Kadooment band launches- Contact is here!

The music has been out for a while and now Crop-Over is finally getting into full swing with launches of some more bands, including some of Barbados' largest and most popular bands.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="206" caption="Amber - photo credit: contact.bb"][/caption]

Contact launched on Friday with a wicked, wicked launch party and the pics of their 2009 presentation 'Firestones' are already up. Check out some more of our faves from the band when you read on...



[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="216" caption="Black Diamond- photo credit: contact.bb"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="206" caption="Pink Diamond- photo credit: contact.bb"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="218" caption="Pearl- photo credit: contact.bb"][/caption]

Can we say...  it is presssssuurrrre dey bringing for some of the established bougie folks' bands like Baje and Power X Four! Loving the black diamond section - you don't see too many black costumes in Barbados for some reason and they have done it beautifully. The Amber has a lavishly feathered headpiece and if you read islandista, you know our feather fetish already so that gone clear!


We are somewhat conflicted on the pearl section so we put it up to see what the islandista family think. My question is why brown to depict pearls? Especially when brown tends to look so blah on black people? I just never find that brown pops against our skin. If they were going for pearl, why not go for a full white costume? Not white and silver or white and gold as many do but white on white. It would be blinding on the road in the sun!

Anyhow, while in the past Contact had a reputation as more a middle-aged folks band, in the last 3 years they have been making a serious pitch for the young, bougie market that Px4 and Baje had on lock. They have had mixed results.

They drew a lot of young people last year with both their sexier designs and by pitching that they had not just the usual Krosfyah (who has been with Contact for ages) on the road but Machel Montano who was the real winner of last year's Crop-Over.

Unfortunately for some of those who were swayed by the promise of Machel on the road, it turned out to be just that - he was on the road and wining rather than on the truck singing. Worse, he  skipped out and ended up spending as much time liming and wining over in Baje as he did in Contact. Big rock fuh those who jumped Contact just for Machel.

Moreover, the vibe was still persistently middle-aged and tame, according to some  who jumped the Px4 and Baje ships to jump with them.

But it remains to be seen. A year is a long time in playing mas and Contact is floating rumours once again. The big one this year is that they are going to have Fay-Ann Lyons and Bunji Garlin as well as Krosfyah and Machel Montano on the road. The thought of that combination got a looot of people head just hurting them - is a real dilemma! Every other person we ask is wavering just because of that - all you hearing is "BUT... I hear they gine got Fay-Ann, Bunji, Krosfyah AND Machel on the road!"

But that is the question - will Fay-Ann and Bunji be on the road wining or will they be on the truck on the road singing?

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Kadooment band launches- Contact is here!

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It's a girl for Fay-Ann and Bunji!

Ok, it's for real this time!

Road March and double Soca Monarch Fay-Ann Lyons gave birth to her first child, a baby girl at the Mount Hope Hospital's Maternity Unit around noon yesterday.



[caption id="attachment_715" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="After making a vocal appearance at the Soca Monarch finals just over a week ago, Fay-Ann Lyons and Bunji Garlin's baby girl made her real appearance in the world yesterday."][/caption]



While her and Bunji's manager Ian Pantin, assured the media that she was fine, there must have been some scary moments leading up to it as Fay-Ann was compelled to deliver via caesarean section after she was admitted to the hospital on Friday suffering from pre-eclampsia.

Pre-eclampsia is a condition that occurs in as many as 10% of first-time mothers and can be pretty dangerous, leading to hypertension in the expectant mother and can only be cured by induced delivery, caesarean section or abortion (if it occurs early in the pregnancy).

Moreover, it can precede the more dangerous eclampsia, which carries a mortality rate of 1.8%.

Unfortunately for the Soca power couple, especially with the pre-eclampsia scare, Bunji was not even able to be there for her delivery.

