New Orleans magic in the heat of Barbados has set a Bermudian artist alight.

Blak Kla Soyl aka Oneika Best has been nominated 2009 Jazz Artist of the Year, a title she could walk away with at the upcoming Barbados Music Awards.

The entertainer, who has been living on the Caribbean island for several years, recently spoke with The Royal Gazette about her many musical accomplishments including her recent recording.

"The single that I released, 'A Real Mamma's Boy', is about strong women who raise strong men.

"We are taking the negative stigma out of the term 'a mamma's boy', because as women we do not raise idiots and lazy boys.

"In fact when you refer to a man as a 'mamma's boy', it usually means a man who has a mother that does everything for him.

"So when he finds a woman, he expects that same treatment that his mamma gives to him, only there is no balance because there is no sort of return.

"He appears to be a lazy man because he is at a place in his life where his mother has done everything for him so he does not know how to do things for himself.

"Men like this are not mamma's boys, but offsprings of bored women who would like their sons to stay home with them forever.

"A real mamma's boy has a real mamma, (who) teaches him how to respect a woman and how to do things for himself, so no woman can make him an idiot."

Blak Kla Soyl's musical journey has been a long time in the making.

The 41-year-old artist, who was born to the late Vern and June Best, remembers her first concert when she was only eight.

"I remember performing on the steps of my apartment building as I sang my favourite 'Sesame Street' song 'I'm Pretty', along with 'Mushy Muddy', and 'Squirrel'.

"Growing up was a show for me, as both of my parents were performers and they expressed themselves in a musical and dramatic way."

Her parents later separated and during that period she lost her music as well.

"I was so lost that all I could think of was my daddy, the one who always made things better, and I went to live with him in Barbados," she remembered.

"I found myself my love, and things seemed bright again as my father, who was also known as El Verno Del Congo, shared all his drum secrets with me.

"He also told me drum stories and taught me the 'do's' and 'do nots' of the music world, style and technique."

With the lessons that her father bestowed upon her, she was able to play professionally around the world.

"So I did and I have drummed in Jamaica, Germany, St. Lucia, England, Bermuda and Barbados."

Her music once again took a backseat last year, as Blak Kla Soyl focused on her father's health prior to his death last June.

"As my father's illness had taken another stage, I had to put the time that was needed into him," she said.

"After all he was my teacher, my daddy and my friend.

"He left me with all of his talent. Since that day, I have not been the same. It is like he passed a musical mantle onto me and I plan to carry it with happiness."

It was New Year's Day of 2004 that she released her first CD, 'Blak Kla Soyl: The Chromatical'.

"That is when my life as a solo recording artist really began," she said.

"I have done many things (as) an artist but when I am onstage as a performer, what it means for me is that I can combine them all."

She has been working on her current album since 2006.

"It has been very challenging for me, financially, but it was well worth it.

"The CD is not finished yet because the engineer's computer man lost files that were not stored on a hard drive. That set me back a lot, but not enough to be weary of the album.

"Now I have publishers, Treasure Island Music Incorporated, and they will also be distributing for me so things are looking brighter.

"(Music Medicine) is a CD compilation on the lifestyle of a man and a woman," the artist added.

"Each song has a story of strength, integrity, learning, love, joy, hope and faith. You can dance to it. You can dance with it. In essence I want to touch the universe – with drum and vocals, complimented by guitar, bass, violin, keys, and traps."

She is ecstatic about her recent nomination by the Barbados Music Awards.

"Just to be nominated is a really good thing. The music is called lifestyle jazz, because it is about the lifestyles of people – but through the eyes of Blak Kla Soyl."