Ce'Cile
Leighton Levy, Gleaner Writer
It can be a challenge for even a veteran entertainer to top their last performance at an annual festival. Ce'Cile is no different in this regard, as she contemplates her performance at ReggaeSumfest tonight.
The dancehall bad gyal has performed on Jamaica's biggest reggae festival on a few occasions now, so the challenge is not new.
"It's always a challenge when, maybe you think the same people will be there, so you don't want to duplicate your performance," she said.
"This year, I wasn't planning anything flamboyant, calling up anybody, or having dancers. Last year, I had a nice surprise in Tanto Blacks, which went over so very well. I don't have any collaborations. As such, I don't know how to beat that, so I am just going to concentrate on getting the songs out there."
Back to basics
In other words, when all else fails, go back to basics. And that is exactly what Ce'Cile plans to do on tonight's Dancehall Night.
"When you have to do the same shows year after year, you have to have new songs and, luckily for me, for the dancehall section, I have Me Nuh Share Gyal Man, which I didn't have last year, and Rise Up, Tip Me. So I have new material which is pretty good that people have never seen me perform here yet on this big stage," she revealed.
"I hope just to concentrate on the songs this year and on my growth as a performer."
Ce'Cile believes Sumfest to be the best reggae festival in Jamaica and said it offers entertainers an opportunity to properly hone their skills, which helps when they perform overseas.
Sumfest, she said, is not a battleground, it's a performance ground where people look up to the performers, where the people support good music.
"What I like about Sumfest is that it's not like it's a fast-paced thing. You get to bring out you," she said.
"When you do well at Sumfest, people want to book you and I have done lots of shows all over the world, where you have to come up with good performances for like an hour or hour and 15 minutes. So I guess it has done a lot for us."
Sometime during the weeks following her Sumfest performance, Ce'Cile will release her second studio album. Her first - that helped spawn hits like Hot Like We - was released just over two years ago under different names for different markets: Bad Gyal in Japan and Germany, Worth It (online) and Waiting in North America. This latest effort, which contains a host of quality tracks, is to be released first in Europe by Kingstone/Groove Attack, and will be available on iTunes where fans can also find the first single, Singing This Song.
The single, which is on a reggae beat with a hint of hip hop, was originally titled Nobody, but the name was changed because she already had another song by that name. It was written in 2008 and is basically about a girl who "even though she is spoiled and she is kind of a brat, her man loves her anyway".
The song and album will be serviced to radio locally in the very near future.
"We're actually doing this in a weird way. We're sending out the album and releasing the single without sending anything to radio," she said.
"The album (Jamaicanization) is 16 tracks, 13 of which are exclusive to the album, so it's something different we're trying because a lot of fans were saying they didn't know where to find what, especially when we have so many songs. I just wanted the buying public to have something exclusive for them. We will then come to Jamaica and release singles and have a nice album launch and everything, but we're taking it outside of Jamaica because, for the most part, that is where the buying public is and where the demand for the music is."
As the name suggests, the album is about bringing people back to what is Jamaican music or "what my interpretation of what our music is," she said.
The album will feature ska, rub-a-dub, reggae, dancehall; and she wrote all the songs and co-produced 13 of them. There are also some familiar tracks, including Nah Stress Over Man (Tony Kelly/BigYard), Gwaan Live Life (Germaine Mason), and When You're Gone (Cardiac Bass). It also features collaborations with Chris Martin, Million Stylz and Agent Sasco. With Sasco, who many also know as Assassin, she did Hey, which she describes as her favourite.
"E bad, e bad, e bad, e bad, oh my God, it's so bad," she said, describing the song which has an infectious old-school one-drop beat. She also favours a song called Sweetness, which is a collaboration with Chris Martin and a ballad, Without You. The beautifully designed album cover in the national colours, contains liner notes which are bits of historical facts about Jamaica, which Ce'Cile feels will add even greater value.
"This is about my country, about me. I want people to fall back in love with Jamaica," she said.
"It's like a little tourist destination. It's just my little musical journey, I am very proud of it."
