And the Cows Woke Up...

Here I was thinking what to blog about and thanks to Bunji's video for Differentology, I am now freed of that block....

If you follow Bunji on the social media, you would know that there was a big hype over the filming and release of the video which was basically a huge disappointment. How can such an epic song end up with such a weak video? Now I am no expert in videography, but I am pretty sure that Bunji hired the wrong creative team for this project.

The Video in a Nutshell:

• Bunji in a viking outfit
• An orgy of a sort in the mud volcano
• Bunji with an axe
• Tribe costumes
• A roman soldier on a horse
• Flashback video of a Roman mas band
• Bunji in a viking outfit
• The sexy chick in the yellow costume
• A spartacus type fight
• More Tribe and Bliss costumes
• A midnight robber
• Bunji in a viking outfit
• K2K Costumes (Screams!)
• People in costumes and regular clothes dancing together with the K2K onlookers in the background
• Bunji in a viking outfit
• Back to the old video and so on
• Nigel Rojas who missed an opportunity for the Matrix appears at certain points

I had hoped that it wouldn't be the regular tell 10 people to show up in their Carnival costumes type of video, but sadly it was. I think I know where Bunji wanted to go with this.  He wanted to capture the spiritual journey of Carnival which begins or opens with J'ouvert and mud which represents the dark side of human nature.  And by Monday and Tuesday, it reaches a climax with a washing away of the sins represented by the pretty costumes.  However, a concept and execution are 2 different things. This video was all over the place with no thread.  We know that Bunji is all into the Viking theme and obvioulsy a fan of the NatGeo series, but there was absloutely no place for it in the video (even though I did enjoy these half naked sweaty men all over each other).

The quality of the video was also a bit off.  As I said I am no videographer but maybe the experts can comment on the color correction, HD quality and scene transitioning.

If Bunji had hoped to capture the meeting of the traditional and modern aspects of the Trinidad Carnival, he should have called on people who are proficient in it.  I am thinking about Walt Lovelace who did 3 Canal's Mud Madness video, Damian Marcano or even Cowin Thorpe.  Personally, I would have kept the concept strictly to mud and J'ouvert, using clips to capture the mix of dutty, orgasmic, release, and cleansing that we associate with the opening of the Carnival. (Am I the only one who thought that Fay Ann would have emerged from the mud semi nude? damn that would have been hot).

I am not attacking Bunji but just the video.  I LUV Differentology; it is hands down one of my fave songs ever.  I even wrote about it here. If we want our music to match international standards, then its composition, production, performance, and presentation must be of the best quality...

Different-ology

The suffix -ology refers to the " the study of"...so we can interpret Bunji Garlin's composition, "Differentology" to be the study of not just what is different, but what makes our Carnival and its music different.

I will never forget being in a class earlier this year at UWI Mona and a big time lecturer in response to my research said that she "hated" soca because it had no lyrics or depth and it only spoke about jump and wave.  Now being the only Trinbagonian in the room, I  was appalled and failed horribly at trying to convince her that this was not so.  Sometimes I feel like I always have to defend or promote soca not just because I'm a Trinbagonian but because of my lifelong love affair with the genre.  People don't invest a life time in a cultural product that is meaningless and without substance; we are passionate about it because we hear ourselves when we listen to it, and we see ourselves when we look at it...yes, it is different...

What Dr Big Time lecturer needed to do was to listen to Bunji's Differentology- a powerful voice telling a story that so many of us live, combined with a rhythm that speaks not only to the way we move or the wine, but the chip, the bend over, the leg lift, the lifting of the arms, the sip of the drink, the tilt of the head,the purse or biting of the lips, and I can't leave out that oh so sexy, but subtle "wine and glance back"...It's also about the guitar sounds that call on the spirituality of the experience, one that is immaterial and connects us through an unconditional love for revelry...it is different.  When the song asks " you ready?"  it doesn't simply mean if your make up is done, if you have your boots and monday wear or if you got your costume of choice...Carnival is much more than that. Are you physically, mentally and spiritually ready for the joys, vibes,  freedom, spirits, fete, friendships, disappointments and love...in fact, can you feel it now?