Late artists like Exuma and Joseph Spence, come to mind, as well as a few emerging artists like Matthew Pinder, Selah Moonie, Navarro Newton, but we seem to have not continued this tradition of innovation and bold experimentation into the present day. I’m open to being challenged on this assertion.
They have either subverted the colonial gaze, or have managed to create work that eludes it. Artists like Kendall Hanna, Tavares Strachan, Tessa Whitehead, Jeffrey Meris, Stan Burnside, Blue Curry…
Who are the Bahamian musicians, who are cut from this same cloth?
I can list off a number of contemporary Bahamian visual artists who not only have pushed the boundaries of their form through experimentation, but who also investigate/challenge notions of tropicality and the picturesque.
Does anyone have any recommendations for good grad school programs in arts administration/management and policy?
Might need to shake things up and not allow covers for a while… 😬
4. Spotify fired 51% of their curatorial team & replaced predominately with AI.
5. The CEO, Daniel Ek has made $345 mil since July 2023 selling shares -which makes him the world's most streamed artist (115 billion streams) if he were one. He makes 2.5 billion X the salary of the average musician.
My Spotify 2024 Wrapped:
1. Spotify demonetized 80% of songs on the platform. If your song streams less than a 1000, you're paid nada.
2. Spotify still only pays $0.003 per stream (assuming you're over 1000 streams)
3. 8000 monthly streams are required to make $15/hour cont👇
Of course, an artist having a publicist or manager can be a big asset when seeking to craft this language…
The times that I have received a well-crafted bio that speaks to the artist’s authentic experience, it always resonates. Artists who compose original music often produce more compelling bios because they’ve had to uncover who they are and what they want to say.
Of course it also helps for the artist to have a publicist or manager to help them craft that language…
The few times I’ve gotten a bio that is detailed + speaks to the artist’s authentic experience, it always resonates. Artists who compose their original music almost always produce more compelling bios because they’ve had to go through the process of discovering who they are + what they want to say.
When I receive a bio from a musician, I often have to rewrite it to include more nuanced information to more clearly communicate what I feel is the artist’s unique POV, or what I think makes them separate and apart from other musicians on the scene. But lately I’ve found myself wary of doing this.
Curating involves having to market the entertainment in a way that speaks to its value and highlights what makes that artist unique.
I personally love Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique's recording with John Eliot Gardiner.
Thinking of starting a personal daily exercise where I post a rec. or review of a song/piece that I've recently discovered + write a blurb (w/i the character limit). Music I usually gravitate to incl. classical, indie, alternative, funk, house, and contemp. jazz. I'd love to receive your recs too!
I think the strategy to accelerate conversions/growth is to invest in an El Sistema model, focusing primarily on traditionally underserved communities, coupling high quality free music ed with a focus on social change…promoting solidarity, harmony, and elevating consciousness.
Strings study is notoriously a slow burn, and gratification is not immediate. I worry we're recruiting new string students at too small a volume/rate, and failing to retain them from year to year. How many string students within the past 5 years have gone on to pursue a performance degree?
I think often about music student matriculation rates and specifically how many young string players we're converting to long-time musicians each year.
It feels like a triumph that I can challenge myself and play such rep as Mendelssohn + Rachmaninov with local colleagues! The ability to engage with your craft on a high level without having to go abroad is, in a way, what developing our orange economy looks like, and it's quite an underrated thing.
But more and more musicians are seeking higher degrees on their instrument and are plugging back in at home, and it is a delight to see. This is the stimulating work that I've been hungry for since returning home—I even forgot that this form of collaboration was something that I was yearning for.
Engaging with other classical musicians locally isn't an activity I get to do on a frequent basis, as the classical instrumental community in The Bahamas is still quite small and nascent + there aren't many players for certain key instrument parts—and the few players there are are young students.
This year has been quite enriching musically, as I formed a piano trio with two colleagues and am currently preparing the Frühling A minor Clarinet Trio for a Christmas concert I'm curating at The Island House.
I feel our scene is mostly just a space of regurgitation, going through this ritual each week of hearing what we want hear, getting drunk and doing a lil two step.
But if we keep going along in this vain, audiences continue to think that this is all that they can get. And aren’t we all a bit bored?
It’s a circular relationship. Sure the audience might feel unsettled by something they’re not yet familiar with, but are we as musicians projecting our insecurities around presenting original material onto the audience member?
Also, I think an important question performing artists should reflect upon is which person in the sacred exchange of music is more uncomfortable: the vulnerable artist sharing their original music, or the spectator?
We haven’t taught our audiences that they should expect more from us. Whenever we present anything that’s out of the mainstream they’re immediately uncomfortable, but cover music sets ad infinitum only further reinforce a scene that is not about exploration or discovery.
As a curator, I hear Bahamian musicians often complain that local live audiences only care to listen to what’s familiar or the Top 40, but I’d say that the reason our audiences are at times intolerant of anything that verges out of the mainstream is that we as artists haven’t stuck to our guns.
