and renting high-end and middle-income homes, acutely aware of the need to keep costs down.
During our conversation, the music of the legendary Robert Nesta Marley, popularly known as Bob Marley, came up.
Marley’s songs were socially conscious, politically aware and even prophetic , when he sang, “Africans a liberate Zimbabwe”, long before it actually happened.
We also reflected on the powerful message in the song, War’, which put to music Emperor Haile Selassie ‘s address to the League of Nations way back in 1936.
It presents the world with a stern warning in biting rhetoric: “Until the philosophy that holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned…everywhere is war!’
Good luck in your venture, Mineral.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.
