Speaker 1: 0:02

Everybody, welcome back to another episode of carry on friends the Caribbean American experience. And I'm excited because this is another episode of circle back, when we circle back to the guests who came on the podcast many moons ago and we are going to catch up with them. So in this episode, I'm circling back with none other than the Andrew Clark, executive director of Brata Productions. So let me tell you, andrew was the very first guest on the podcast and anywhere I see him, I tell people that he's the very first guest on the podcast in 2015. He appeared in episode number four, which was released in February, february 10, 2015, to be specific. So, andrew, welcome back to carry on friends.

Speaker 2: 0:50

Thank you for having me back, Carrie Ann. Great to be back here.

Speaker 1: 0:54

I'm so excited for this conversation. All right, so I'm sure a lot has happened since the last time you were on the podcast in 2015. So, before we catch up, tell the audience about you and Brata Productions.

Speaker 2: 1:08

All right, so my name is Andrew Clark. As you mentioned, I'm the founder and executive director of Brata Productions. Brata Productions is a multi-pronged performing and presenting arts organization. We present and perform theater, folk performance, we do some education, working after schools and senior centers, and we have a suite of family festivals that are presenting annually bank or Caribbean culture festival, caribides food and music festival and wildly popular Christmas Grand Market.

Speaker 1: 1:39

Wonderful, and I mean, andrew, you'll notice from the last episode, but I'll tell the audience this I love Brata Productions. I came to the black that I am that you did back in 2015. And I grew up on exactly what Brata Productions is doing. You know the mislues, the folk singing, the, everything. So for me, what you're doing is of utmost importance in the preservation of our culture and allowing that to be digital right, because it's one thing to do those performance live, you know, because we do live performance. What's important in what you're doing is capturing that, those performances, because other people then get to experience that and, in a way, you are preserving aspects of our culture. You know much things used to be on JBC that. God knows if you can find it again. No, it's gone.

Speaker 2: 2:32

Yeah, that fire that took out JBC. We lost all of Ringding. We lost every single episode of Ringding. Yeah, yeah, man. So a lot of our history has been lost because we failed to digitize all of this stuff that was living on tapes and the Hurricane Hamna fire and who and who followed with who, and suddenly you know, this part, this particular part of our history has been lost forever. So we're thankful for the awakening that the 20s has brought us, that we now have technology that we can capture these things and battle them and wait the time capsule. We can't drop them on time capsule. So now we're going to drop a little thumb drive with all the way sang them and we video them. And you know, some kids 50 years, you know 100 years from now, they're going to open this time capsule and be like oh, this is what. This is some groovy music. Well, I'm not going to say groovy, but whatever, this is some whatever music from back in the day, back in the 20s.

Speaker 1: 3:31

I know, I know. So when we spoke at the time, brata was six years old, and now it's about 14.

Speaker 2: 3:38

Four 15 this year. Yes, 15.

Speaker 1: 3:42

So what's the difference between the 2015 Brata and the 20 24 Brata? What were what are like, maybe, two significant changes that have impacted and catapulted the growth of Brata productions?

Speaker 2: 3:58

I think, clarifying of our mission and vision. We were, we were very sharply focused on showcasing Jamaican culture and that the last few years we've we've shifted and, I think, quite to our benefit, so we're reaching a much broader audience now to focus on the wider Caribbean. You know you'll talk to the average New Yorker and it's easy to find Caribbean culture representations in in in New York because Jamaican people know we, they're all both, and the other islands often bemoaned the fact that they're overshadowed by Jamaica because we are, we've got the athletes, we've got the food, like there's that there's a travel blogger now that's talking about the best foods in in in the Caribbean and, of course, in this, jamaica's number one, trinidad has number two and Haiti has number three and there's a whole conversation about who has the best food. Jamaica oftentimes overshadows all the other islands and so we felt it part of our mission. It was important to make sure that we're amplifying those other islands because they have stories to that are really important and you know, highlighting things like not everybody sounds Jamaican, like most times, people here and Teagans and they here, greenies and the greenie dance and they're like oh, y'all are Jamaican. No, their sound is distinctly different from ours and for them, beef patty, although Jamaican original beef patty I got taste different from food beef patty.