It can be a challenge for even a veteran entertainer to top their last performance at an annual festival. Ce'Cile is no different in this regard, as she contemplates her performance at ReggaeSumfest tonight.
The dancehall bad gyal has performed on Jamaica's biggest reggae festival on a few occasions now, so the challenge is not new.
"It's always a challenge when, maybe you think the same people will be there, so you don't want to duplicate your performance," she said.
"This year, I wasn't planning anything flamboyant, calling up anybody, or having dancers. Last year, I had a nice surprise in Tanto Blacks, which went over so very well. I don't have any collaborations. As such, I don't know how to beat that, so I am just going to concentrate on getting the songs out there."
Back to basics
In other words, when all else fails, go back to basics. And that is exactly what Ce'Cile plans to do on tonight's Dancehall Night.
"When you have to do the same shows year after year, you have to have new songs and, luckily for me, for the dancehall section, I have Me Nuh Share Gyal Man, which I didn't have last year, and Rise Up, Tip Me. So I have new material which is pretty good that people have never seen me perform here yet on this big stage," she revealed.
"I hope just to concentrate on the songs this year and on my growth as a performer."
Ce'Cile believes Sumfest to be the best reggae festival in Jamaica and said it offers entertainers an opportunity to properly hone their skills, which helps when they perform overseas.
Sumfest, she said, is not a battleground, it's a performance ground where people look up to the performers, where the people support good music.
"What I like about Sumfest is that it's not like it's a fast-paced thing. You get to bring out you," she said.
"When you do well at Sumfest, people want to book you and I have done lots of shows all over the world, where you have to come up with good performances for like an hour or hour and 15 minutes. So I guess it has done a lot for us."
Sometime during the weeks following her Sumfest performance, Ce'Cile will release her second studio album. Her first - that helped spawn hits like Hot Like We - was released just over two years ago under different names for different markets: Bad Gyal in Japan and Germany, Worth It (online) and Waiting in North America. This latest effort, which contains a host of quality tracks, is to be released first in Europe by Kingstone/Groove Attack, and will be available on iTunes where fans can also find the first single, Singing This Song.
The single, which is on a reggae beat with a hint of hip hop, was originally titled Nobody, but the name was changed because she already had another song by that name. It was written in 2008 and is basically about a girl who "even though she is spoiled and she is kind of a brat, her man loves her anyway".
The song and album will be serviced to radio locally in the very near future.
"We're actually doing this in a weird way. We're sending out the album and releasing the single without sending anything to radio," she said.
"The album (Jamaicanization) is 16 tracks, 13 of which are exclusive to the album, so it's something different we're trying because a lot of fans were saying they didn't know where to find what, especially when we have so many songs. I just wanted the buying public to have something exclusive for them. We will then come to Jamaica and release singles and have a nice album launch and everything, but we're taking it outside of Jamaica because, for the most part, that is where the buying public is and where the demand for the music is."
As the name suggests, the album is about bringing people back to what is Jamaican music or "what my interpretation of what our music is," she said.
The album will feature ska, rub-a-dub, reggae, dancehall; and she wrote all the songs and co-produced 13 of them. There are also some familiar tracks, including Nah Stress Over Man (Tony Kelly/BigYard), Gwaan Live Life (Germaine Mason), and When You're Gone (Cardiac Bass). It also features collaborations with Chris Martin, Million Stylz and Agent Sasco. With Sasco, who many also know as Assassin, she did Hey, which she describes as her favourite.
"E bad, e bad, e bad, e bad, oh my God, it's so bad," she said, describing the song which has an infectious old-school one-drop beat. She also favours a song called Sweetness, which is a collaboration with Chris Martin and a ballad, Without You. The beautifully designed album cover in the national colours, contains liner notes which are bits of historical facts about Jamaica, which Ce'Cile feels will add even greater value.
"This is about my country, about me. I want people to fall back in love with Jamaica," she said.
"It's like a little tourist destination. It's just my little musical journey, I am very proud of it."
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