Aschadan and Legacies

The video opens with a blazing sunrise and ends with the artist walking into a sunset. In between, the video employs a rich variety of sequences to tell its story. We see compelling cemetery scenes of the laying of flowers that turn grieve into a thing of art and beauty. Against backgrounds of ruins, seascapes, and sweeping landscapes as viewed from on top of Moule-a-Chique and Morne Le Blanc, the artist tells his story of lost and renewal. The flashing of the front cover of funeral program cards leaves us in no doubt of the friends and love ones the artist is reminiscing about. Church scenes of Holy Communion, Christ crucifixion, and of kneeling in supplication speaks of peace and coming to terms with lost. And children at play on swings and at the beach signals that in the midst of lost and sorrow there is hope of a brighter future and cause for celebration.

Legacies is Aschadan?s first  video, but the artist already has five single releases under his belt, including Shadows After Dark, In My Dreams, Mama?s Blessings, and Legacies.  However, meeting Aschadan for the first time it is easy to conclude he looks and sounds too good to be true.  His clean cut  looks, his well  trimmed, athletic physique that speaks of regular hours at the gym, his total  emersion into the Jamaican  reggae dancehall tradition, and the fact that he hails from St. Lucia, which has yet to produce a reggae or dancehall artist of international acclaim, may all  contribute to doubting that he is for real. So, unsure of what to make of the artist, some brush him aside with "he sounds too much like Sean Paul." Closer examination, however, would reveal  that Aschadan sounds very different from Sean Paul. Compared to Sean Paul's deep and mellow voice,  Aschadan's refined voice has greater urgency and occupies a higher range.  The comparison to Sean Paul is simply  picking up on the fact that both artist occupy the same musical genre and both were influenced by the same predecessors. For example, Aschadan said that he grew up on the music of Super Cat, Cutty Ranks and Shabba Ranks.  Thus we can assume that these artists have had the greatest influence on his musical style. With regard to Sean Paul, some may recall that when he first emerged on the scene many discounted him as a carbon copy of Super Cat.

If Aschadan sounds too good to be true,  it could be  because he is a natural. The thing about  naturals is that it so happens that however they are built, whatever the environment in which they were raised, or whatever is inside of them has made them ideally suited for the activity in question. So it is as if they were made for that purpose and that purpose alone. This appears to be  true of Aschadan. It is as if he was born to be a reggae dancehall artist, and to make sure he fulfilled this destiny, his parents sired an older brother, who, when Aschadan was six or seven years old, was very much a dancehall performer, and so represented Aschadan's first introduction to dancehall music. And to seal the deal, his parents christened him Aschadan, a stage name that many artist would be happy to carry. In fact, many who come across Aschadan mistakenly take his given name as an adopted stage name.

With  hits of the likes of  Legacies, Shadows After Dark and Mama's Blessings, which have been clogging St. Lucia airwaves, Aschadan is well on his way to fulfilling his destiny. His conscious lyrics combined with his urgent, passionate, compelling and unforgettable voice bring to mind the prophets of old coming down from the mountains to bring messages of life and death to their people. Only in the case of Aschadan the message is steeped in reggae dancehall and the messenger is youthful, clean cut, and clothed in modern attire. In Shadows After Dark the artist warns us, "If we cah find food fe eat, well we nah trust no shadow after dark?"

Talent like Aschadan's cannot remain in the shadows for long. So unsurprisingly demand for his music is on the rise. In recent years he has perform at venues across the island including performances alongside Sherwin Winchester, Mervyn Wilkinson, Monty Maxwell, and  reggae super stars I Wayne and Gyptian.

Dr. Anderson Reynolds of Jako Productions, the producer of Freedom, arguably the best reggae album recorded in St. Lucia, has been so taken up by Aschadan, his music  the full package  that he has agreed to  manage the artiste. Thus, with the release of this his debut video, Aschadan has  taken yet another step towards his destiny. Fans can now view the video on youtube (aschadan.com) and on St. Lucian television, and they should  watch out for it on Tempo.

The riddim for Legacies was produced by Benjamin AEnfinite@ Joseph of Worldwind Productions. The song was voiced and mastered at Place on Earth. The video was scripted and directed by Dr. Anderson Reynolds, edited by Brian Francis and videography was by Brian Francis and Remy Avril.

For more information on Aschadan, Jako Productions, and the making of Legacies readers are asked to visit http://www.jakoproductions.com/.