Speaker 2: 5:22

So in the last few years we've shifted focus to highlighting the milestone anniversaries for each of these islands. So Two years ago, jamaica and Trinidad celebrated their 50th anniversary, so of course we started, or shift from that year. Last year we celebrated gosh this was a few days ago. We celebrated Damanica. Damanica, I think, turned 45,. Kits and Nivis was 40, and the Bahamas, the islands of the Bahamas was 50. So that was their celebration. This year, haiti Haiti is turning 220 years. They're celebrating 220 years of independence. Our Grenada is 50, and St Vincent and the Grenadines, I think, is 45. So we have and St Lucia also in the mix as well celebrating another milestone anniversary. So now we're going to uplift those islands. So it's not only been about Jamaica for the last few years.

Speaker 1: 6:18

I love that. I love that and you know it's so in alignment with what Carry On Friends is, because I could have started something about Jamaicans and I'm like that wasn't what I wanted. Because I remember distinctively when I moved here from Jamaica I left Good Good Alvernia and come to America and went to school and then I heard all these accents and I was just like wait, what is going on? And I remember that my high school experience was so enriched by my interaction with my Grenadian friends, those who are from St.

Speaker 1: 6:49

Croix, you know those from St Vincent the.

Speaker 1: 6:52

Haitians and I'm just like I'm not going to create a platform just for Jamaicans right, there's plenty out there. I want something that's more inclusive, because now my culture is a little bit of what the Trinities, the St Vincent and all of these people do are saying. You know, like there's a very specific language or the way we speak, because now we're infused with these other Caribbean cultures. I'll never forget when somebody say, are you coming? And they say yeah, just now, and I'm like wait, I don't understand what is just now versus Jamaican.

Speaker 1: 7:33

So, you've come to embrace that. And when you're ready, you use just now along with your soon come you know all these things.

Speaker 1: 7:41

So that adds to a richness and all you said like the vision and realigning that to a broader goal, because Caribbean is also regional right, we are seen as what they call it, a geopolitical region, and collectively we are the force, and so I love to see when brands are incorporating that collectiveness to also push culture forward. So the last time you were on the show you tell the story of how you decide, say you know what you're there, good good Florida, and you see, you know what Midasaga Pickup has, that one performing at company. So tell us a little bit about that orange story. And then I want to go into a question about something you said in an interview. So tell us about that origin story.

Speaker 2: 8:28

Yeah, man. So back in the early 2000s I lived in Florida and didn't have much of an avenue for expression, cultural expression. You know there are theaters there. I didn't know of any Caribbean performing at schools. But in Florida you have to drive everything far away so you're dispersed. And I all the time, growing up in Jamaica people when people hear me sing and perform, they'd say, oh, you should be on Broadway, you should be on Broadway. So I thought let's go to New York. So I parked up my car and drove up to New York. But quickly, you know, got a rude awakening that and a big guy can sing. I mean, they're going to get your name in a demarchy. It's a lot more work than that, you know. You've got to be armed with lots of talent and connections, and I came here with a big Jamaican accent and a Jamaican role at UF2. Twenty years later, you know, 15 years later, not much has changed. And so Brata needed to be birthed to give Caribbean American artists like myself a platform to be our most authentic self.

Speaker 1: 9:33

I love that and I love that you said the Broadway thing, because you were recently in a Broadway production of the Harder they Come and guess what audience? He was the soul Jamaican and correct me if I'm wrong. You were the soul Jamaican, aka the uncle Jamaican.

Speaker 2: 9:50

For most of the time on stage, I was the soul, jamaican, thanks to, you know, the awakening around the pandemic. In theater there's this thing called understudies and swings that are prepared to go on at any point in time, and there was another Jamaican born actor in that outfit, and so one night I had to, very, very early on in the run, I had to cover one of the leads for the show and to go on with like a day's notice for one of the leads, and that Jamaican covered my role, and so for a very, very limited time we had two Jamaicans and still, quite, quite honestly, out of a cast of 20, a little bit of that Think we didn't have enough more Jamaican on the stage. So yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:35

I was happy, happy to be one of two Jamaicans on the stage at any given point.

Speaker 1: 10:41

And the reason why one or two Jamaicans it's still significantly little bit is because the harder they come is a very Jamaican production, like the movie itself. I don't know how many people are familiar with the movie with Jimmy Cliff. That really helped they. You know it's been said that the harder they come really helped put reggae particularly further on the global map, and so it was interesting, you know, in terms of why so little Jamaicans were in this production.

