Pellau Magazine: Trinidad's Kush Riddim to Be Presented by Barbados' ViZion At Digicel's Barbados Reggae Festival

Trinidad's Kush Riddim to Be Presented by Barbados' ViZion At Digicel's Barbados Reggae Festival

3:56 PM | Posted by Pellau | Edit Post

A riddim produced in Trinidad and Tobago will be among the featured items at Barbados’ upcoming Digicel Barbados Reggae Festival, to be held at various venues on the island between April 22and April 29. Carrying his single HiGrade on the Kush riddim will be Barbados’ very talented male vocalist, Oliver Gale who is best known by his sobriquet, ViZion.

Described as an extremely talented entertainer who’s been getting nods of approval from Caribbean producers and other persons critical to the music industry across the islands and internationally in recent months, ViZion will be one of this year’s featured acts at the world class festival. It’s a tremendous achievement according to the entertainer who will perform at the 3W’s Kensington Oval on April 28- the Bajan Reggae Night. He referred to the festival as the biggest and most anticipated on the Bajan calendar and said, among other things, he’s looking forward to performing the hit single produced by Trinidad and Tobago production house, PengCo Music.

In late 2011, ViZion heard a riddim and immediately took a liking to it. He later realised that it was a Trinidad and Tobago produced riddim and sought to make connections to be a part of it. The riddim, which came to be called the Kush riddim drew ViZion from Barbados to Trinidad where he met up with a number of the other artistes involved in its final sound. “I had recorded some of the vocals in Barbados before I flew over but when I got to Trinidad, we shot a medley music video for the tracks,” he explained.

The Kush riddim has been embraced by other artistes like T&T’s Isasha, who sings a track called, ‘Rankin Ting’ and Kazee who contributes, Let’s Sing. Barbados’ ViZion was able to pen his single, ‘HiGrade’ before heading over to Trinidad and this, along with other singles recorded in recent months, will be in the mix when he hits the stage on April 28.

The track will also form part of his debut album set for release in May. The album will be entitled, ‘Dream or Die’.

“Another single that’s been on heavy rotation in Barbados is a track called, ‘ Hustle Hard’ and that will also be included on the album,” he explained. His fusion of hip-hop and reggae is soothing and easily listenable and so, when ViZion appears on stage on Bajan Reggae Night, he will more than likely generate quite a stir with his interestingly sweet musical vibe.

PengCo Music CEO, Randal Alexander meanwhile is extremely happy to know that his riddim will be among the music of other great producers from across the Caribbean. “This is huge for us. For one of the artistes on the Kush riddim to be at this amazing festival, I consider that a massive achievement. From Trinidad, we support this wholeheartedly and really thank Digicel for giving ViZion this opportunity to shine,” he said.

ViZion meanwhile sees his upcoming performance as a milestone in his career, having only recently returned to music after taking some time off to focus on his university studies. He had been a part of the festival previously but said being involved in 2012 is something he’s tremendously excited about.

The video medley for the Kush riddim was only recently completed and comes just in time for the big unveiling of one of the riddim’s very own- Bridgetown native-ViZion.