Badjohn Republic, co-creators of this year's Machel Montano Road March, Waiting on the Stage, are back at it again, this time with a new rhythm called the Vibration Riddim. The rhythm so far features songs by Kes the Band and soca artistes Voice, Kerwin Du Bois, Preedy, Danielle Veira and Marvay.
Keegan Taylor, one of the founding members of the Badjohn group which includes co-founder Kyle Phillips and Khion de Las, said he was inspired to write a song called Vibrate because he wanted to create an idea of a feeling "that is way past just 'she body look good' and 'ah get through.' I wanted to create a feeling of a bond between a man and a woman that surpasses the earthly realm: it's gone past that, and I'm so amazed and impressed by her."
Taylor then took the song to Phillips, who created a simple beat that was very different to what they were accustomed to doing but that felt right for the song. They then realised that the rhythm could go further than the one song, and recorded Vibrate by Marvay, and Feeling by Danielle Veira.
The group took the idea to Precision Global Music, whose label they are on, and the company agreed that it could become a rhythm and began pushing it out to artists. It attracted the attention of Kes the Band, Voice, Kerwin Du Bois and Preedy, all of whom said they felt the rhythm and wanted to record on it.
Taylor said, "It's an amazing opportunity having all of these artists feeling the rhythm and it basically reinforced for us that we are not the only ones who felt the energy of what this could do. We feel that all of the songs have something very different to say and are very refreshing to the airwaves right now."
He said the rhythm has a traditional feel to it, but still modern and is different to what people are accustomed to hearing from them.
"Badjohn Republic is known for going the opposite way to where everyone is going, so if we feel that's what we want to do, we stand up and say we're not doing this, we're going to do something else and that's what happened with this rhythm."
The Precision Global Music team, Taylor said, "added some of the production elements and did the mixing and mastering to create a product that is formidable in the marketplace." The rhythm was released on November 21.