Speaker 1: 11:13

And so I want to get to this thing that I'm sure you've heard, where people are going to say why them couldn't put a more Jamaican in there or why they can't have more Jamaican actors or Caribbean actors with a better accent. And a lot of times I say, yes, that is true, but it's not like you say and also easy. There are reasons why they're not enough of us, some that we play a part in and some where the industry plays a part in. Can you speak to the person who says why they can't have more Jamaican or Caribbean people in productions, movie, theater, streaming, wherever that involves us and our culture?

Speaker 2: 11:49

Yeah, yes, I'll address that. But me know, one of the people I go cost me. We cast me by them cost me. So let me make the distinction that we were one of only two Jamaican born actors, but there are other actors there that had Jamaican parents, you know. So they're Jamaican. But to answer your question, it's very, it's a very layered thing. There are a number of reasons and, as you mentioned, it's both industry related and we have to play a part in it. In Jamaica.

Speaker 2: 12:19

I don't think and that may have changed since I've left, but certainly when I went to Edna Manley, for example, edna Manley did not prepare me for New York City. I went to Edna and I was at drama school and I never got in a dance class. If I didn't friend up some of the people in my dance school and go jumping out and dance class after school, if I never found Dr Watson at the music school and begging him thinking me for some free lessons coming up, no money for tech voice classes with a world renowned opera teacher, I wouldn't have gotten the little introduction to dance and music that I did. And luckily I had come to Edna Manley already being an achieved singer and so I wanted to keep on honing my talent. But had the school been focused on treating and training and preparing the whole artist for the performing arts world, we'd have been much better. I mean a lot of schools that you go to in the US. You'll get on camera training. Even though you're training for theater, you're still training to be able to audition for commercials for film and television. You'll get dance training. You'll get accent training and not just about accent reduction, which I had to learn when I came to America, but you'll learn the oh my God, the International Phonetic Alphabet that allows you to be able to take on accents from right around the world, just because you've learned the rudiments of pronunciation and accent creation.

Speaker 2: 13:54

So we're just not simply armed for first world competitiveness as actors and then the other side and this is not gonna be a very popular opinion but some of us just don't take the craft seriously. We just think because we can sing and dance and act, we don't believe that we must continue to work on building that craft and study the craft and study the industry in which we're entering, because it's not just about talent, it's not just about raw talent. So that's one part of the equation and then the other part is the industry and the powers that be, you know, the folks that are in places of authority and the decision makers. They're not Jamaican, they're not Caribbean, and so their idea of authenticity is oftentimes skewed. It's funny when my American friends try to imitate something, they think that's the way I speak and I'm like no, I don't talk like that. And they immediately hear me talk and I just said the word here with an H and then say, oh, no, you said here. And I'm like no, I didn't say here, I said here.

Speaker 2: 15:01

So there's this preving idea of what the Jamaican Caribbean sound is, and even that a lot of times you hear on these shows, you hear what is supposed to be a Caribbean accent and it's like no, but which country? Because all of our accents are different. We're not all Jamaican, so the Haitian accent sounds distinctly different from a Trinidadian accent. That is not a Jamaican accent.

Speaker 2: 15:29

And so the people that are in power, that are decision makers, they don't really care about the nuances of our accents, they don't really care about the nuances of our lived experiences, and so they give you a broad brush kind of like idea of it, and if they hear an actor coming there, that sound kind of sort of like what they think Jamaican Caribbean people sound. They're like, oh yeah, that's it. And some of them, quite honestly, will shy away from an authentic sound because they think that an audience will not relate to it, it's not gonna be able to be heard by the people that buy movie tickets and come at the theater. They're like, oh no, ie folks of the Caucasian persuasion are not gonna be able to understand somebody. If you're good on the Racha Patuana Chatzel, they now understand, and so they would much prefer to present a sanitized version of the Caribbean voice and the Caribbean experience. So yeah, very, very layered problem there All right two things.

Speaker 1: 16:38

I sometimes feel like this idea of not having a thick accent is going to be a turn off. If that were the case, reggae music wouldn't have been as popular at it is because they're not modulating for an audience that doesn't speak our language. They're singing. I mean, we're not talking dancehall artists, we're talking reggae artists.

Speaker 2: 17:00

So you think about.

