Rastafarian reggae superstar Jah Cure, during a recent visit to Haiti to perform at a concert, was impressed by the steely confidence of the Haitian president, Michel Martelly, and moreso, Martelly’s ability to reinvent himself from a singer to a politician.
“It was great to meet a musical president,” Jah Cure told The Gleaner. “When I met him at first I was surprised, he was young, fresh, powerful, full of swag, I was looking for an older man, but I really loved his energy and his story is so truly inspiring.”
The Haitian president, Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly, is a real chameleon in the sense that his career reinvention has nothing to do with concerts, music videos or new images. He was once known as the “President of Kompa” or Haitian carnival music, Martelly was known for his “ribald lyrics and outrageous performances”. He had never run for public office before but now he is the leader of a country racked by many problems and defined by its crippling poverty.
“He was a singer who just randomly ran for president and won, I admire that because it shows that from music, you can do and accomplish anything…he actually told me that he was going to try to come to my concert and if so, he would take the mike and do a thing,” Jah Cure said, laughing. “Yu just have to respect this man.”
In the meantime, Jah Cure is plowing along with his own music career. He released his latest single, That Girl, to rave reviews on the social networks, and the song is now on iTunes and other downloadable sites.
“Everyone loves the ‘That Girl’ song, the fans have responded well through tweets, texts and Facebook about it, and they are saying that I must give them some of The Cure they know from back in the day, so this song is giving them that old school flavor with a modern flavour,” he said.
The Unconditional Love singer shot a video for the single last week, the first project that he has personally supervised under his Iyah Cure Music Limited label.
“I am going to be watching the sales very closely in this first week, but the signs have been very encouraging so far. In Trinidad, it is the most requested song on the radio over there. It was first released in Trinidad six weeks ago and the reaction there forced me to release the single earlier than I had originally planned,” he said.
Cure’s foray into production is a dress rehearsal for his upcoming plans to be the executive producer of his own album.
“Mi naah sleep pon my business, right now, I am on throttle mode, so when my contract clears, I can do my own album, so I am learning more things everyday to move my career ahead,” he said.
The ‘Unconditional Love’ singer is also moving into the area of artiste development.
“I have my own team of artistes who I am working with right now, you’ll be hearing more about that soon,” he said.
