New vid - Shontelle's 'Impossible'

To paraphrase Timbaland...

It's been a long time... we shouldn'ta left you...

But now we're back islandistas! And with something new - Shontelle's video for her single Impossible. Check it below and then our take on it after the cut.

Island duo in Olympic figure skating!

Just because it's the Winter Olympics, doesn't mean that islandistas aren't still on the scene!

Even though we're from the tropics, we still know how to work the ice and Bermudan ice skater Vanessa James did just that on Monday, "electrifying" the crowd at Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum along with her figure-skating partner, Yannick Bonheur as they competed for France.

James, who also has Barbadian roots, took a circuitous route to the Winter Olympics, where she and Bonheur made history as the first black pairs figure-skaters.


She had originally competed for Britain, as she had British citizenship through her Bermudian father, Kevin James and was that country's first black skating champion in 2005. However, after looking for a suitable pairs partner for years, she linked up with Bonheur and two years ago, switched to represent France.

As it so happens, Bonheur also has island roots, as his parents are originally from Martinique.

While they didn't win, the two endeared themselves to the audience with a daring, acrobatic routine and placed 14th.

Of their history-making turn on the ice, Bonheur said that they didn't set out to make history.

Islandistas head to the beaches of Barbados

Islandistas flocked to the beaches of Barbados during the Christmas season.

Besides the obvious like Barbados' Rihanna who swooped in for a super-short family visit for Christmas, X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke and new Sugababe Jade Ewen also have been spotted vacationing in Bim.

The latter two were among a mini British holiday invasion, as a host of non-islandista British celebs also flocked to the island - Simon Cowell, TopShop billionaire Sir Philip Green, Jude Law and Sienna Miller, among others.

UPDATED: Rihanna to perform in Barbados for Old Year's Night?

Rumours have been buzzing around Barbados for the last 24 hours that local girl Rihanna may be performing in the island for Old Year's Night.

The talk raised eyebrows initially because of the small matter of the US$500, 000 show she is scheduled to do in Abu Dhabi the same night.

However, more details are coming out on the top Ri-ri fan site Rihanna Daily, which reported just a while ago that the big show is set for Harbour Lights and that the "8 hour time difference" is how "it's made possible".

The price tag for the event is reportedly BD$250 (US$125) for a ticket.

We're not quite ready to sign off on this one yet but we'll give you more details as they come to hand...

Word also is that Ri-ri will get to taste her mother's pepperpot after all because she is indeed home for the holidays. Again, more details when we get them...


UPDATE 12/27:  So scrap that... information reaching islandista is that no such event was ever in the works... seems Kedrew was throwing out a sprat... again. But I guess that is the job of official twitterers/tweeters?

Ri-ri did manage to make it to Barbados for the holidays though and has been seen out partying at Models & Bottles and hitting the beach.

Vita Chambers' Young Money vid

Young islandista singer Vita Chambers, the youngest member of the 'Bajan Invasion' of pop (Rihanna, Shontelle, Hal Linton, Livvi Franc, Jaicko) going on right now, is making some major moves of her own lately.

Along with Hal and Shontelle, she was part of the Motown 50th anniversary tribute show at the halftime of the NFL's Detroit Lions v Green Bay Packers game.

Now, her video for Young Money has dropped today. It's very teenaged rock and roll - lots of jumping and moshing and jamming with the band.

Check it out below and tell us what you think.

Rihanna craving the taste of home

We had to smile at these pics of Rihanna clutching her Tiger Malt as she prepared to get her Caribbean grub on when she was in London this weekend to perform on X-Factor.

[caption id="attachment_1786" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="I wonder if these people got conkies to finish off this meal... it IS Independence yuh know..."][/caption]




Two nights in a row, she left out the fancy restaurants for the chance to get some curry chicken and plain rice from Ochi Caribbean take-away in Shepherd's Bush - washed down each time with a Tiger Malt from Barbados' own Banks Holdings.