Speaker 1: 17:01

Bob Marley. Bob Marley interview he's not speaking in Magudong, you know the Patuana, and then he's speaking Rastafarian, speak which going ayana, ayandisanda and all of these things you think about the burning spears and all of it, like they're really getting into the accent. So I find that a bit of an excuse if they're saying that I think it's a couple Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 17:26

Yeah, I mean you think of something like Sarafina when you saw Sarafina and Theta. We never understand what they must sing say some of the time, but you believed in the experience. You're suspended and whatever you know, understand, you'll get it based on context. The same for when they're telling Hispanic stories. Gosh did not forgive me in the heights when they did in the heights recently. You know those folks were adamant that we needed to present this story in an authentic, as authentic a fashion as possible. And this movie that they had recently Hispanic as well. I'm not remembering the name of it. I watched it on the on playing one of these times. Really, really big Hispanic movie that came out recently. It was an animated movie.

Speaker 1: 18:16

Oh, is the one where we don't talk about Bruno.

Speaker 2: 18:19

Yes.

Speaker 1: 18:21

I should know it. I should know it. It's an example.

Speaker 2: 18:23

You're sure.

Speaker 1: 18:25

My kids watch it all the time.

Speaker 2: 18:27

So many elements that were authentic from their culture, but they never business a wee. English speakers Never understood. They were about representing their culture culture in an authentic a fashion as possible. So yeah, but I think what's key in stories like that is that the decision makers at the table were from the culture, and so they were about yo listen, if you're going to do this, you're going to do this right, and oftentimes we don't have a seat at the table, and so that's why the decision can be made by us.

Speaker 1: 18:59

Yes, I'm going to come back to another question, but I want to clarify something that you also clarified right, and this is why research is important. So where I got the soul Jamaican born actor from? I should have fixed that because, on, carry on, friends, I personally do not believe that you are not Jamaican because you are born here, my pitnidem. Go tell us that they are Jamaican. They're bonafide, but they're going to consider themselves Jamaican. So I am now aware that the other performers in that production are of Jamaican Caribbean heritage, which is important I am not specific about. They have a bond with Jamaica as long as they have cultural heritage. You know that is good for me. So what do you bond here? Are you of your parents or whatever? That's good enough for me. So I want to clarify that. My apologies to the rest of the cast. Y'all want to, we, Because that's how my kids are like.

Speaker 2: 19:53

You know that's just how we're going. Yeah, Jamaican.

Speaker 1: 19:57

The consulate is going to treat you as such a Jamaican government. If you're going to produce your parents stuff that they were born there, then you will get a Jamaican citizenship.

Speaker 2: 20:06

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 20:08

So, so, so that aside, so I also wanted to talk about this idea of people are like they couldn't get a Jamaican actor. And it doesn't quite work this way, because theater movies they're very unionized right, and so you can't just pluck up a Jamaican person for an American production.

Speaker 1: 20:25

And I learned that working with the Herman Hall of Everybody's Magazine and when he had to bring the Oliver productions to the New York Tri-State area. You know I learned that they had to go through this process in order to make sure that you tell the unions, the theater unions in New York, that you're not stealing jobs from people who are in the New York area that are off the theater. This is very authentic Jamaican plays and you can't just swap out people in there.

Speaker 1: 20:57

So I want you to talk to me about the role of being in a union and what does that play in just casting Jamaican people or Caribbean people into productions, whether that's on Broadway, off Broadway, just theater generally, or on screen.

Speaker 2: 21:15

Yes. So for actors in theater the union is equity and then for film and television it's sag after. If you're not a member of the union you're essentially gonna be at the back of the line. Those non-union actors for theater are typically the ones that will have to show up to an audition, you know, at seven or eight am in the morning, and sign an unofficial list that may or may not be honored, and wait around for hours and hours until five o'clock when the audition done, with hope of being seen Hope of being seen. There's no guarantee because preference would be given to equity actors who then can go on the equity website and sign up for a slot. And even then you have to wake up, probably eight o'clock in the morning. But at least you wake up in your bed eight o'clock in the morning and just signing up, and then you can go back to your bed to see when you get a slot.

Speaker 2: 22:18

Non-equity actors they've got to show up early and hope that they get seen. Another way that you would get an audition slot is if you have an agent and a lot of New York actors go and not represented. So they're neither in the union, so they can't self-submit and they don't have an agent that can submit them or a manager that can submit them. So there are a number of layers to getting in the room to even audition and unfortunately it's probably a lack of information, really a lack of information that you know, curribent actors, them no know, say I'll let them something, then it will happen. So they're just commenting listen, I'm gonna just make it on the big white way, but it's their layers, lots of layers you've got to peel away at.

