VIDEO: Linstead songster finds hit
September 23, 2020https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7dhSCgASoU
Javarie Weir, from High Mountain district in the Linstead area of St. Catherine, has never been this upbeat about getting the big break in the highly competitive music industry.
Although his progress has been slowed by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, his hope still runs high.
“This year was supposed to be the year when wi goh full speed, but, because of the pandemic, wi haffi slow down a little,” said the artiste, who uses the stage name Vahriie.
He, on September 11, released ‘My Place’, which he thinks stands the best chance of catapulting him to stardom.
The song highlights the exploitation and stigmatization of ‘ghetto’ communities by politicians. “That is something that is quite noticeable all over Jamaica and within the wider world,” Vahriie told The Beacon, adding that his latest release has international appeal.
“I see this song on a major platform like on an international level because there are projects and ghettos all over the world – projects for some communities and not for some.”
The song has been getting positive feedback here in Jamaica, Vahriie said.
“I get a lot of good comments; I haven’t gotten any bad comment at all. Everybody is just loving the vibe,” he added. “People want good music in a time like this when wi lock down [due to COVID-19]. People want good music fi feed dem soul. That’s what Vahriie is about. I am a person who does music not only for the ear, but to soothe the soul.”
Notably, ‘My Place’ was released on the heels of the 2020 General Election, but Vahriie said the timing was totally coincidental.
He explained that he wrote the song – and wrote it effortlessly, in January of this year.
“I wrote it immediately after meeting the producer for that specific song – Dashawn from the label named Glendevon Records who I met through a friend called Babajaay,” Vahriie added.
He said the song was recorded in April or May, and then mixed and mastered by late July.
“We were just waiting on the funds to do the video. It just happened that, in the time of the election, the funds come up to do it and wi just move along with it,” Vahriie disclosed.
It is not surprising that the artiste, who attended Pollyground Primary School and Dinthill Technical High, is using music as his vehicle to make a positive difference.
“It’s a bloodline. Majority of the people from my father’s side of family are singers,” said Vahriie, the cousin of up and coming Gospel artiste Marlon Christie.
The ‘My Place’ singer, who discovered his musical talent when he was about age four, wrote his first song at 13 years old.
“I started to do music from I was very young; I started in church,” he added. “There has been an upward movement from then. I never stop; I continue writing.”
Prior to branching out on his own, Vahriie was a member of a group called C3 Emblem, which comprised three Dinthill Technical High students.
“I was more talented than the others because I was not only a deejay but I could actually sing. That was my strength and talent that they didn’t know about until ninth grade when we formed this group,” he explained.
The group hosted ‘secret concerts’ at the school on Thursdays to help raise funds for a schoolmate, Vahriie said.
He is now working mainly with producer Michael Howell from Boxy Records.
He said Tad’s Record is also playing a ‘major part’ in his career.
Vahriie, who told The Beacon that he has a ‘huge catalog’ of songs, welcomes the support he has been getting from his many fans, including his parents Ian Weir and Judith Brown.
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