INTERVIEW: Queen Ifrica discusses her Road to Montego Bay

Eclipse Magazine: So tell us about your new album, Road to Montego Bay?

QUEEN IFRICA: The album is about Queen Ifrica introducing herself to the international Reggae world from a female rastafarian point of view with her views and opinions of how we can make a better society. We also take on the subject of love & relationships and just keeping it real. That is Road to Montego Bay in a nutshell.

EM: I’ve noticed that the song Lioness on the Rise showed us your strong spirit. What was your inspiration to writing this song?

QI: This is a very special song because its about empowering women without being sexist while of doing it. It can be appreciated by a man who will be listening to that song. He could get actually get inspiration from where we’re coming from. Even though its about strengthening women and giving women a pat on the back saying “Yeah, you can be a housewife and also be an hard worker of peace.” Even a husband or a son would want to be one of those persons encouraging her along. It lot of this derives from universal innocence in a way.

EM: Coconut Shells feels like a journey back to your roots. Tell us about its inspiration.

QI: Coconut Shells is it a herb song for the Rastafarian community. I associated with reggae music. Its only fitting to do a herb song. Its not a herb song about smoking all day but its from the point of there are things that you can say and get an education from listening to people as oppose to just burning it. Some people can  provide a good mediation while listening to the song.

EM: Finally, “Daddy” is one of the most powerful songs on your album. What can you tell us about this song?

QI: “Daddy, don’t touch me there” speaks for itself. It deals with incest and the things of what it can do to an individual. I talk about it even though its a taboo subject for a lot people.

EM: Speaking of “Daddy”, I read that you presented UNICEF a copy of the CD  during the World Day for the Prevention of Child Abuse and has drawn controversy when it was released. Do you feel that this song will give the voice all those who are affected by child abuse?

QI: Yes, I definitely feel so. I feel its actually an action from the responses I’ve gotten from people who carried it within them for so long and not been able to come and say it out loud. A lot of people have been talking about  going to the police, going to their Mom or their Dad to talk about this thing. I can pat myself on the back for saying that it was my vainess that gave a lot of people who wanted to do this for a while. The courage to come forward.

EM: Do you think Reggae music is in a good place?
Even though it is in a good place, there’s always is going to be destruction because this world is made up of good & evil, depending on the side you choose. The music of reggae was never about class or creed, it was in the sense of the poor. It was born out of poverty. It was born out of people who are downtrodden by society. Therefore, it doesn’t matter if its in America, or Europe, wherever you find people who are suffering, they will always gravitate to music because it soothes the soul.

Music has the power and ability to go beyond the barriers of languages and culture. There’s going to be that element because we live in a world where goodness is never welcomed by negativity. They will do everything to keep it in the dark. You’ll find that because of what reggae music represents. A lot of negative elements that try to tarnish the image in whatever it can. It’s like your blood, you cannot change the color of your blood. You cannot change the vibe that reggae music brought in the form of Bob Marley.

EM: Who were your musical influences growin up?

QI: Definitely Mr. Tony Rivers because he was the only positive Rasta artist that young rasta people could look up to.

EM: Are you planning to tour the world with your music?

QI: Fortunately for me, I been given the priviledge to come to europe a number of times on the count of Tony Rivers. A year from now, I’ll be going on the road to America to do promotional tour on this album coming. Also, looking forward to coming to Europe. i can safely say when I come to Europe, I am happy that Europe always accepts and love my music.

EM: What parts of Europe?

QI: We have gove to Germany, France, Switzerland. You name it, we go right across the board. I went to  this one European island where its close to Africa and there’s beautiful sunshine around the clock.

EM: If you could pick your ultimate place to tour where and why?

QI: It would be more than one place but it would be Paris. There is this one venue in Paris where I had performed where the energy of the audience was totally overwhelming. In the summertime, it would be Italy. The energy and the people is like over the top. What I find is all the other areas that you go to, like the club and the smaller shows. When it comes to the big shows, there are young people who travel from these area and come into the big cities. They have all the fun when they come to the show like the Sundance festival. It’s beautiful the way the little areas come together and explode with excitement.

EM: What is the one message you hope your listeners can take from this album?

QI: When you are aware of yourself its much easier to be aware of your surroundings and how you go about your daily life. When you listen to Queen Ifrica, I see myself an individual who is on a journey of self–awareness and being appreciate of self. You hear it come out in my music because  i want it to sound as beautiful as I would love to sound myself. I hope that the individual that sit down to listen can find their way to theirselves while listening to me because it was speaking to my peers in the form of instructions and advice. It helped me to find myself along the way through music. We each find strength in each other and I hope that the individual would find strength in me.

Look out for Queen Ifrica’s ROAD TO MONTEGO BAY coming to you on Tuesday, June 16th

For Eclipse Magazine, I’m Dean Rogers