 

Girl, we know how yuh feel... islandistas, who hasn't been 'over in away' and craved the taste of home? Not to mention if you're from any Caribbean country besides Jamaica (and to a lesser extent Trinidad), getting products from your specific country is difficult so you get super-excited when you do manage to find something... I certainly remember avidly stocking up on Ju-C and Ovaltine biscuits when I found someone in the city I lived who actually sold it.

Oh, p.s to Ri-ri... you can also check out the Humming Bird in North London - they sell greeeat food from all over the Caribbean - even cou-cou! And Jerk City in Central London is an islandista fave too...

Oh yeah... islandisto Jaicko doing big t'ings!

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more about "Oh Yeah Video Video by Jaicko - MySpa...", posted with vodpod

 

Ok, islandistas, it's a bit of an embarassing confession for us because we're a good ten to fifteen years older than the target demographic but we're pretty hooked on Bajan teeny bopper Jaicko's tune 'Oh Yeah'.

Jaicko, who signed to Capitol Records earlier this year (de Bajan invasion is real peoples!) even broke into BET's 106 & Park charts a few weeks ago with the bouncy, insanely catchy tune.

Yes, yes we know, we know ... shoot, even he knows it's a bit repetitive as he sings:

"I know this song a little annoying, oh yeah
But now I'm making' dollars, so i really don't care
Now I got the whole world singing oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah"

He ent lie yuh know - de damn song does just stick in my head every time I hear it. The freaky thing about this song is that for some reason I'm always hearing it when I'm on the road and true enough I don't even know whyI'm  turning up my radio but dammit if I don't find myself bobbing my head in my car cos I feel it though.

Next t'ing yuh know it is six hours later and I still humming de song, so clearly he's doing something right and we love to see island people do well so we don't mind too much!

 

Even more political relationship commess

Wow... and here we thought all the political relationship commess was in Turks and Caicos and Guyana.

Turns out it ent done - Barbados has gotten in on the act too!

It's not quite as spicy because unlike TCI and GT, it does not involve the head of the country, just an Opposition senator and his estranged wife, but...! He was a Government Minister in the last administration and the details that have come out thus far are pretty damn spicy.

Apparently, Kerrie Symmonds, who used to be the Minister of State within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade when his party was in power in Barbados, is taking out his anger with his estranged wife on her car.

According to the Barbados Nation, he is supposed to appear in court today for allegedly slashing his wife's Toyota Prado last week and allegedly assaulting her back in June.

This was all laid out as his wife took out a protection order against him.

From the Nation:

Symmonds, of Wilcox House, Christ Church, is scheduled to go before the District "A" Magistrates Court in connection with two incidents. On June 13, 2009, he allegedly assaulted his estranged wife Andrea Symmonds, of Rock Hall, St Thomas.

Last week Thursday he is alleged to have used a spare key to enter her Toyota Prado and slash the car seats.

[caption id="attachment_1323" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="So...the Prado does not look like this anymore. (Photo credit: Aussie Motoring)"][/caption]


Wuhloss.... pepper sauce!

Of course, it is one thing for politicos to do wrong t'ings to their partners in private - we have all heard of the various scandals of politicians and their partners all up and down this island chain.

It is another thing when it leaks out in public and Symmonds promptly resigned from his post as Opposition Senator.

Opposition Leader Mia Mottley said in a statement:

"Earlier today, I received a request from Senator Kerrie Symmonds, who is out of the country, to be relieved of his Senate appointment with immediate effect, citing personal reasons."

Of course, Prime Minister David Thompson could not resist getting a dig in, since Symmonds actually used to run with his side but skipped out on the DLP to join the party in power in the late 90s. He said to reporters yesterday:

"I once thought that Kerrie Symmonds was a rising political star.

He even did his in-service [training] with me and I thought I had imparted [some knowledge and advice]. (But) look at what has happened today . . . . "I wish him all the very best and God's blessings. That's all I can do, truthfully."

Ouch. He has a point, though. Symmonds is a smart guy that had been seen as a rising star, both with the Dees and the Bees and it is kind of surprising that he let things get to this point. I mean... damn man! Scratching up the car? What the hell is this... Waiting to Exhale?

