CARIMI: OUR 12 "BEST OF" TRIBUTE LIST/STORIES!

[kompamagazine]

The news hit a lot of people hard. Fans, promoters, many personalities in the business were all shocked when the news came down earlier this week that IT WAS A WRAP FOR CARIMI after close to 15 years on the scene. With this article to HELP CELEBRATE THE BAND like CARLO VIEUX told us all fans should be doing (Many disagree with that comment by the way...LOL), on my end I will reveal some of my "FAVORITES" from CARIMI after following them from the time that they came into the business, until the time that they decided to call it quits.
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Here we go.....

*FAVORITE CARIMI STUDIO "SONG"!
"PLAYER": I have never hidden that this song is simply my favorite Carimi song in their catalog. From the excellent emotional MICKAEL GUIRAND vocal, to that catchy new sound keyboard...I AM CRAZY FOR THIS CLASSIC CARIMI TRACK, and I am NOT the only one. It is from their CLASSIC debut CD.

*FAVORITE CARIMI ANTHEM SONG!
"ARE U READY?": Catchy anthem that helped the band do lots of damage on the Live circuit. No need to even bring up the success that the studio song had for the band.

*FAVORITE CARIMI "LIVE" SONG PERFORMANCE!
"TCHA TCHA": The STUDIO VERSION did NOTHING for the band...UNTIL THEY STARTED PLAYING IT LIVE...SWITCHED IT UP, added some COOL stuff in there and it EXPLODED. THE BEST "TEAM" LIVE Performance in their existence in my opinion. Also has a CRAZY CROWD INTERACTION that can get any partygoer in a frenzy..moving and jumping. MICKAEL GUIRAND is the MASTER in that song in terms of revving up the engine. Every time I attended CARIMI, I was hoping that they would play that song. "EE..OO..EE...OO...Gonna have some fun"...."CHOU KOU CHOU CHOU KOU CHOU...TCHA TCHA...NAP MONTE...NAP MONTE...NAP MONTE...What u gonna do NOW" or...MEZANMI YO BAREM KAP TCHA TCHA."

*FAVORITE CARLO VIEUX VOCALS SONG!
"MWEN SOU"...I simply LOOOOOOOOOOVE this song. It goes straight to your heart strings. The sad tone at the beginning, and then the change when the guitar comes in just before the catchy HAPPY chorus. I've always thought that Carlo had a kick ass vocal especially in the EMOTIONAL SOFTER department, and he displays it here. "U My #1" and "Mwen Dezole" are close but THIS ONE HERE "MWEN SOU" is in my opinion, Mr Vieux's best work with Carimi in terms of him singing the vocals, as well as composing something very catchy FOR HIMSELF TO SING...because before that, he always sung non-commercial tracks on the Carimi cds.

*FAVORITE RICHARD CAVE VOCALS SONG!
"POR FAVOR": WOW...WOW...WOW! "Yelele Yelele EYOOOOOOO...Sha La la la la la la"....anmweyyyyyy. BEN AKI BABY ooh BEN AKI BABY. This song is simply PURE MAGIC. Richard Cave does NOT oversing on this track as he keeps his vocals in harmony with the music throughout the entire song and delivers a classic that will last forever. CATCHY LIKE A PLANT NEEDS WATER, and with that song he never failed to do damage on stage to the ladies when performing it.

*FAVORITE CARIMI CD!
HANDS DOWN....THE DEBUT CD "Bang Bang". It was FRESH/NEW...a breath of fresh air on the market; and I think that if you ask most people, THIS CD will be their favorite CARIMI CD as well. It is NOT about the HITS; it is about the BREAKTHROUGH and how it changed the industry when it came out. There was something so innocent about this CD. "Chagrin Kriminel", "Wanraje", "Player", "Bang Bang"....and obscure songs like "Konpa Mato".

*CARIMI SONG I COULD NOT STAND....THAT BECAME A HIT!
"BUZZ": Believe it or not, my favorite part from this huge Carimi hit was that INTRO with the guest appearance from that Middle Eastern singer I believe. I don't know why, but that BUZZ song never hit me in any way....but it became a huge hit for the group.

