'Beautiful, Beautiful!': A Review of "The Beautiful Side of A Kreyol Folk Trip" by Stevy Mahy

Okay I know that I’m supposed to be this sort of two-brained vacuum like human being who literally sucks in new music and decides whether to regurgitate it to you beautiful people or to place it in my internal and ridiculously hard to remove, bag for disposal, but I have to admit - I’ve been slacking on the job. The Carnival season is good and gone and with it, it’s taken most of Soca for the next few months, I’ve pretty much had tunnel vision on Reggae and Dancehall, to the neglect, of course, of the subtle genius and crystal clearly beautiful genre of Zouk. Last year, two of my personal favourites, Kénédy [“Entre Toi Et Moi”] and Goldee [“Le Moi De May”], dropped albums and that should’ve been a pretty good sign that 2010 would be a ‘down’ year for me when it came to Zouk releases because, obviously, two of my favourite artists wouldn’t be doing albums. There’s also Thayna, who had an album in 2008, “Nouveau Départ”, which she’s still promoting apparently and artists like Fanny J, and Jessye Belleval and Lindsey Lin’s, all of whom, I believe, were slated to make releases this year, but as none of them have materialized as of yet, so my interest hasn’t been very high in waiting (although if you wanted to give me that Fanny J album, like yesterday, I wouldn’t mind none at all). It wasn’t until quite recently, over the past couple of months or so, that we REALLY began to take a listen and a look at Zouk 2010 and it was largely due to the fact that a well known Reggae label (it would be, wouldn’t it?) had chosen to make an entry (or a reentry) into the sweet genre as Don’s Music shot out with a release from the delectable Methi’S, “Mon Nid D’îles”. It’s been just about two months since that album dropped and having finally been through it, it’s just now starting to warm up to my tastes. Also, Don’s Music began working with a next (cutie) artist by the name of Ludy, who I’m also liking currently and that is, of course, right up my alley because at the same time, the label has been dealing with the likes of Admiral T, Paille and the Lieutenant, which makes coming into contact with their Zouk work a matter of ‘being in the right place at the right time’. Still, if I’m being really forthcoming, the final flare that caught my attention for Zouk music this year, technically wasn’t even a Zouk artist. No. Instead it was the hypnotic and downright SPACIOUS vibes of one Ms. Stevy Mahy.

Initially, it was the whirlwind created by the EPIC tune that was ‘Beautiful’ which jumped the Guadeloupe songstress on the radars of most, I’m sure, yours truly included, but when we got to know her better, what we learned was that Stevy Mahy was just full of interesting material - She has almost as much of it as potential. While hers is a story which is still largely a mystery to me, what we do know about Mahy is that she seems to have a bit of a globetrotting dynamic with her life. She’s obviously spent more than a little time in New York (more on that later) and Paris which has become not only a matter of fact in her life, but it’s made the fact that she seems to almost go out of her way to represent for Gwada so much more interesting. In doing so, as I alluded to, her style is clearly something much more influenced by ‘traditional’ Creole folk music, with Zouk and even a little R&B (and JAZZ) thrown in (but I make the point that in traditional Creole music, Jazz is, inherently, very present and represented), rather than being a straight up Zouk artist (although there’s certainly nothing wrong with that). Want more? Simply take a good look at Stevy Mahy. She is gorgeous and she is gorgeous in a very non-traditional way (although with those CURVES . . . Stop Achis) and her look and, by extension, her image of this very strong and womanly Creole person is something which you don’t usually see with the way in which Zouk singers are usually ‘dolled up’ to look like pixies (sexy pixies, mind you, but pixies still) in many cases (although I’d like to think that image is slowly, but surely changing in general). Back to her music - As I said, it was the early tune, ’Beautiful’, earlier this year which brought her to prominence and I have to say that I besides loving the song itself, I just love how it just seemed to pop up and then run its course through the usual channels, eventually progressing all the way to jumping up on the radars of my research via becoming a digital single. Stevy Mahy would also drop a second single (which I’ll tell you about in a minute) and did so just ahead of her brand new, debut album the delightfully titled ”The Beautiful Side of A Kreyol Folk Trip”. It is DEFINITELY the word “trip” which you’re best off focusing on as a listener, because the album takes us on a very nice and, of course interesting, trip through the mind and life of Stevy Mahy. By wonderful coincidence, this “trip” comes via the same B Caribbean that brought to the world the aforementioned golden Goldee and that also means that you can expect a ton of probably my favourite Zouk producer (not that I know so many of them, I’m still a Zouk rookie) (a Zoukie?), the professional, Mr. Joël Jaccoulet. The label, as far as I know, is based in Martinique and has been at the forefront of so many big projects within Zouk, which includes, of course, steering Goldee into stardom and ensuring that the mammoth shot of a tune that Stevy Mahy laid out would go on to SWEEP through the world as it did. That’s definitely no coincidence at this point: Obviously B Caribbean knows what they’re doing. That’s BEAUTIFUL because had this song and had this artist just kind of came up and jumped ‘in line’ with so many other artists, it would’ve been a damn shame. Mahy does so well at sticking out and drawing attention to herself by simply being herself and because of that (oh, and the fact that she just happens to make excellent music), it proves to draw this “trip” as one you’ll surely want to buy a ticket for.

