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INDRA
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Ringbang’s Lady of a Thousand
Smiles Goes Solo
Indra, the lady who has
advanced to the vanguard
of Ice Records Ltd.’s select
cohort of ringbang soldiers
within recent years, smilingly
hands a glass of chilled
spiced tea to her musical
mentor Eddy Grant, President
and CEO of Ice. He is appreciative
and thankful, for the humidity
in Barbados is extreme,
and the climate within the
Blue Wave Recording Studios
on Bayley’s Plantation is
merely an extension of this
condition. Thunderstorms
are on the Meteorological
Office’s forecast for nightfall
on this fourteenth day of
August, 2002.
Indra then hands tea to
her colleague and soulmate,
Viking-Tundah, who was the
original chart-topping “ringbang
soldjah” at Ice on our seminal
and definitive fire in de
wave (941502) CD in 1994.
He also accepts his glass
graciously, but keeps his
attention riveted on the
camera with which he has
been recording in-house
interviews of himself, Indra,
and Eddy Grant since 2:30
p.m. As interviewer, I decline
tea, but welcome her ready,
reassuring smile, as our
President’s words envelop
me.
In practicing what he preaches,
Eddy Grant decides to ‘jump
inna de ringbang train’
in joining our original
three-way interview session,
as dusk falls around 6:15
p.m. Well into the two-and-a-half
hour interview, he begins
to speak of parallels between
Jimi Hendrix’s pyrotechnical
guitar-playing style and
his own. Consequently, he,
in turn, offers me that
pivotal point of poetic
association with which to
convey the essence of Indra’s
spirit within this review;
that spirit which permeates
Ringbang 4 Kids, her first
solo album for Ice, due
for release within coming
months.
The following Thursday morning,
August 15, Jimi was testifying
from my CD player: “Lord,
../when I’m sad she comes
to me/ and a thousand smiles
she gives to me free/ .…”
His song was called “Little
Ivey” on that specific CD’s
title menu. Interestingly
enough, at Blue Wave, the
name by which Indra – our
diminutive songstress with
a heart and voice as pure
and revivifying as tropical
rainwater – may sometimes
identify herself, is “Little
Bird”. Moreover, on the
Friday afternoon, Eddy Grant,
as music historian, was
pointing out to us that
Hendrix’s song had more
consistently been entitled
“Little Wing”. Serendipity
ultimately harmonized with
my compositional intent
as Indra listened to Hendrix’s
song for the first time
in the main recording studio
on August 16. She smiled
quietly, whilst nodding
her head at intervals to
confirm that Jimi had truly
identified much that is
at the core of her soul.
The greater part of what
her spirit is about, in
her own words, is love.
Love seeks to liberate;
to give unto those it targets;
to empower those willing
to receive it. So that beyond
its refreshing qualities,
Wednesday evening’s spiced
tea was simply a vehicle
for that type of love which
cherishes and nurtures.
In much the same way, Indra’s
forthcoming CD enshrines
her affirmation of her love
for children.
“I see how, generally, childrens’
love is so pure they don’t
see certain things,” she
stated on the Wednesday
evening whilst honing in
on her commitment to both
educate and positively influence
them. “They don’t divide
people [into categories]
like adults do,” she continued,
“before we kind of dump
our toxins into them. So
if we can ..healthily programme
our children as children,
then it is possible that
they can evolve into more
positive humans. So I’d
like to play my part in
trying.”
The Indra who evaluates
the lyrical and instrumental
content of the pieces on
her first solo album, proffers
a rare blend of innocence
and wisdom to those young
listeners who will ultimately
find themselves enraptured
by her voice. On this CD
she is at once a child-woman
at age 27 “who can identify
with the different emotions
in children”, and, at the
same time, according to
an old dub ‘version’, “..[we]
ole time Granny, from down
inna de country” – a strict
but loving matriarch who
fiercely guards her children’s
future destiny.
Ringbang 4 Kids includes
ten songs whose final sequence
on the official,
market-ready CD has not
been decided upon as yet,
as of mid-August, 2002.
The demo CD that Viking
provided me with sets out
the titles in this order:
[1] “Chickie-bye”, [2] “Chock-Chock”/(“Jump
Inna De Ringbang Train”),
[3] “Fiesta Caribe”, [4]
“Here We Come Again”, [5]
“Kids From Africa”,
[6] “Live The Ringbang Dream”,
[7] “Rhyming Ringbang”,
[8] “Take Time To Give Love”,
[9] “Walking On Sunshine”,
and [10] “We’re The Ringbang
Kids”.
At various points within
these songs, Indra’s voice
is playful, exhortative,
and even gently assertive,
but nowhere else on this
CD is it as ethereally haunting
as it is on the lullaby-like
“Ringbang Dream (4:45)”.
This song is anthemic; it
is a potential classic!
Within Indra’s rendition
of “Ringbang Dream” shades
of some of the best faith-filled
reggae ballads are to be
found. Similarly, within
her voice, a chorus of African
mothers as diverse as Miriam
Makeba, Rita Marley, and
the late Minnie Ripperton,
can be heard resonating
within the tradewinds to
aver: ‘Truly, Indra is one
of our daughters!’
