The Trinidadian press has reportedly been all over the latest collaboration between Antigua & Barbuda’s Tizzy and Richard Trumpet, from T&T. The song, currently in heavy rotation for the Trinidad Carnival season, is a revamp of El A Kru’s On De Road. Articles we’ve seen comment liberally on the chemistry between the “all round sweet Caribbean girl” and the guy who “makes the girls weak in the knees,” the pair having previously worked together on International Soca Award winning Wuk Meh.
Tizzy’s bandmate, Rohan Hector, leader and founding member of El A Kru, acknowledged the magic that Tizzy and Trumpet seem to have when they get together vocally, but said it’s not something that can be defined or explained. “Sometimes some combinations just make sense,” he said.
But the relationship with Kru and Trumpet pre-dates the female vocalist’s time with the band.
“Richard Trumpet is somebody we’ve known for many years,” Hector said, adding that the relationship goes all the way back to the track Nah Ease Up when original front man Byke was still with the roughly 20-year-old band.
Plans to come together On De Road had been floated since the track’s original release in 2009, but schedules never meshed. But “finally, right place, right time,” Hector said.
Remarking that On De Road may have gotten lost in the shadows of more popular tracks like the memorably catchy I Love Carnival, Hector said that “a remix can bring a song back alive.”
The band is also hoping to revive a number of unreleased tracks and collaborations lost last year after an electrical problem in the studio. These include a number of collaborations with artistes of different genres. Hector described it as “heart wrenching.”
Last year was also a tour-heavy year for the band. But after not putting out an album in 2010, they’re getting a jump on 2011 with this lead track On De Road, and plan to begin releasing new tracks in May.
“Over the next month, (we’ll) decide which songs will make the cut,” Hector said, describing the coming album as “a bold new initiative … an exciting package for Carnival 2011.”
Meanwhile, the band, having already made its name in the Caribbean’s biggest soca market, will shortly be making the rounds in Trinidad currently in the throes of its Carnival season.
