Fede Ruben is taking calypso music back to the world market
Ruben launched the ElevenEleven 11:11 album project under his Rich Rasta record label last Sunday in his home community of Homeland Gardens, Cunupia.
ElevenEleven is an 11-song self-penned and self-produced project, that includes production from Grammy-nominated Jamaican sound engineer/musician Culture Paul (Paul Elliott). Soca acts Azariyah (Seumas Callendar) “Islands”, Erphaan Alves “Soca Party”, GBM Nutron (Jason Carter) “Let’s Rock”, Jonnelle Manwaring “One Wine” and Bajan Holla Bak (Rico Goddard) “Eleven:11” all appear on the project.
Ruben, whose 2022 single “The Boss” debuted on America’s Black Entertainment Network (BET) on Saturday, says “ElevenEleven” is also the title of his ongoing mandate to expose soca music to virgin North American and European markets.
“We have to make better use of online streaming platforms like Spotify, iTunes, YouTube and Tidal. The data and analytics from these platforms point in a direction of great opportunity,” Ruben told the Kitcharee yesterday.
A retired chef, Ruben was inspired to pursue music full-time while working at a restaurant in the vacation town of Muskoka in Ontario, Canada.
“I started playing my music at the restaurant and the employees were all like ‘Wow this is good, you should have a show’. I did and it was sold out and continued to be for the next three years,” he revealed.
The Covid-19 pandemic put a stop to live events in Ontario, but with last year’s reopening he promoted a unique concept to the area – a boat ride. It was sold out within hours of tickets going live, he said. Fede plans a repeat of the event this year on August 20.
“It’s very unusual to have that kind of event and people loved it. Our music could fill that void of people wanting to experience something new. My Canadian fans have been begging for an album, they not used to the single (releases) and wanted a body of work they could enjoy and share, so this is for them,” he added.
Buoyed by Hometown Support
Fede’s ElevenEleven received overwhelming positive feedback from his hometown at last Sunday’s launch and listening party. He admits to being surprised by the reaction and says it gives him renewed confidence in his project.
“Man, I have very tough friends. People were singing along to songs they were hearing for the first time and asking to wheel and come again. I feel like I went from nobody to the most important artiste, that’s how it feels inside getting that love from the community,” an emotional Fede said.
Fede matched their energy by giving his hometown “an all-inclusive experience” that “brought bougiee to the ghetto”.
We had an ice cream truck, a doubles man in a real all-inclusive style. Kids came out. People came out and they had a great time. It turned out to be a very expensive listening party but it was worth every cent. Now I know I’m not crazy and I truly have something to share,” he said.
Every artiste in T&T who truly believe in their talent should be aiming to make similar investments in themselves, he added.
“I believe that what I did on Sunday was one of my biggest fears, taking a chance on yourself. It wasn’t Carnival, you know the time when they say you allowed to express yourself. I say ok I am branching out from the genre so branch out from that time frame as well. We have to give ourselves more of a chance to succeed. I hope some talented unknown artiste somewhere could say look at him, he is not Machel (Montano), he doh have no hit song, but he can still put on a quality production. I can do the same’,” Fede concluded.