The first thing you’ll hopefully notice about our journey is that our lovely captain, Stevy Mahy, is functionally trilingual throughout. The songstress, without warning, weaves her way between her native Creole, French and English and while I’m almost sure there is some sort of method to her linguistic madness, the fact that I have no idea what it is certainly doesn’t hurt much here. Our first stop on Stevy Mahy’s ”The Beautiful Side of A Kreyol Folk Trip” (I really don’t like long titles, but that is wonderful) is at the aforementioned second single for the album, ‘Something About You’. HOW SWEET IS THIS SONG? This is the tune you play when you want to stay in bed a couple of extra hours and open the window or just lay on the floor and PLAY (and I mean that literally) with your special someone and although I find better tunes on the album, this one is just a CRYSTAL of a song and a GLORIOUS way to get us started on this journey. Next, we hit ‘Yenki Pou Vou’ and . . . Yep. I mean . . . I’m certainly going to get tired of using ‘beautiful’ as an adjective, especially considering the album’s title and specifically what happens on track #5, but this tune is BEAUTIFUL! The smallest fragment of beauty certainly isn’t that ever so SLIGHT steel pan I hear at the end of the tune’s chorus, nor is it Stevy Mahy’s almost perfect vocals and her twisting linguistics (which just switch at mid-verse for absolutely no reason) (and I love it). And, were that not enough beauty, already, for ”The Beautiful Side of A Kreyol Folk Trip”, simply the TITLE of the next song, ‘DIVINE MAGIC JOY’, should make you smile as it did for me and my Wife, who hates everything. It’s going to sound lame, but I’m going to say it anyway - This song is like a BREEZE and if you haven’t already fallen in love with Mahy’s vibes, that should be wrapping up right about now (and even if it isn’t she still has something for you in just a bit) because this ghost of a tune is barely even here, but wherever it is, I’m with it and you will be too. HUGE start.

I was going to take this one in a most spellbinding twist before ultimately arriving at the pinnacle of our trip, but I think I’ll lay it out nice and early. Of course, I’m talking about the most beautiful moment along ”The Beautiful Side of A Kreyol Folk Trip”, ‘Beautiful’.

"You
Came into my life
I thought that I was dreaming because you -
Showed me a new dance of life
A new way to breath"

TEARS! This fucking song is the most perfectly titled creation of 2010 that I’ve heard, because it is just so nice, so airy, so angelic that it taps into nooks and crannies of emotions that just don’t get up and worked on too much (at least not for me), when listening to Zouk, for the most part (although I do love it still). It took over things fro Stevy Mahy and, thankfully, it has been the beautiful vehicle which has brought her and her music to us and will continue to going ahead, hopefully. AMAZING!

And I didn’t just sign up and join this trip for the opportunity to visit ‘Beautiful’ (although it was certainly worth the price of admissions on its own), I wanted the full joy of the experience and thankfully, Ms. Mahy makes our trip so much of a FULFILLING experience, besides relying on the attraction of that most captivating and capable of tunes. The two stops immediately following ‘Beautiful’, ‘Fame Is Gone’ and ‘Most High’, definitely caught my attention based on name value alone and the subsequent tunes that I heard just as definitely didn’t disappoint. The former speaks of this kind of future of former stars who just can’t seem to adapt to ‘regular’ and ‘everyday’ life. It’s one of the most lyrically impressive efforts on the whole of the album (and a lot of English, but it switches without warning) - “Fame by any means, but fame means enemies” - and the way the tune kind of EXPLODES down its stretch is very impressive and lovely as well. For its part, ‘Most High’ is a song where you must forgive me because I’m a Reggae head, so you KNOW what I thought this song was about and I was kind of correct in my assumption because it does at least appear to find Mahy reaching and calling upon a Higher Power, but it has a bit of flexibility in it and she may very well be speaking of ‘falling in love’ in the general sense. I would imagine, however, that she might make the case that both are one in the same and if she would, then good on her! And to place a nice bow on the first half of ”The Beautiful Side of A Kreyol Folk Trip”, we look at another very strong effort, ‘San Vou’. The attraction here is ‘simply’ the sonic appeal of this song first and foremost, and later we deal with the fact that it’s also inspirational and just well done. While this one may not have a whole heap of flare and may not attract much initial attention, truth be told - It’s probably one of the strongest efforts here.

