Countless times we read, hear, discuss what makes a hit song, and the responses are as follows: you have to have great lyrics and melody, work with the best producers, collaborate with a big name artiste, have big time management, and oh yeah the performer should have some talent. The Entertainment Macco, decided to do a little research. This time our maccoing took us to Guayaguayare, Trinidad where we found Eustace Bessor. This artiste seems to have been doing everything right with no results; we wanted to find out why?
Eustace Bessor…The struggles of an upcoming artiste..
Entertainment Macco: Who are you and what do you do for a living?
Eustace Bessor: “My name is Eustace Bessor…presently I am employed as a health and safety medic (RBG)”
Entertainment Macco: How long have you been singing?
Eustace Bessor: “Professionally…..5years”
Entertainment Macco: Where are you from?
Eustace Bessor: “I hail from Newlands Village, Guayaguayare”
Entertainment Macco: How would you describe your music?
Eustace Bessor: “Soca with a little Soul, African vibes, pop…..it is fast but very melodic….I am all about melody with constructive lyrics….I cannot do it if it isn’t not melodic”
Entertainment Macco: What made you decide to sing?
Eustace Bessor: “Bunji and 3Suns really inspired me to start singing…I started off singing their songs..…chanting their songs only and people started telling me to sing my own tunes. I always had an interest in music; I just did not take it seriously until a little later on”
Entertainment Macco: What else…..
Eustace Bessor: “….It was in 2003 I wrote my first song and in 2005 I recorded my first song “Bounce it” in KMP lab and 2 yrs after I met up with 3 suns and told them about “Prayer”…. they heard it and then recorded and them…there is a song with Sean Caruth “Move your hips” and “Nah going” which got me to the soca monarch semi-finals in 2008…So the extra push when I started taking the music thing seriously is getting me somewhere.”
Entertainment Macco: How many songs have you recorded thus far?
Eustace Bessor: “5 Songs”
Entertainment Macco: What are the names of these songs?
Eustace Bessor: “Bounce It, Prayer, Move your hips, Nah Going &Turn it up“
Entertainment Macco: Which producers have you worked with thus far?
Eustace Bessor: “Neil Bernard, Shawn Noel, Kasey from KMP lab and GQ from zero one production”
Entertainment Macco: Have you collaborated with anyone?
Eustace Bessor: “Sean Caruth, 3 Suns, Impulse”
Entertainment Macco: So…it sounds like you have been doing all you are supposed to do…have you been enjoying a fruitful career and favourable airplay?
Eustace Bessor: “NO….”
Entertainment Macco: Why you think your music is not being played?
Eustace Bessor: “Hmmm that is a good question...I and all do not know…when people talk about a good song they say to work with the best producers; which is not cheap, good Melody, great Penmanship….A good producer usually lets you know if it is a good song…”
Entertainment Macco: Continue…..
Eustace Bessor: “..…RIGHT and then they say release your music early – When you release it early it still not playing…When you call the radio station – they tell you that you have to wait to get on the playlist…sometimes you go to the radio station and leave one for each DJ with their name on it and they saying they eh get it…then you give it to them in their hand and they still not playing it…”
Entertainment Macco: I hear that…
Eustace Bessor: “Now I realize dj’s singing too so maybe that squeezing new artistes too…. They in the mix….they playing their own with high ratings…Probably I have to collaborate with a dj to get a forward….”
Eustace Bessor: “NO Never and no Dj ever ask.”
Entertainment Macco: Would you pay?
Eustace Bessor: “No my music is too good…I would never pay for airplay..…I want my work to stand out if it is good play it…if it not good doh play it.”
Photo Courtesy Keon Paul of Mayaro Sun
Entertainment Macco: What do you think is the reason for the lack of airplay and support?
Eustace Bessor: “The DJ’s not just playing the music..…I really don’t know…good producers willing to work with me including people like Daryl Braxton so it has to mean that the writing has to be good and the talent is there”
Entertainment Macco: What is the main struggle you’ve had to face in your career as an entertainer?
Eustace Bessor: “The money and not reaping the benefits….travelling from Guayaguayare to Petit Valley or St. James...borrowing money to pay to record and nothing to show after….”
Entertainment Macco: Do you think the fact that you reside “far” from the limelight is a reason for your lack of popularity?
Eustace Bessor:“Maybe…to get into this business you have to be around certain people….It could be a reason…I have to go and meet people and I cannot do it all the time as much as it is important..…once a week is sometimes not good enough”
Entertainment Macco: Do you think there is anything that needs to be fixed in your music?
Eustace Bessor: “Well when you go to a producer sometimes you go with one thing written and a producer may not like something…the approach is different…after that is done there is nothing to change from the final product.”
Entertainment Macco: When you have your music in hand and take it to a radio station…what type of feed back do you receive?
Eustace Bessor: “I will listen to it yuh kno and I will call yuh back…leave it dey for me nah and we go leh yuh know…..”
Entertainment Macco: Can you recall one incident that stands out in your mind?
Eustace Bessor: “There was one time when I went to the station and was getting real horrors and I bounced up Shal Marshal and I spoke to him, one time he took my CD and he went and play it ….he thought the song was good…that was in 2008 with “Nah Going”
Entertainment Macco: How do you feel when you not hearing your music on the airwaves or when the response is not favourable?
Eustace Bessor: “If I record and it eh play I doh stress but what does eat me up is when I hear real shit on the radio and my song better than that….and when I hear people who cah even pen a song, recording and getting real forwards….The only DJ/artiste it have in Trinidad is Dawg E Slaughter, the rest of them if people eh write songs for them they have nothing…The DJ’s have the asset and access that is how them could turn over night celebrities in the industry….Right now all them DJ’s blocking artiste spot…”
Entertainment Macco: How do you feel about the whole concept of having to pay you dues?