Speaker 1: 23:06

And also the audience, right. So I hear what the audience wants, but I'm like, if there are not people who pay to fee to be in the union, then it's not your, like you said. I just know this right, but I wanted you who are in the space to say this if you're not part of the union, it makes it harder for you to get a job. It's the same thing with the Grammys. Did you pay your fees to be?

Speaker 1: 23:30

a part of the recording academy association. So if you didn't pay your fee, you can't vote for your album. So if you are complain about who won the reggae Grammy, it's because your favorite artist is not a member of the recording academy and so they cannot vote on which album gets you know, the top reggae. The reggae Grammy of the year is just plain and simple. So that's where you said information and knowledge, and I remember I was at a dinner party and somebody's like so what is the membership fee?

Speaker 1: 24:03

I'm gonna say it's not a lot you know, based on you know it should be something you're budget for, but it's not like it's hundreds and thousands, it's like a bit of money.

Speaker 2: 24:12

So you know it's like this is what At least for the Grammys equity and off money and don't get me started on that, because I think our initiation fees something like $3,200. Some crazy like in the thousands, and mind you, you can pay it in installments, but think of someone that doesn't is not getting shows to be. A $3,200 is like a lot of money.

Speaker 1: 24:36

I mean in the grand scheme of things, right it's, but again, it's a goal that you said. I honestly feel like the Grammy isn't that much.

Speaker 2: 24:44

Oh, no man, no man no. Granny a little bit of money compared to that.

Speaker 1: 24:48

So, but again, this is one to tell the carry on friends audience. Yes, we hear you, yes, we know that we want more Caribbean actors, whether they're born in the region or their parents come from the region to be in productions, whether in theater or on film or whatever. But they have. It's good if they are members of these unions, because the unions get first preference. So next thing so while you are doing the PR for Harder Day Come, you did an interview with the New York Foundation for the Arts and you just kind of mentioned it, but I wanted to kind of quote you. They asked you about why you started this and you kind of said it.

Speaker 1: 25:25

Then there was my accent. I have a thick Jamaican accent and I still do, after thousands of dollars and many hours of accent reduction coaching. It was especially challenging as I was auditioning for characters who did not sound like me. It is very rare you come across Caribbean shows or characters in mainstream American theater. There is not a lot of focus on authentic representation in the mainstream theatrical space. This was a reality check, because I realized there was no space for me, so I went back to the drawing board and that's how you came up with Brata Production, All right. So when I read this McGa century doxion, what? Come on, talk to me, explain to me, explain to me what's going on.

Speaker 2: 26:08

Everything else that you do is a twang Me can't walk into the audition and say I'm going to audition for American role sounding like this, so you got to find the authentic sound, and that takes a lot of money or a lot of skill. Those British actors, men, don't know what in the water will be written, but the British actors can be anything they want to be. So the British actors stay stealing American roles, and I say stealing.

Speaker 1: 26:40

No, I saw a Netflix documentary that say they talked about what is named David O, who got the role of Martin Luther King in the thing Like. I noticed that all the British actors, they can then do any accent. Yeah, man Idris, all of them come right down.

Speaker 2: 26:56

You remember House? Yes, he's British. I know British actor Men. I never know House. I was down the aisles of the hospital sounding quite American. So yeah, you walk into these auditions and even after thousands of dollars, with an accent coach, some casting directors will go I hear an accent. Where are you? You know you don't sound like you're from America. I'm like I would have told you that a long ago.

Speaker 2: 27:26

I would have told you that a long ago, I mean when I did that five years ago. I still pick up seminal come fryer. It's discernible, it's sometimes people are able to pick you and what my accent coach said, you know, many years ago, was that it's you don't have a gosh Native American sound. So Native American speakers have a particular rhythm to their speech. It's not just like saying water. That's not enough. There are lots of technical things that are trained here or, like we on the opposite side, no matter how good somebody's Jamaican accent is Like.

Speaker 2: 28:05

I watched a movie recently, Canadian film, and the actress, she is Jamaican American and I was really, really like I thought she was an American actress, but she she bought a Kingston and her Jamaican accent was good, but I knew that she never lived in Jamaica. I knew I could pick it up because there's just certain things that natively you just know, you don't know. So those are the things that casting directors pick up and me and tell you they're not likely to give a non American an American role before they considered an American for it. Similarly, I remember auditioning for a production where adults were playing kids and the casting director really liked me.