From the Trinidad Express:

Husband and three-time International Power Soca Monarch Ian "Bunji Garlin" Alvarez missed the greatest show of his wife's life, only managing to arrive at her bedside later in the evening from Tobago where he had gone to fulfill contractual obligations.

However, all's well that ends well, so let's just send up a little prayer for the Alvarez-Lyons family and offer congratulations to Soca's First Family!

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It's a girl for Fay-Ann and Bunji!

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A pelau post for my islandistas!

I got a pelau kind of post for y'all here - a bit of this and a bit of that. Let it simmer and it gine be real good! :)

The day after completing her Carnival sweep, Queen of the Road, Fay-Ann Lyons-Alvarez was resting up at home and laughing off rumours that she had delivered a 'Carnival Baby'.

 


Speaking to the Trinidad Express, she said:

This is marvellous. The rumour went out by who, we don't know, and people instantly believed it. We told people that called it was not true, and they still believed the rumour. The rumour took precedence over what we were saying. This is the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Even though we are saying the baby has not come as yet, people insist it has. It just goes to show that you can't believe everything you hear. Ian and I had a good laugh over it.

In an interview with Newsday, Bunji added:

It looks like everyone is so excited with Fay’s baby that they feel that it is the nation’s baby. Since Saturday we have been hearing the rumours. We were sitting looking at the television when the announcer came across and announced that Fay had her baby, we just looked at each other and burst out laughing.

They both licked out against the bad-minded people who have been saying ... get this one... that she got pregnant just to get people on her side during Carnival, with Bunji saying:

This is a life not a toy, we wouldn’t do something to jeopardise the child.

Wow. People really taking this thing too far though - how they could really think that her getting pregnant during Carnival could be purpose-work? It doesn't even make any sense, for it certainly made her job more difficult  for while, as she said, she was not sick, you can't jump and wave much when you're eight months along - besides it not being a good idea, gravity is kind of working against you.



In her interview with the Guardian, Fay-Ann also had some interesting and insightful observations about how accommodating promoters were of her pregnancy and how it augurs well for other women in the industry who may consider being pregnant and performing.

 “The promoters were lovely. They provided a lounge chair and water backstage and I was comfortable.” She said that act demonstrated that other women in the industry could become pregnant and continue their careers.

Good stuff to hear.

In other news, The Insider is claiming that Rihanna has actually spent much of the last few weeks since the Chris Brown incident, recovering in a villa in Punta Mita, Mexico, while her people led folks to believe she was in Barbados. They have pictures too of a very depressed-looking Ri-ri in a swimsuit.

 

Hmm. Who knows in this whole sordid saga?

In some more almost totally unrelated news - except that they all from the Caribbean and specifically Barbados, Shontelle and Hal Linton seem to be making some moves in the music biz - at least as far as getting invited to the right parties goes! Everywhere you turn, they are being snapped at another event and why not? God knows we see that Teyana Taylor child all about the place and I still don't know her song. Anyhow, I digress - they were both mixing with music industry big wigs like Sylvia Rhone (Hal's label president) and Vibe Magazine editor Danyel Smith at the Vibe VSessions event the other night.











I told y'all it was a pelau post!

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A pelau post for my islandistas!

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UPDATED: Fay-Ann delivered the carnival baby?

Update: False alarm! Turns out that this was just a rumour - but apparently, even a television station in TnT reported it and from there it went flying. However, we have received reports, both from bandi, in the comments section and also someone who has just returned from Trinidad this evening, that it is false. Fay-Ann is still very much pregnant and she and Bunji actually had a good laugh about it today when they were being interviewed as they made the rounds following her Road March win.

That would have been too perfect timing, wouldn't it?

Ok, so I'm still checking up on this one, but rumours are flying around that Fay-Ann Lyons actually gave birth yesterday - as in Carnival Tuesday.

Both bandi from Trini blog bandwagonist and commenters on regional site islandmix have been reporting this. Reportedly she gave birth to a baby girl.