Eustace Bessor: “I doh believe in that…a good song is a good song…once it is the right song it will buss you….that dues thing…NAH”
Entertainment Macco: Is there anything you think you can do differently to get a more positive response?
Eustace Bessor: “I will continue to write good music…..with positive messages...good vibes...I really think the industry needs some new faces and voices and new vibes…”
Entertainment Macco: Throughout the entertainment business here in Trinidad are there any persons who have inspired you to continue to want to do this?
Eustace Bessor: “Bunji Garlin”
Entertainment Macco: Why?
Eustace Bessor: “When he first buss he brought something different to the industry…real critics and he stick to it. Then 3Suns (back then they were Treason) come on the scene and that was a different vibe and scene…..the same man who they say doh sing soca @ Garlin is still going strong…still doing his thing and breaking barriers….It have hope… if Garlin did it with that different vibe”
Entertainment Macco: Tell us a little about your song “Prayer” that you did with 3Suns….how was such a positive song received?
Eustace Bessor:“Well hmmm….we didn’t get much airplay…102.1 was the only station that played that song regularly….Marcia Henville contacted me almost immediately after the song was released on that station for an interview…as far as the general public is concerned I cannot say because of the lack of airplay….Alvin Daniel played it on his radio station (Trinbago) So I have to thank them both for the help…”
Entertainment Macco: The song was so beautiful and inspiring…what were you trying to achieve when you penned the lyrics and eventually released the song?
Eustace Bessor: “I was more or less trying to create awareness…..not to buss as a big artiste or anything….something to uplift… a song to start the day with because we living in the last days and just to get peeps to understand the message…More like a medication for the nation for the serious situation..”
Entertainment Macco: Generally do you think that people are unwilling to accept and appreciate positive music?
Eustace Bessor: “Yes…they don’t really pay much attention to it unless it is a big artiste who singing it…..people definitely prefer the whine and jam..…party thing… “Love generation” is one of my favourite songs from Maximus Dan and that lack forwards….”Lick down” - Bunji – lack of forwards too…the ratings are less with positivity…”
Entertainment Macco: Is there anyone in particular you would like to work with in the future?
Eustace Bessor: “Garlin..3suns (I can work with them all the time), Machel, Maximus and Destra…..R Kelly, T Pain and Kanye West….”
Entertainment Macco: Is there anything you feel like you can do differently to push your career forward?
Eustace Bessor:“Well probably I eh reach in the right circle….just be more persistent…..but it is hard to say. Maybe try different producers and keep pushing forward….”
Entertainment Macco: What are your plans for your music in the near future?
Eustace Bessor:“The music is not only for Trinidad…just take it further…cross the border”
Entertainment Macco: Any closing words or remarks?
Eustace Bessor:“Firstly thank you for the interview…I really hope DJ’s would give everybody a little bligh…..give everyone a fair chance and divide up the thing……Do what they are good at and leave the singing to the real artistes…Despite the struggle and stress I am coming out again for 2011 because I love music, so look out for me I am sticking with it…”
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15 Responses
Damn, i don't want to be a soca artiste nah, that sounding like real work!
Well done Bessor. Keep up the good work amd don't give up. Macco as always GREAT JOB.
Eustace, boy it don't matter where you living nah, you have talent keep pushing and you will make it to the top!
See all ah allyuh who was vex last week, because bunji get diss! look how this fellar Eustace bigging him up, see Bunji is a good man, he real inspire this youth
Big Song, Positive Lyrics, Great Melody, Great Beat... Well done! Big up Eustace.. keep doing it! Ent Macco.. big up for putting the artistes out there... looking forward for more tracks from him!
You see the kind place we living in, Prayer is a beautiful song you know what wrong with it? it too positive, all we in Trinidad want to hear is dagga dagga, jook jook, pipe, palance and any other foolishness all them dumb artiste could think about! why prayer can't play on prime time radio in T&T. and we need it eh we need the prayers. But they can't wine to that so good songs like this one gets buried.
Eustace, Keep on pushing.
Day by day it seem like the bigger soca artist and the people that promote, dj, radio station, who book fetes are apart of an elitist group, and that group want to ensure the people that eating great continue to do so, and any man woman and child who want to eat must catch horrors in order to reach high in de ting.
I think it's b.s. Good music is good music, and no matter how dem try fight good music, it will eventually rise
shame on the d.j/ radio directors of the crappy radio stations in trinidad who cant play new good music , because it isnt winer boy, it isnt de ragga soca chanter, it isnt de lady who always getting fight down, it isnt bachanal
I hope the things change soon, in the mean time keep doing yuh thing Eustace
Bless
Always have ur back bro..keep at it..someday it'll pay off..
Love it..love the variety and the diversity of EM.. All the best Eustace
Pores raising with this one. Love it
I will start my day everyday with the song! I love it
See how them Djs and dem dutty, i never hear this song before and it is a real good song too!
I bet they will tell you they don't have it
I read the Skarz interview and I just read the Benjai...they both had issues with garlin and the band etc if if what they are saying is true..alot has changed but this artiste sees something to hold on too in Garlin's music..maybe it is hope...
All the negative comments people posting about Garlin etc apparently there is some good in what he does because Eustace is a fan and lover of his music and style...so regardless of if Garlin have he still has the power to influence through his talent...whether we want to admit it or not
Hear this..everyone has decided to jump on the beat Fay ann and Bunji with a big stick campaign that they are not realizing that the interviewing is trying to offer different types of interviews and this is such a positive one. The song is beautiful..congrats to the artiste; Eustace Bessor.
I say live and let live...allow music to live in us; positive music that is....and do not jump on the bandwagon...
do yur ting star and is along time i know yur trying since we chantting by the pipe good song and god bless stoutee aka romeo