Caribbean artistes on BET's Rising Icons

You don't have to tell us in the Caribbean that our stars are on the rise.

It's like the world is finally waking up to a Caribbean moment in sports and culture. Between our dominating sports stars like Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser and even Lewis Hamilton and our up and coming artistes like Rihanna, Hal Linton, Shontelle and Melanie Fiona, the world is getting a dose of Caribbean flavour in recent years.

And as it so happens, two Caribbean artistes - Barbados' Hal Linton and Guyana-descended Melanie Fiona are featured in BET's upcoming feature collaboration with Grey Goose- the Rising Icons series.

Check out some pics from Hal's performance below.

 



 

TC wins at last... and how!

[caption id="attachment_1305" align="alignleft" width="269" caption="photo source: Nationnews.com"][/caption]

For years now, Barbados' TC has been one of those 'always a bridesmaid, never a bride' kaisonians.

Second and third place knew her well and even though she was a perpetual finalist in Barbados' Calypso Monarch contest and a regular finalist in the Party Monarch contest, she never could seem to make the breakthrough.

Sometimes the judges seemed to mess her up, preferring 'shareholders' like Red Plastic Bag and Gabby to her and sometimes she was her own worst enemy like in 2005 when she had the Calypso Monarch title in her hand after a brilliant first half and then just dashed it away with a weirdly low-key performance of her bigger song in the second half.

But...she did it at last!

Today at Farley Hill, TC won not just the Party Monarch contest but the first ever Sweet Soca (aka groovy soca) contest with her big tune Hot Sun and Riddim.

No longer will she have to endure the 'she's a great calypsonian but..."  discussion.

She got crowns now.

Honestly, the Party Monarch result took folks by surprise, especially since TC was one of three contestants who just re-sang the song they performed like... an hour earlier in the Sweet Soca contest.

Baje & Power X 4 unveil their costumes

They're baaaaack!

Barbados' two biggest bands, Baje International and Power X Four both unveiled their costumes on Friday in different ways.

Power X Four sent an e-newsletter to their mailing list with a 'sneak peek' of their costumes while Baje International had their official media launch at Red Rock at the end of the Gap.

Here is a look at some of our favourite sections from each band. Px4's presentation this year is entitled '15 years of Love & Revelery' while Baje is 'Fire & Ice'.

 



[caption id="attachment_1105" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Power X 4 - Blue Skies"][/caption]

 



Love, love the sky blue colour for this  and the bra piece is just gorgeous and lavishly decorated! Check out more costumes when you read on.

More costume bands from NYC to Bim

Week by week, Barbados' Crop-Over festival is heating up with more bands launching.

Small and mid-size bands such as Wednesday 2000, Jump and Ooutraje have all launched recently.

Our initial reaction to Wednesday 2000 was ... mehhhh. A lot of the costumes just were not cutting it, like these two selections below.

What's going on here? Did they spend all the money on the (admittedly nice) headpiece and just decide to forget about getting a waistpiece or decent leg bands or some appliques or someting to take de shame off the gold lame sports bra?

United States AG Eric Holder comes 'home'

Guess who's back? Back again?

Ok, ok, I really should not channel Eminem of all creatures for such a great occasion as this - the first black Attorney General of the United States of America visiting the island of his parents and foreparents.

That's right - US Attorney General and Caribbean son Eric Holder touched down in Barbados yesterday afternoon for his first visit since becoming the most powerful legal eagle in the USA.

[caption id="attachment_997" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Photo credit: BGIS"][/caption]

First words as he arrived? "I'm home!"

Or ... maybe he said "looka muh hey" in a pitch-perfect Bajan accent and that is why those Barbadian diplomats are grinning so much... I would love that!

[caption id="attachment_998" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Photo credit: BGIS"][/caption]

 



Anyhow, Holder is in Barbados where his father Eric Sr. was born and where his maternal grandparents are from, for a three day visit. He's set to have talks with some CARICOM attorneys general and also speak at the official opening of  the Tamarind Hall Municipal Complex in his father's native parish of St Joseph. On hearing he was coming, Barbadian officials promptly decided to name it after him - you know we don't lag on naming things for people here in de islands - look Antigua have a Mount Obama! Loves it.