I'm still checking around to get a solid confirmation of this because... wow! That would be almost eerie timing. It almost seems too crazy to be true - the daughter of Fay-Ann Lyons and Bunji Garlin and granddaughter of Super Blue being born on Carnival Tuesday, even as her mother was storming to her third Road March win?

It should also be kept in mind that Fay-Ann was eight months along and was not due til next month so she still had a few more weeks to go.

If she has delivered, we wish her and Bunji all the best - girl, you is a real super woman if this is true! 

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UPDATED: Fay-Ann delivered the carnival baby?

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SuperPreggy sweeeeeeep!

Who can stop the woman wid de Carnival baby this year? Not a man - not even hers!

As I predicted, Fay-Ann won the International Power Soca Monarch contest early this morning at the Hasely Crawford Stadium after she mash up the people place with Meet Super Blue annnnd... she win de Groovy Soca Monarch too with Heavy T.

Shurwayne Winchester placed second to her in the Groovy Soca Monarch contest and hubby Bunji Garlin placed second to her in the Power Soca Monarch contest - the Alvarez-Lyons household getting that money for sure this Carnival season!

And now... it's on to the Road, as Trinidad Carnival reaches its climax this weekend with 96 hours of pure frenzy - no sleeping, only partying!

As for our Road March bet... well to quote commenter Molasses "who say CLEAN SWEEP!"  We do, fuh damn sure! The smart money is on Fay-Ann to keep her crown again this year and do a clean sweep of the party crowns - Power Soca Monarch, Groovy Soca Monarch and Road March Queen.

Take a look at her winning performances below.



In other Carnival news, Fay-Ann said she and Bunji still don't know if they are having a boy or a girl. In an interview with the Trinidad Express, she said that despite two ultrasounds, they can't tell the sex of the child.

"Yes, we want to find out, but it's on the baby's timing. Because of the position of the baby we can't really tell if it's a boy or a girl. I went the first time I heard it's a boy, and then I heard it's a girl, so I know it can't be two of them at the same time (laughs) and it's not a twin."
Hmmm... yet last night I coulda swear I heard Bunji mention that he gine cut 'her' ass when referring to 'Baby Lyons-Alvarez' cheeky verse during Fay-Ann's winining performance of 'Meet Super Blue'. Will check back and let you know...

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Carnival baby - performing while preggers

As we all know by now, Fay-Ann Lyons-Alvarez, Trinidad's Road March queen, wife of Soca Monarch Bunji Garlin and half of soca's First Couple is nuff months pregnant.

The news was announced back in November, when Fay-Ann started wearing ... well wearing clothes! Since  Fay-Ann's ridiculously flat belly has always been her best and most flaunted feature, when she started sporting a lot of cloth, eye-brows were raised.
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When I mentioned it to my other half and also mentioned that she would keep on performing during Carnival (the baby is due in April so she will be 7 months along at the height of Carnival), he grunted in disapproval.

"Huh! That could never be you!" he said.

His response reminded me of the reaction five years back when Soca queen Alison Hinds was also pregnant and kept on performing, right through to her ninth month. Many (like myself!) were admiring, but a lot of people also had a lot to say. Alison spoke to it in a SHE Caribbean interview some months after giving birth to her daughter Saharan.

"The fact that I did that was amazing to people. If I wasn't feeling good, I wouldn't have done it. I had to remain active. I couldn't stay in the house and draw up."

Which to me at least sums it up. If a pregnant woman is feeling good, why wrap her up in cotton balls? A little wukking up on stage (in reasonable shoes of course - some sexy gladiator sandals or cute sneakers or shoes with a wide platform heel) isn't going to make the baby drop out - it's held in place by a womb and that is a damn strong muscle! Getting them out is the real hard thing.

What do you think islandistas? Should our soca queens keep performing even while they are becoming soca mummies? Are they setting an example of female empowerment and strength or are they taking it too far?

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Carnival baby - performing while preggers

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