*3 SONGS I THOUGHT WOULD BE BIGGER THAN THEY WERE!
"CHOV" was a kick ass track that got lots of great reaction, but I thought it would have been bigger. The same goes for "MWEN PARE" (Great vocals by Mickael...music excellent/catchy; as well as "MWEN PA MACHO" (I love the lyrics from that song a lot, as well as the way they were executed. Being that it was written by Richard and sung by Mickael...were they both trying to send messages to someone? It was about a person's significant other pressuring the main actor about the GIRLS that always surround the musicians in the business...OU DI M YO RAKONTE W....KE YO TE WE M YE SWA AK YON BEBE...a kiyes...a kiyes..cherie di m a kiyes...PAKA FE SA...KITE CARIMI...NO CAN'T DO THAT)

*MOST POPULAR "NON-BIG 3 (NON-Owner) MEMBER" IN THE GROUP!
NOLDY CADET (Bass). Don't get me wrong, I would have said their first guitar player STEVE DESROSIERS was the bomb when the group first came out with his stage performances. He had all the catchy guitar riffs that drove people nuts; but he did NOT stay long with the band. NOLDY CADET was there from the beginning, and slowly established himself as a lady's favorite with his way of playing/performing up there...high energy. There is no doubt that apart from the BIG 3; he was the most popular Carimi player up on that stage for years until he quit.
PS: SIDE STORY: Steve Desrosiers was so popular that when I found out that he was about to quit Carimi...BEFORE THE NEWS BROKE OUT, producer Philippe Lavelanet and a member of Carimi basically asked me if I could PLEASEEEEEE "NOT" break the news for fear of THAT having a major impact on the band.

*FAVORITE CARIMI "LIVE" SKITS!
There are so many, but I'll go with 3 that I remember
>>"GAD JAN W JAZZ MOVE": I could NEVER understand why such a popular LIVE skit NEVER MADE IT ON A CARIMI STUDIO CD. Whenever they played that skit LIVE, the crowd went NUTS. We understand that it came from guitarist GLENNY BENOIT; but for some reason...it never made it on a CD.
>>"DYOL ALELE": This has a SICK GROOVE...including Carlo Vieux going LOCO on the keyboards. Never failed to put fire in the club when they performed it.
>>>"BRASSE...VIN GOUYE....PA MANYIN" from the ARE U READY Live. They had Alex, Carlo, Richard, Ti Joel come to the front to drive the ladies crazy....and it always worked from the times that I saw them do that skit.

*MY "RESPECT TO YOU SIR" to MICKAEL GUIRAND!
The day that CARIMI was attacked on stage at SOBS by what seemed like at least 30 to 40 guys; earlier in the evening, it seemed that manager Fito Farinen was "asked" (Putting it politely) by a bunch of these guys to go discuss whatever issues they were having with the band downstairs in the dressing room. It was so crowded that day at the club that none of the Carimi members saw when that happened.

When word got to Mickael that Fito was NOT upstairs like he should have been; and that the manager was downstairs, and "could" be in hot water with quite a few of these guys who clearly came to resolve an issue with Carimi.... HE DID NOT HESITATE, HE WALKED OFF THE STAGE & WENT STRAIGHT DOWNSTAIRS, not knowing what could have happened to him down there. It was all about getting down there to make sure that his FRIEND, BUSINESS PARTNER, MANAGER Fito was OK. That was a "BROTHERHOOD....RIDING WITH YOU TILL I DIE" move that I will never forget to this day. How many people do you know who would have done the same thing...going down there BY HIMSELF! He also defended himself quite admirably when they tried to force him to read a party flyer.....there was also this 1 CARIMI die hard fan who also took it upon himself to defend Carimi against these guys when the huge fight broke out. MICKAEL was the one who was NOT willing to let anyone push him over that day....no matter if he was outnumbered. I GAINED A LOT OF RESPECT FOR HIM THAT DAY AS A MAN.

*MY TAKE ON THE 3 AS SINGERS/VOCALISTS!
Mickael Guirand is the most VERSATILE (Can sing Uptempo, Midtempo, and slow jams), strongest voice, best crowd controller. Best stage presence

Richard Cave is the best at interacting with the ladies when singing a song..Locks in on the girl and makes you feel like he's talking to her.

Carlo Vieux has the best voice and displays "emotion" the best in a song.

>>>CARIMI.....THANK YOU FOR THESE WONDERFUL 15 YEARS. You will be missed without a doubt. Your LEGACY is SEALED in the business....no worries about that. Until next time......YOUR MUSIC ROCKS...Coming from a fan of your music. RESPECT!!!!!!!!!!

KM!

[KingDave]

Very nice review. Learned stuffs I didn't even know about