Getting Crop-Over-ish in this crank...

Slowly but surely, the Crop-Over season is starting to heat up.

Brewster's Road held its first pre-Crop-Over warm up lime on Friday night and it was goooo-ood! I had friends who show up at the lime from all half hour before the 6 p.m. start and all when Saturday morning come, they were still there. Obsessive limers, I tell you...

Another Kadooment band has launched bringing the tally to three. DJ Andre 'Rebel' Elias is riding the wave of his Taboo Saturdays popularity and launching a band for the first time under his RebelVibes Entertainment banner.

The name of the band is 'Psychomania' and I must say, for a first time band, most of the costumes are looking quite nice. You know so often first time bands can look amateurish and a bit...ehhh.

 

Plenty lavishly feathered headpieces up in there and you know how we feel about feathers!

I think Superbia and Ira are probably two of the best sections.

[caption id="attachment_977" align="aligncenter" width="284" caption="Superbia (pride)/ Photo Credit: RebelVibes Entertainment"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_978" align="aligncenter" width="284" caption="Ira (anger) Photo credit: RebelVibes Entertainment"][/caption]

 In other Crop-Over related news, Baje International has launched their 'Baje Girl 2009' search - deadline is May 29th. Below a quick screenshot of their ad.

 

Baje kills me. One of the blackest countries in the Caribbean and this is their representation of a 'Baje' girl? I guess a typical Baje girl isn't quite the same as a  typical Bajan girl. Anyhoo, it could be worse... they could be Lights.

In other Crop-Over warm up news - Renee Ratcliffe's 'Jump' band is launching this Friday, May 22nd so we will soon have another band in the tally.

Beenie Man shames Rihanna

Cheeeeeese... on.

Rihanna is a bigger woman than me - and I don't mean just in the literal sense that she's five foot nuff.

I would cuss two claat or several rholes at Beenie Man last night for what he did.

Hear de scene  that went down last night in Barbados at Reggae on the Hill.

The show was great - Buju Banton, Queen Ifrica, Morgan Heritage and a whole host of other artists, with Beenie Man closing the all-day show.

Anyhow, for the whole day, Beenie breezing up in the Prime Minister's VVIP stand, drinking Hennesy straight from the bottle, bun'ing a lil weed, going down every now and then to hug up the crowd just on the outside of the stand and clearly fulljoying himself.

Towards the late afternoon, Rihanna, who has been in Barbados for the past week or so, came into the stand as well and was just chilling.

Anyhow, when Beenie touch the stage now at about 7:30 and gave a generally decent performance - certainly the crowd was with him.

Thennnn... he start calling for Rihanna to "report back stage immediately".

And then he start talking up a set of things about the infamous beating incident between her and Chris Brown, asking the crowd if they didn't think it was "ah eediat ting weh Chris do" while singing a very off-key version of  the hook to 'Umbrella'. You could hear a collective 'ooooohhhh!' as the crowd sucked in its breath when he said it.

Honestly, you could tell that he was well-meaning, because he was definitely on her side and he was trying to hype up the crowd against Chris Brown but jeez ... you feel the girl really want to be reminded of that incident in front of tens of thousands of Bajans?

Said I to myself 'well no way she coming up on stage now!'

But Beenie kept calling for her and singing 'Umbrella' and lo and behold, she actually came up on the stage. Then he start singing his version of Umbrella , part of which went "Mi nuh have no fancy car/But mi neva give you no scar".

Trust me.

I. was. shame. for de girl. Everyone was shame because the crowd didn't really hype up and carry on the way they had been earlier when he was just performing all his hits. I just wanted it to end.

You could tell she was a little shame too because she was waving an Ethiopian flag at first and then she put her arm over her face but kudos to her, she mostly kept her game face on while he went on and on bout the incident and smiled and waved to his singing.

