KANAVAL 2018 MERINGUES: What FABRICE ROUZIER had to say!

[kompamagazine]

__________________

KOMPA MAGAZINE spoke to FABRICE ROUZIER about some of the 2018 kanaval meringues. You guys already know that FABRICE always keeps it REAL/100...and he certainly did it here as well. (READ under the picture)



*KOMPA MAGAZINE: WHAT ARE THE 5 BEST "2018" MERINGUES IN YOUR OPINION
FABRICE ROUZIER: "I Wouldn't know because I downloaded a whole bunch of them based on "media" reccomendation and I keep skipping...So I went back to my best of playlist. 1. DP EXPRESS - LA MORT DE LA BETE
2. BOUKMAN EKSPERYANS - KEM PA SOTE
3. SHOOGAR COMBO - PIGEON
4. SCORPIO - CASQUETTE SOU TETE
5. BOSSA COMBO - LE MAJEUR"

*KOMPA MAGAZINE: Basically...You CAN'T find "1" meringue that you like?
FABRICE ROUZIER: "Nope....They TRULY all sound similar. And this year, there is no defined "genre". Let's forget Konpa because it died a long time ago but Raboday sounds like "Rap" and is exactly similar to so-called "Racines". The only "unique" ones are the bann a pye....But even there, it's a XEROX copy of the last 5 years....I think that Gabel says it in their song this year....TVice ak Djakout se marasa, BC ak Rockfam se marasa.....meaning that you cannot distinguish between rivals !!!!! They are unfortunately right...."

*KOMPA MAGAZINE: Did GABEL distinguish THEMSELVES as ORIGINAL in their own meringue...since they came out with THAT message...or NO?
FABRICE ROUZIER: "Maybe....But none of the songs have a memorable hook. I hear that Roody Rudeboy is getting a lot of airplay...It may be because of the hype surrounding him because I fail to remember a catchy hook as I'm writing this....It could also be my age speaking and the Alzheimer kicking in."

*KOMPA MAGAZINE: Your thoughts on the SWEET MICKY?
FABRICE ROUZIER: "Next >>>>>>>>."

*KOMPA MAGAZINE: T-VICE?
FABRICE ROUZIER:I like the guys a whole lot. Carnaval wise, they have lost me completely about 5 years back."

*KOMPA MAGAZINE: WHY?
FABRICE ROUZIER: Because just like the 20 "chosen" bands, they lack the hunger and the energy that kanaval used to require when you actually had to fight to earn a spot."

*KOMPA MAGAZINE: DJAKOUT #1?
FABRICE ROUZIER: "Please....Same old same old...Take T-Vice's and their (Djakout) kanavals last 5 years and you won't be able to tell them apart....Except when the singers yell "Kanaval 2017" instead of 2018.....CAN YOU TELL THEM APART?"

*KOMPA MAGAZINE: KAI/MIKABEN?
FABRICE ROUZIER: "Very talented bunch unfortunately more concerned about the jingles and the sponsors than the actual song...Same goes for Ti Hantz.....DIGICELLLLLLLL, UNIBANK TOUT KOTE and ATALOU MICRO SYSTEM...That's what I remember..."

*KOMPA MAGAZINE: Same for MAESTRO/VAYB you are saying?
FABRICE ROUZIER: "Pretty much"

*KOMPA MAGAZINE: BOUKMAN?
FABRICE ROUZIER: "OK...Let's do this >>>> Compare this year's to say " Ti Pa Ti Pa "....Notice I did not say " Kem Pa Sote ".....You get me ? The whole season is not just a watered down version of what once was, it's just WATER!"

*****MORE TO COME on another post as to what Fabrice thinks will happen with kanaval****

KM!

[jay_nice360]

Mmmmmmmmmmm! LES DÉS SONT JETÉS

[Yef]

Thanks for sharing Pat and Fabrice.

It's always good to read Fabrice's thoughts on these topics. Very constructive....except for the Sweet Micky part (I think we all know why )

One thing I would like to add is that one of the biggest problems I observe is that the "Kanaval" samples, loops and breaks are being used and reused by almost all the bands year after year....kinda make it extremely hard to differentiate the songs, bands and the years. In some cases, you can literally remove any melodic instruments (bass, trombone, guitar, keys, hits) from the songs, and you will find no difference from the base of the songs.

Also, the mixing in most of these songs, to me, is not too great. In fact, just by analyzing the frequencies of these songs, some of them fall in the range where the song fatigues the listener's ears. Too much midrange.

To me, the best mixed ones are T-vice and Kai.

I also understand that our artists are under lots of pressure to remain relevant and don't have adequate time to work on their meringues. Also, the focus seems to be on the live performance, rather than to put out a congruent song for the radio. So I think at some point, a balancing act
of some sort is desirable.