After focusing his previous and sixth album (Caribbean Roots) on the entire Caribbean, the poet has achieved one of his dearest dreams: recording on his native island, Trinidad and Tobago. Recorded in a studio in Sans Souci (northeast tip), People of the Sun is a party as intense as the carnival that each year takes over the country for a month of preamble and a week of parades, with exhilarating music exploding everywhere and every moment. For the occasion, he draped his jazz funky hip-hop with all the vibrations living in him and in the heart and soul of his guests. Spiritual vibrations first of all, with the deep song of olorisha (the priestess of Santería) Ella Andall on the opening Milligan, The Ocean. The following song, Sans Souci (Totem), is taken over by Trinidad and Tobago favourite instrument, the steelpan, a percussion originally made out of oil drums and played in orchestras of up to a hundred musicians.
Here, Lennox "Boogsie" Sharpe − the famous arranger of the Phase II Pan Groove steel orchestra – is in charge. Later, he surrenders his drum sticks to Mikhail Salcedo on Bandit School, Suffering (This Savage Work), He Was Trying and On The Move. Bandit School also provides the opportunity to listen to brilliant rapso (rap + calypso) activists Wendell Manwarren and Stanton Kewley from 3Canal, who could almost convince us to join their alternative school. Rapso also brings its wisdom with one of the pioneers of Brother Resistance, on the song Dealings. The album concludes with the title track and a featuring with Trinidad and Tobago’s best neo-soul singer, John Francis. Anthony Joseph, his guests and his band, accompanied by the stunning British saxophonist, percussionist and arranger Jason Yarde, retrace with energy − using verses, notes and climates − the powerful and colourful quest for the essence of life. © Benjamin MiNiMuM / Qobuz