Like I say, better than me because no way I was coming up on stage and worse, staying on while he reminded everyone of something she is clearly trying to put behind her. Obviously it's hard to put behind her when it caused a global stir but to have it brought up so, right in front your face and on stage in front of thousands... that rough still.

Anyhow, after a little bit she waved to the crowd and came off stage and you would think it would done there. But Beenie wasn't done. He told her that Chris fi get vex when he see the pictures of him (Beenie) and Rihanna hugging up on stage because he is the 'girls dem suga' and anything the sugar touch get sticky and that when Chris see it he must get Heart Attack and then he went into that song.

And the crowd hyped up for it and thank god, that was the last of it.

Rihanna back in (Bridge) town

Photo credit: Radaronline.com

Rihanna continues to rack up her frequent flier miles as she returned to native island Barbados today for the second time in the last three months.
It’s been a case of ‘where in the world is Ri-ri’? over the last few days as she has gone from Hawaii to New York and now to Bim.
She was spotted arriving at the Grantley Adams International Airport a few hours ago... without a Chris Brown in sight.

Chrisette Michele @ Jazz on the Hill in Barbados

The Barbados Jazz Festival wrapped up tonight with the second day of Jazz on the Hill and Chrisette Michele closed it with a bang.

In islandista's view, she was the ideal happy medium between 'pure jazz' and 'contemporary enough to get a crowd' that 'calling themselves jazz to sound high brow but really are just music' festivals in the Caribbean often struggle with. No-one could argue that Chrisette's voice and style isn't jazz but she comes with a hip-hop edge that makes her sound current and hot.

Not to mention that she... can... SING! She knocked it out of the (Farley Hill National) park! Even though there were only two songs in her set (Best of Me and Be Ok) that the crowd could sing along with, not a damn soul minded as she unleashed her powerful voice, impressive vocal runs and scatting on Farley Hill. She was fantastic.

In fact, the whole day was great. Unlike yesterday, the rain only threatened but never came down and it was mostly sunny and breezy even if it was still very muddy underfoot from yesterday's rain. It was a great lime all day, wine and good music flowing and Chrisette's set was the icing on the cake. She's one artiste who actually sounds better live than she does on recording - quite some feat in these dark days of Autotune artistes.

Check out some pics below from her set.

Islandista in the spotlight - Gwen Ifill

Guess what ... the moderator of Thursday night's vice-presidential debate, Gwen Ifill from PBS... is an islandista!

Well, an islandista by descent at least - born to a Barbadian mother and a father who was Panamanian but Barbadian by descent - no doubt one of the many West Indians who went over to Panama to build the Panama Canal or a descendant of one of them.

According to Barbados' Nation newspaper:

Yes - Ifill, who is the well-known host of PBS' Washington Week programme and senior news correspondent on News Hour, is a Bajan. Though born in New York City, Ifill was raised in a Barbadian household, headed by her Barbadian mother Eleanor and her father Urcille Ifill Sr., a Panamanian of Barbadian descent. She was the fifth of six children born to the couple and moved around a lot during her childhood as her father was an African Methodist Episcopal church minister who had to live in several different cities as part of his work. She has credited her parents with piquing her interest in journalism, saying:

"From our parents, we inherited an abiding interest in the world around us. We grew up reading the newspaper every day."

Ifill has previous experience of being in the political hot seat of election debates, having moderated the 2004 vice-presidential debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards. That experience however, has not stopped some critics from questioning her impartiality as she is in the process of writing a book entitled "Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama". The book focuses on a generation of rising African-American politicians and critics charged that because of this, Ifill has a vested interest in Obama winning the presidency.

And Ifill is apparently set to receive the ultimate you've-made-it accolade... a parody on Saturday Night Live! People.com and other news outlets have reported that SNL has booked Queen Latifah to portray Ifill if they do a sketch of the VP debate.

From People.com:

Saturday Night Live has royal plans for a possible vice presidential debate sketch: they've booked Queen Latifah to play moderator Gwen Ifill.

 

 

Rihannna & Chris - in or out?

