For me, I am going to be nowhere else but Bermuda on May 24.
As the track, ‘Bermuda Day’, on Dennis (Chickdee) Moniz’ new CD, ‘Fire in the Streets’ proves, you can take a Bermudian out of Bermuda but you can’t take Bermuda out of a Bermudian.
Despite spending the last five years in New York, the newly-returned, multi-talented local entertainer has co-written a song that glows with exuberance and pride in all that we ‘Mujans celebrate on May 24.
In fact, so apt is it that it has been getting a lot of regular play on local airwaves, and Mr. Moniz is also hoping it may find its way into some sound systems during tomorrow’s parade, for it is a message he wants to share with all his fellow countrymen.
“The concept came to me through Bermudian pan player Brant O. Wilson, and we sat down and literally put it all together. He was the co-lyricist to a degree. I rearranged the lyrics, so three-quarters of the song is written by me. I wrote, arranged and recorded all the music.”
Indeed, ‘Fire in the Streets’ is one of approximately 14 albums Mr. Moniz has single-handedly created over four and a half years in his home recording studio in Brooklyn, New York, but the only one released thus far — and it took a year to complete.
To the uninitiated listener, it would seem that Mr. Moniz had a huge array of live musicians at his disposal when recording the album, but in reality the entire production was created in his studio. ‘Bermuda Day’ notwithstanding, he wrote all of the lyrics and music, arranged, sang and backed the songs, himself, and then used a Kurzweil piano Mark 150/ and a Boss/Roland BR118OCD eight-track home recording portastudio system to add the backing to the album.
“The Kurzweil has a sequencer section with many different instruments, including organ, drums, guitars, various bases, all kinds of horns, woodwinds, and stringed instruments, accordion, percussion instruments and more, and they were all used at one time or another on different songs with different styles, like soft rock, R&B, light jazz and so forth,” Mr. Moniz says. “In addition, the Mark 150/10 has a recording section with light effects, chorus, echo and reverb.”
The multi-faceted process was complex, painstaking, and very time-consuming.
“Each instrument was played manually by me in real time, some songs even had me doing vocal percussion sounds and steel pans. I also incorporated some night time bug and insect noises of many types, which I recorded by hanging a mike with a 50-foot chord out of my apartment window! All instrument solos were done by me as well.”
In fact, it was a true labour of love, to which the artist frequently devoted 16 or more hours a day, and even some 24-hour sessions.
“You have to have a damned good ear, which I have been developing for years, and it was a heck of a lot of work. I practically lived in my studio,” he admits. “Three o’clock in the morning was not an unusual time for me to begin my day after returning home from a gig, but I am very satisfied with the final product. In fact, I am extremely proud of my first-time release, and the fact that I did it.”
There are 13 songs on ‘Fire in the Streets’ which offer the listener a mixture of soca and reggae rhythms “with a Bermuda twist”.
“Some people try to keep soca and reggae apart, and rhythmically they are quite different, but they are all island songs so I have combined them with another island — Bermuda. I have also mixed in other ‘flavours’, including Brazilian, African, Caribbean “and even some English”, Mr. Moniz says.
But it is of ‘Bermuda Day’ that he is particularly proud. “The song really describes a lot about the 24th of May here in Bermuda. The lyrics invite tourists to come here and be part of it. There is a verse which says, ‘Canadian, English, Chinese, American — we don’t care where you are from, when you come to Bermuda, on that day you are Bermudian.’
“What I get from those words is that, whatever their culture, when tourists come here on Bermuda Day we are such a warm people that we openly welcome them all as one of us.”
‘Bermuda Day’ also paints a colourful picture of all the things that make the 24th so special: the marathon, the parade, the majorettes, the DJs and more.
“For me, I am going to be nowhere else but Bermuda on May 24. That is my day — and three days after that is another date of mine: my birthday. I was born in the most treasured month,” Mr. Moniz says.
‘A Dream That Came True’, another song on the CD, also extols what makes his beloved Bermuda special, but this one is geared specifically to tourists.
“It talks about the things they see and hear: the whistling frogs and other insects at night, as well as our beautiful weather, the first moped ride — some of the subtle things that I feel are not addressed but which are things that tourists walk away remembering.”
While the years in New York were exciting, a learning experience, and ultimately productive — he not only fulfilled gigs but also worked with rap artists producing albums including the covers (“It paid the bills”) in his home studio — the gifted entertainer, musician, song/music writer and producer is also happy to be here. “I am very excited to be back. I have missed Bermuda. You leave here, go away and stay for a period of time, and when you come back you really appreciate this Island. But I have to say that I am really disappointed in the concrete jungle that Hamilton has become. You can see the present Hamilton everywhere in the world. So I have to revert back to St. George’s because that is still gorgeous.” In fact, the man who has played with just about every professional Bermudian musician for the past 40-plus years, as well as abroad with such internationally renowned artists such as Lionel Hampton, George Benson, Teddy Pendergrass, BJ Thomas, Al Jarreau to name but a few, is now performing in the Old Town every Tuesday night as part of the ‘Market Night’ festivities. From 6.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. ‘Duality’ (himself on guitar and vocals and Clevie Astwood on bass) perform on Water Street. Then he joins Howard Rego’s band, ‘Front Line’, performing at the White Horse from 10.30 p.m. to 1.30 a.m.
[bul] For further information on ‘Fire in the Streets’ on the R&Dcreations label please