Speaker 2: 28:52

I want Jamaican role, me and Adish and Fano, Me not get the role, Me, not get the role. I want to go go watch a production and me say, okay, I only did one, the Tin Pan Jamaican. We did sound two Jamaican for you. And then she proceeds to call me and ask me if I could play like one of the founding fathers for another production for her. And I'm like, ma'am, make it make sense. Make it make sense, ma'am, Give me the role that I wanted, not this other founding father business. So those are the challenges that you encounter sometimes in the industry.

Speaker 1: 29:24

All right so so like an uptown Kinston twang might make it pass for a little. Nope, that's okay.

Speaker 2: 29:34

They're not gonna know man.

Speaker 1: 29:36

I mean when I'm okay, maybe. Maybe if they want a reduced accent, they still want the accent, but it's a little bit reduced. With a Kinston, uptown, kinston person, get away with it, or oh yeah, man.

Speaker 2: 29:49

Yeah, man, I think it's possible. I think it's how much again the folks that are behind the table are willing to take, how far they're willing to take it. I think that ultimately is is the deciding factor, because during the pandemic and the lockdown, I think there was a lot of pushback in the industry about authenticity, and so I think people are paying attention a little bit more and are becoming a little bit more cognizant of misrepresenting. But we still have a long way to go and I think ultimately, no matter how you, how you knock it, you know the powers that be are going to put out the art that they are comfortable with and being comfortable with something means you sometimes don't face the reality of what it is and when, when all is said and done, we need to get in places of power. That is where I think the ultimate deciding factor is going to be that we need to support Caribbean art when it comes out, so those shows can run authentic Caribbean performances.

Speaker 2: 30:51

You know there are a lot of productions that are Caribbean. There are a lot of Caribbean arts organizations not just brought a production, kong Shell production, something positive. A lot of Caribbean arts organizations that are doing work here in New York City, support those folks so they can continue to tell our authentic stories. But also, we need to get them put together with them because we can guarantee you say, if we didn't have the money, the financial power to say we're going to join the producing team, we're going to, we're going to create a production company that's going to only be focused on telling Caribbean stories and we're all Caribbean in the room. I mean, imagine the power. We wouldn't need to have a discussion with anybody else but ourselves to say, all right, I would show you, I've got it this year. Is it Grenada, trinidad, jamaica, you know? And where we're going to find these authentic actors? And you can, you can rest assured we would find the talent that we needed. But that only happens unless we're the chiefs in the kitchen.

Speaker 1: 31:54

Yeah, yeah, I love that. I love that so much. All right, so what's next for you? Are you have more theater productions that come up? All right, we're going to catch up on TV because, OK, so the one thing I know about this when another Jamaican comes on the show, make good on another accent. So let me bring myself back out.

Speaker 1: 32:15

So let me bring myself back out. I know you did a commercial in Jamaica, right? So what are your plans, or what are some of the activity happening? State side, are there plans for TV or are we just staying in theater Like what's next for you and Brata Productions?

Speaker 2: 32:36

Very good question. I think we'll have Brata film division emerging in the other side of the 15 years. We've been talking with Carla Bryan Williams, who is our artistic director, and we are in the workshop right now working on a script for what we hope to be our first short film. So yeah, that is in the works. The hope is that that will give us a much broader audience. There's no denying that theater certainly has a limitation, but because when one actor goes from film to theater, everybody knows them. When an actor goes from theater to film, they're like, oh, but everybody in the theater knows them. So we know, we're aware of the broader appeal that film and television has. So that's one of the divisions that we plan to add to our suite.

Speaker 2: 33:24

We're in our 15th anniversary. Our crystal gala is coming up on the 2nd of May and we hope to make that a big splash, because you only turn 15 once and that's really a remarkable milestone and I'm not saying that just because I'm at the helm, but it's been a journey for the last 15 years. And the pandemic lots of nonprofits close their doors because of funding and that's the reality of navigating difficulties of the pandemic. So we're happy to have reemerged from there and we're stronger than we've ever been, and we are going to be taking production off Broadway. So that is our next big fundraising campaign. We're going to be launching that in February and we're calling it a people-powered campaign because we can't do it alone.