“This one just flowed,”
Indra intoned, as she remembered
the inspirational process
that produced the work.
“It came to me upon hearing
a rhythm track that was
laid down for Eddy,” she
added. She also explained
that “the rainbow [within
the song] is supposed to
lead you eventually to ringbang.”
“Rhyming Ringbang (2:40)”
is based on the good-natured
whimsy and proverbial reasoning
encapsulated within many
of the traditional ring
games played by Caribbean
children. The beat is relatively
simple to encourage hand
clapping as accompaniment,
and it incorporates a ‘corny’
background synthesizer riff.
The song seeks to build
children’s confidence in
playing with language –
some of the lyrics are in
standard English, and others
are rendered in Caribbean
dialect or nation language
– whilst also instilling
values such as respect for
elders and a strong work
ethic. This is exemplified
in the following lines:
“Grandpa say that every
day/first is work and den
is play.” So that here the
child is also introduced
to the fairly advanced concept
of using internal rhyme
in writing poetry and songs.
“Rhyming Ringbang” is unique
amongst the ten tracks in
featuring Indra’s niece
and nephew, Danielle John
and Zachary John, as actual
children’s voices. Her recollection
of having them work with
her at Blue Wave was an
exultant one, and she emphasised
that “..they loved it; they
had a ball!”
“Take Time To Give Love
(3:40)” is another arresting
ballad that Indra described
as “an anthem to love; love
as something that’s meant
to be shared, demonstrated..”,
and there was a pause as
her smile intensified thoughtfully,
“..like good iced tea or
spiced tea.”
The version of “Walking
On Sunshine (3:42)” published
on this CD represents Indra’s
hyper-percussive, new-millenium-style
‘cover’ of Eddy Grant’s
funk-reggae classic that
was initially recorded in
1977. This song became the
title track of the Walking
on Sunshine album released
by Ice between 1977 and
1978.
“We’re The Ringbang Kids
(3: 58)” is a song with
a lightly syncopated, bright
marching rhythm that certainly
reinforces the concept of
the correct use of the imperative
in Standard English, if
nothing else. Hence, “We’re
the ringbang kids, ohh-weh-ohh/we’re
the ringbang kids, we shall
go.” The use of onomatopoeia
in this song, in addition
to a wacky, ‘fuzzily huggable’
synthesizer riff that punctuates
the chorus gives it an infectious
appeal. In Indra’s words,
“This is children as ..free!!”
She also pointed out that
with this song the lyrics
and the instrumental track
were “born at the same time.”
“Kids From Africa (3:45)”
features Indra quoting the
words of “Ring-bang Lingua”
included within the liner
notes of Ice’s fire in de
wave (941502) CD, in a serious
monotone, with a heavy,
conga-infused rhythm ‘simmering’
vigorously behind her voice
during the opening bars:
‘All things have a natural
swing – don’t suppress it.
At a certain point all rhythms
meet – don’t deny it. No
ringbang, no rhythm, no
melody, no music,…’
Indra’s style of diction
and pronunciation in delivering
this song could possibly
mark her as an English-speaking
singer who, nevertheless,
hails from Puerto Rico or
Panama, whilst her ululations
could introduce her as a
Xhosa protégé of South African
reggae giant Lucky Dube.
The background vocals on
“Kids …” feature a seemingly
incantatory West-African-style
chant (“ringbang – ye –
biye –biye ..”) that is
provided by Eddy Grant’s
prominent tenor assisted
by Dovi Ayivor and Indra
who flesh out the full harmonic
range. “Kids From Africa”
is a very potent ringbang
melange that also provides
an entertaining geography
and African heritage lesson
for children interested
in finding out more about
the African diaspora. It
is very similar in style
to “Fiesta Caribe ( 3:58
)” which is more distinctively
latinesque in rhythmic emphasis
– a song where Indra renders
the lyrics in both Spanish
and French.
“Chickie-bye ( 3:30 )” is
a song whose message concerning
youthful romance is best
appreciated by adolescents
in their mid-teens. “It
is told from the perspective
of a woman who gives love
fully,” Indra observed,
“who is reticent about dashing
headlong into a new relationship
for fear of being hurt by
her new lover.” She further
explained that “Chickie-bye”
is a ringbang lingua pet
name that readily reflects
the singer’s intent at this
point in her love life.
According to Indra, this
song is really “a precursor
to a [true] love song.”
You are now invited to spend
the next few months perfecting
your own recipe for spiced
tea, so that when Ringbang
4 Kids will have ultimately
been released on Ice, our
entreaty to “Jump Inna De
Ringbang Train (4:02 )”
will come as no shock to
your tastebuds. And a new
dance would also be a most
palatable and welcome innovation.
This is a partnership. All
the work can’t be done at
Blue Wave Recording Studios.
‘Whether yuh like it, de
ringbang music a go play/we
go rock it in de night,
we a go jam it ev’ry day/…’
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