So, gossip sites all over the world ran the pic below of islandista pop star Rihanna and her rumoured bf, RnB singer Chris Brown at the airport supposedly leaving Barbados yesterday.




Well, you know islandista has the real suss on wha really a gwan. The pic was actually them coming into the island - I guess they threw out the story about them leaving to throw off the paparazzi and gossip folk.



(photo credit: The Barbados Nation)

But tabloids have no paparrazo as nosy as a Caribbean person so that cover lasted less than 24 hours before news started flying around Bim that our girl Ri-ri and Chris (we're going to make him an honorary islandisto just now!) are actually in the island, not out. Come nuh Rihanna - you know Bajans 'good gypsy' already so that was never going to last too long!

They were spotted on Barbados' west coast, in Paynes Bay to be specific, jet-skiing and having a great time - as well they should because those two youngins have been working hard, promoting their albums and then re-releases of their albums and touring for the last year or so. In fact, I hear Rih-rih's people have pretty much instructed her to take a month off, in appreciation of her constantly being on her grind.

So she's home for that holiday. Enjoy!

Like we said...

We told you we could go on and on cos the full has never been told ... looka look what was in the Barbados Nation today ...

Mya fails to show

by Kishmar Shepherd

IT WAS ADVERTISED as a "star-studded" event last Saturday night, hosted by international R&B singer Mya with several National Basketball Association (NBA) stars present.

It started on schedule but neither Mya nor the ballers showed up, much to the disappointment
of those who turned out at Club NXS in St Lawrence Gap, Christ Church.

Mya was also scheduled to conduct a motivational presentation for young Barbadian women at the Barbados Community College, also on Saturday. However, she did not show up there either.

Corporate communications consultant for the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) Chay Davis confirmed that the BTA did sponsor Mya's airfare and accommodation in Barbados, but was in no way involved with the celebrity party.

Davis added that the BTA sourced airline tickets and accommodation for a group of former NBA basketball players including Rafer Alson of the Houston Rockets, Kenny Anderson, former NBA player and coach of the CBA Atlanta Krunk, and Wali Jones, former player for the Miami Heat basketball team, as part
of generating awareness and diversifying the menu of activities for its sports tourism camp programme for 2009.

Davis said he contacted Craig Skilling of Skill Entertainment Group (SEG), a Florida-based entertainment company which had approached the BTA about bringing in Mya.

He added that Skill Entertainment Group were the organisers of the events and when he contacted him by telephone, Skilling apologised for Mya's
non-appearance.

Skilling said the no-show was caused by a flight delay, which resulted in the cancellation of the proceedings. However, he explained that an alternative arrangement was made by SEG to have the young women meet Mya in her hotel lobby.

Responding to the no-show at the nightclub, Skilling stressed there was no obligation for Mya to attend the nightclub party.

"It would have been appreciated by the locals and myself if Mya had attended to simply celebrate with the group, but that was not the case and she was never obligated to attend,"
he said.

However, Antony Nadur, a director of Club NXS, said he was contacted by Skilling and asked to be the location of the Celebrity Party but he did not know why Mya did not show up.

Look ... real talk now that everything is out in the open? Some little birdies told us that when the Mya thing was being shopped around, no club or promoter was willing to pay the fee being asked ... what with her having little to no career and what have you. The BTA was clearly willing to pay for her to get here (ye, we're puzzled too) but as far as appearances go, she was basically being given a bligh. Pong would have stirred more interest.

Other folks involved in the celebrity weekend made some rounds. The baller (singular) held a session at the Community college and some press came out of that. Casely decided that it benefited his career to take advantage of the appearance opportunity offered and performed - and was great from all accounts.

But apparently Mya was above that. Folks have been chit-chatting about 'why should she appear if she was not paid' as if up and coming artistes or those looking to restart their careers don't do that all the time. Still, the BTA did pay for her to come here and I don't think they paid for her to come hang out at the hotel and on the beach.

So the question should be, why should the BTA have paid for her trip to Barbados when all she did was hang out at the hotel and on the beach? And did nothing to publicise or promote Barbados?