The Rounds - March 24, 2007

Good Evening Soca Lovers,

I’m Nurse Karen and these are Doctor Jay’s rounds. It’s been a little while since I’ve been here at FLOW to talk to my favourite people in the world…but I’m back. Your Nurse Karen was taking in the sights and sounds of the beautiful West African nation of Ghana as they celebrate their 50th year of independence. While on the continent I enjoyed body surfing on the other side of the Atlantic to cool off from the intense heat at Pram Pram Beach. I traveled to the Cape Coast Slave Castle where thousands of our enslaved ancestors were kept before they were taken to places like the United States, Jamaica, Haiti…and even my very own St. Vincent. I visited Kukum National Park, home to hundreds of Elephants, Giraffes and everything else you’d find in a box of animal crackers. I walked seven lengths of a rope bridge that was suspended from trees forty METERS in the air. I went to Kumasi, which is the capital of the Ashanti region. There I toured the Kings palace and I saw traditional Kente cloth being woven. In Accra, I toured the city , ate some of the tastiest Talapia and Red Snapper and danced till I could barely walk at a place called the Office. Spex would be happy to know that our brothers and sisters in Ghana are TRULY up to de time when it comes to Dancehall Music. Where soca is concerned, the local highlife music fills that gap quite nicely. The musical connection is obvious…and it does my heart proud to know that our Caribbean artistes are staying true to the centuries old rhythms that expose our undeniable African roots.
The anthem for the Ghana @ 50 celebrations is a song called “Birth of Ghana”. It was written in 1957 by Lord Kitchener, Trinidad and Tobago’s most frequent road march champion. All in all I had an amazing time, so thank you all for your well wishes by email and Myspace and in person. Trust me, I missed you just as much as you missed me…so I did my best to at least bring back some warmer weather. It was the least I could do.
That and catch you up on the latest in the worldwide soca scene, of course! Last night was Machel Montano’s historic 25th Anniversary concert at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. This is the first time the venue has been used to host a soca show and they managed to sell out the theatre for two shows on the same night. Machel Montano HD…Congratulations are in order for you. No one can contest… that camp has consistently offered some of the most memorable soca music over the years…and a stage show that simply can not be beat.
If you, like me missed the big event last night, you’ll be happy to hear that the show will be broadcast on BET and BET J in the upcoming weeks. There are four scheduled air dates, so consult your local listings.
Your West Indies Cricket team is still hanging in there as the host World Cup Cricket, in spite of the crazy atmosphere resulting from the murder mystery surrounding the the death of the Pakistani Coach. They won their last match on Friday against Ireland on Friday to top group D…and will square off against Australia on Tuesday.
I’m Nurse Karen and those are Doctor Jay’s Rounds. Send me your comments at soca at flow 935 dot com. Now back to the doctor.