The first actual song during the second half of our trip, ‘Falling In Love Again’, was one I was prepared to say that I didn’t like too much up until a couple of paragraphs ago when it finally clicked with me for some reason. The song features singer AB and it kind of has an R&B type of appeal, but it sounds like old school minimalist R&B and Stevy Mahy sounds like an enthused version of Alicia Keys or Jill Scott to AB’s smokiest of D’Angelo. Ultimately, I feel it works because of the ‘mood’ of the song which never seems to step beyond its boundaries in terms of being COMPLETELY unaware of what other music is on the album and the type of artist that we’re dealing with, who is very talented. So well done. Next in is the less ‘traveling’ and extremely RELAXED vibes of ‘What’s Going On’. The song is actually about Mahy questioning her own motives and actions which have obviously lead to a spoiled relationship, but I’m sorry Stevy, I feel your pain, I’ve been there (BELIEVE ME, I’ve been there) (SHIT, I’ve LIVED there for YEARS at a time in the past), but this song sounds so good that I’m having a really hard time moving passed that fact to find out what’s really going on. That being said, it doesn’t sound as good as what may just be my second favourite tune along ”The Beautiful Side of A Kreyol Folk Trip”, ‘Shine On Me’. The word I’m thinking of is BEAUTIFUL. Yet another beautiful tune for this album, highlighted by the fact that I nearly jumped out of my chair (scaring the hell out of the cat) when, with approximately twenty second remaining in the song, Stevy Mahy goes all Luciano on the people:

“No night in Zion, there is no night there
No night in Zion, there is no night there”

And it works and it’s appropriate for the song and - Just wow. Huge huge piece. Next up we relax things back just a bit on ‘Si’w Pé’, maybe one of the most ‘traditional’ Creole tracks on the album and, simultaneously, one of the most infectious. The tune starts off so nice and easy, but its intensity seems to rise and rise and by its end we clearly have one of the most colourful and ‘visually’ attractive selections on the trip. And for our final stop, ‘Mon Cœur Mon Ange’, Captain Mahy goes French for the most and in doing so creates an excellent ending. Really like the chorus on this one and the while it still certainly doesn’t sound quite ‘flashy’ enough to be considered Zouk (not even by my not so intelligent ears), it’s still lovely and has the same effect, I’m sure. Also, I should mention the presence of two skits. One ‘4:37 PM Harlem [NYC]’ appears to feature Mahy bumping into an old friend in New York and, lo and behold, the tune which follows it is the aforementioned R&B-ish ‘Falling In Love Again’ (the interlude actually features a woman asking Mahy “so why are you here in New York” in a crowded space and then the tune starts, seemingly to answer the question - She came to get the vibes). And the other piece is essentially an outro, ‘3:55 PM Les Abymes [Guadeloupe]’ and it finds Stevy Mahy, her beautiful trip completed, relaxing and enjoying the lovely day.

Overall, I don’t know if you could tell from the review, but I absolutely love this album. As I said, I was looking for something to kind of reignite my passion and taste for Zouk music and despite not really being a Zouk album (even though I’m going to label it as such), ”The Beautiful Side of A Kreyol Folk Trip” from Stevy Mahy has, essentially, done just that. More importantly, it’s also given to me and the entire world a potentially DOMINANT talent in French Caribbean music (and you can certainly take that in the all-encompassing sense, in terms of genres) because I would suggest that, because of her VERY relaxed style, Mahy might find very responsive audiences in genres like traditional R&B and Jazz and maybe even Pop to some degree. But, because such successes may require more effort than Mahy is willing to give or offer more than she simply wants (from what I’ve read about the singer she REALLY seems to be focused on making her mark on music in Guadeloupe in particular and representing it), we may have her ALL to ourselves. I’m not going to be the one to complain because when next Stevy Mahy packs up and takes another trip like this one, I’ll definitely be on board, no matter where she's headed. EXCELLENT!

Rated: 5/5 [4th Five Star of the year]
BCaribbean
2010
Digital

Stevy Mahy @ Myspace
Stevy Mahy @ Twitter