BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – DEFYING the tradition of releasing Carnival songs mere weeks before the festivities are in full swing, solo Soca artiste, Rucas H.E. has released his first Sugar Mas 44 tune.
Two Fridays ago (Sept 18), Rucas’ ‘Carnival Day’ debuted on EK’s ‘Island Rhythms’ show on Freedom FM.
In an interview with SKNVibes about the song, Rucas, born Casim Pemberton, spoke of his latest creation and the inspiration behind the theme.
“The song speaks for itself. It captures the entire atmosphere of Carnival: people on Parade Day in their costumes, people who want to drink and lime, people who go just to listen to music, this song speaks to it all.”
With 108 bpm (beats per minute), the song has a groovy flavour and, according to Rucas, he chose this rate because it makes the song easily transitioned into others songs and it somewhat forced him out of his comfort zone.
“The bpm is a little slower than the Groovy bpm. I chose that because I feel that at 108 it is a cross over kind of Soca and can be played anywhere and can mix with anything. It is goovy, sexy and has a little dancehall flip to it and it is something different to what I am accustomed to.”
The 25-year-old participated in last year’s Soca competition and he told SKNVibes that ‘Carnival Day’ would be his Groovy segment contender for this year’s competition.
With one song already out, Rucas’ fans can look forward to the release of a couple more songs; one of which he would forward as the contender in the Power segment of the Soca Competition.
Why such an early release?
“One of the reasons why I released early is because I am one who believes the earlier the music is out the better it is for our Carnival. It has been this way for some time now and I believe in setting trends, so I think by bringing my songs early people would start to follow the trend which would enhance the Carnival.”
The artiste said he would continue the trend in the upcoming year and would be releasing songs every three or four months, so by the time Carnival comes around Carnival lovers would be intimately familiar with his tracks.
Rucas H.E. began singing with the Movements Band in 2006 and transitioned into the Grandmasters Band in 2007 with which he continues to perform. It was last year that he launched his solo career with his first track ‘Just Flip It’.
Keep your ears to the ground because while Rucas did not indicate by what time his next track would be out, it might be sooner than you think.