Speaker 2: 34:15

Off Broadway is an expensive prospect, it's an expensive venture to take on, and so we need community support, both to fund it so that we can get there, we can pay the bills for marketing and promotion and rental of the theater, and to pay our actors.

Speaker 2: 34:33

So we're going to be doing two shows in rep, the Brata Folk Singers in concert, and on opposing nights each of the productions will be playing. So the Brata Folk Singers in concert normally involves choral music, that is, inspirational songs, reggae, caribbean classics, lico-calipso and, of course, folk music. And then on the other side we'll have two plays, the first directed by Faye Ellington, with Melon Lowe and Dalia Harris, and it's a production called Fallen Angel and the Devil's Conquerbine Long title we're just going to say Fallen Angel and the other production is Night Woman by Jolene Robinson, and that just recently had a very successful solo run in the Barbican in London, and so it will be coming over to New York. So we'll be doing our fundraising campaign for that in February and putting ourselves up on the marquee somewhere off Broadway, and we hope that this is going to be the first of many that we will be able to tell our stories on our mainstream stage.

Speaker 1: 35:38

And Carrie Ann from Carrie On Friends will be there in our patent leather shoes. Ha ha, ha, ha ha. I'm just messing, I'm just messing. No, I'm so, so excited, so excited for all of this and, of course, share, when the time come, you'll share with me and I'll share it with the audience, how they can support this grassroots initiative to fund what Brata is doing for our culture and representation. So I'm so excited. So, before we go, which is the number one folk song people request for noticing Gosh, everybody has their favorite.

Speaker 2: 36:13

I think if the Jamaican it would be like long time Gala, evening time yes, those two are like yeah, those two are like tops. And then sometimes you'll meet somebody and them say them say are really obscure, when I'm like that's in a repertoire, but we don't perform that often.

Speaker 1: 36:31

So what is your favorite?

Speaker 2: 36:34

One of my favorite would be Yala Yam. When me roast the Yala Yam and me slice it in a two, how nice it will be with the yaki and the sal fish. You know the one that lunges Well, another folk song that I love. Another one that's a favorite of mine is Danki song, which, coincidentally, we'll be launching. We did a music video for a folk song, a Dinky mini song called Danki song. So tell me which month they go learn from. Call January, february, march, april, may, may, may.

Speaker 1: 37:12

I heard that one. Yes, yes, but I mean evening time makes sense, because the reason why evening time makes sense is like for me, at the time when we're going home. That is what I used to hear when JBC signed on in the evening.

Speaker 2: 37:26

Right, I can't sing like you, evening time.

Speaker 1: 37:29

Work is over. Now it's evening time.

Speaker 2: 37:33

Mm-hmm, ha ha ha, you sound like you could have pulled an altar section, man. Yes, listen, listen, that's true in your voice you pull an altar section.

Speaker 1: 37:41

Yes, you know, if you want put me to work, you know, you know, just give me a call. But I just love that type of stuff, Like you know. I remember my primary school teachers. They were just so important because primary school was a time where they used to groom you for festival and so you had to go through this rigorous, like knowing songs, singing in rounds, I'm like. I loved singing in rounds and all of the songs, so I just love it.

Speaker 1: 38:07

So thank you for circling back with me, andrew, and we'll be doing some things. We'll go link up and do some things, but tell the audience where they could find you and brought to productions online.

Speaker 2: 38:20

We are on all the most digital platforms. You can find us on Facebook, instagram, youtube, x, me Almosa, twitter, all Brata Productions, b-r-a-a-t-a Productions and our website BrataProductionsorg. Notcom. But O-R-G because we're a nonprofit, so check out our social media on our website.

Speaker 1: 38:47

All right, andrew. And as I love to say you have to say it with me, right as I love to say at the end of every episode, we say work good.

Speaker 2: 38:55

Work good. Me can say the rest, yeah, go ahead. Work good and good doppy work with you, yeah.

Speaker 1: 39:03

You know there's a song for that, right, I know, but I remember all of these things.

Speaker 2: 39:07

Work good every day and good doppy work with you. Work good, work good on your way and good doppy work with you. Work good every day on your way. Work good, good. Follow you. If you're just work good, work good. My friend, if you're just work, I tell you work good again. If you're just work good.

Speaker 1: 39:39

Wonderful Lord, we love it. All. Right, guys, take care.

Speaker 2: 39:44

Take care.