Sokah2Soca

Machel Montano is the busy bee for 2012 with numerous offerings for his 30th. year in the business of Calypso and Soca - he is the head honcho in the Soca business and one would expect that there would be interest in any music released by this music icon. However, the song that he has released as his Holy Grail for the road has stirred the pot of mayhem creating great controversy or as we say in the islands bacchanal or major kankalang. P.Y.F. is short for his Road mantra aka "Pump Yuh Flag". This song has a love hate relation across the board. Most of the criticisms that I have seen originated on islandmix.com. 

Now that is a site that has a tsunami of Machel haters. However, I have noticed that even the people who support Machel have chimed in with 'that is not a good song' with many saying bluntly that "the song is pure shit"! What? How dare they call the song by such a stinky name? OK, they could have said that they "don't feel it" that they don't consider it a good road march song or Machel could do better that that but to call the song 'shitty' is a bit extreme... don't you think so? Let me say this, initially I did not get this song however, after listening to the song I now realize how crafty and street smart the producers of this track have been... Rama, Precision and HD ... scary, smart people!

The plan for the song is as follows... Part one is the original song that was done by Kernal Roberts with Machel Montano and Kasey Phillips of Precision Productions. This is a track designed to create 'madness' on carnival day. The lyrics and music are designed for the youth and those whom are young at heart and for those with some 'sours' in their blood stream.

Part two is the St. Lucian connection of Studio 758 with Penn and Ace doing the version that will be called the "758 Re-Mix". Any Remix always adds Flavor to the original and will indeed be done to further excite the parlancing masqueraders.

St. Lucian (CTV) Television Coverage

Part three is dubbed "The Road Mix" and will be done by Kasey Phillips of Precision Production. I am sure that Kasey will pull a rabbit from his musical hat and give the people exactly what they want to hear. He is young so expect the energy to flow from this musical genius from Palmiste, Trinidad.

Now to be honest I don't think that this song is one of Machel's best efforts for 2012 but here is the thing... it was not written and sung and music created to be his best vocal or musical effort! This song has its place and it was done to win the road march competition. If you are a reveler and you are on the road masquerading or just playing yourself for Carnival you will be "on the edge" and will want to free up and have fun. What does that mean? It means madness, it means you will want to 'Pump Yuh Flag' and jump, jump, jump around, get on mad and bad and that is the intention of the writers of this song, the musicians in this song and the singer who understands how to woo the audience and win the people's choice. That is the wisdom and power of a Machel Montano!

For those of you who dislike the song, I dare you not to dance and have fun when the song is playing on the road. Soca Mafia? What the hell? When you become a star like Machel just the way Kitch and Sparrow were the people will always gravitate to your work because your craft is art in music and song. If you don't believe the hype just watch what happens on Carnival Monday and Tuesday in sweet Trinidad and Tobago.

Please be advised that the music is presented here for your listening pleasure and for promotional purposes only ("Fair Use" Musical Content Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976). Lend me your ears... Enjoy!

♫ Please press the play button to listen (small triangle below).
Pump Yuh Flag (Original Version) - Machel Montano

Pump Yuh Flag (Precision Roadmix) - Machel Montano