By Michael Mondezie
By now Mical Teja Williams should have well and truly been a household name across the Caribbean.
As you read this, Teja is the man with the hottest pen in soca music. He has written monster hits for Machel Montano (Happy Papi), Patrice Roberts (Drink Water and Mind Yuh Business) and Viking Ding Dong (We Outside and Hornin’ First), among others.
Teja has also undoubtedly put out high quality soca music of his own in the form of the inspirational and aspirational ‘Self Approval’ in 2018 and most recently the remake of Shadow’s (Winston Bailey) ‘Dingolay’ with Nailah Blackman.
So, why isn’t his name mentioned among the genre’s elite? Why is he still only vaguely familiar to fans? Teja says making the step up starts with a better personal understanding of himself as an artiste.
‘The transition for me has been a long journey, one filled with ups and downs, I feel like I’m now understanding myself as an artiste as well,’ an earnest Teja told the Kitcharee on Friday morning.
Currently in Tobago to perform for the sister isle’s debut Carnival, he reckons its only a matter of time for him to have a significant breakthrough, once he continues to trust the process.
‘I do strongly believe in trusting the process,’ he echoed.
‘And also doing things differently. Hence the reason I release different genres of music while still representing Trinbagonian culture,’ he continued.
There is no secret formula to writing a hit song, Teja maintains. Humility and hard work go a long way to getting a polished product, he added.
‘Honestly, there’s no secret! I say my prayers, keep grounded and work hard,’ he said.
Collaborations Create Hits
Music-making is a collaborative effort, Teja maintains. Understanding that creativity cannot be owned by any one person is a freeing concept, he added.
While many music creators are eccentric at best and at times superstitious with their creative processes, Teja says he goes the opposite way and frees the caged creative bird.
‘I’m not defensive of something that’s not truly mine. Creative energy is something universal, it’s meant to be shared and experienced together with others. That’s basically why most hits under any genre of music is a collaborative effort,’ he nodded with conviction.
His latest solo project, ‘Hall of Fame’, is already creating a stir. Teja pays tribute to the soca stars of yesteryear on the self-produced track. He sings: Look for we Madness David Rudder say Look for we Straight off in de people place Look for we Real gyal and is only waist Look for we By the end dey go put we name In de Hall of Fame ‘For me, is a cultural piece that shares both how passionate I am about culture and the art form as well as paying homage to the ones who came before,’ he said thoughtfully.
The song is also an instructive and educational piece of music that young fans can learn from as he wants ‘listeners to feel how rich our culture is both musically and visually, which I think is happening with the amazing feedback of the song and music video’.
Teja plans to debut the song this weekend at Tobago Carnival and says being a part of the history-making first official Carnival on the sister isle is ‘truly a blessing’.
‘I have been given the opportunity to perform at some events for Tobago Carnival 2022 and it truly is a blessing to be in the sister isle representing our culture,’ he summated.
As for his Carnival 2023 plans? Teja says the mission remains the same: ‘make great music’.
‘My plans for Carnival is to make great music. As cliche as it may sound. I want people to feel the music in their soul, feel the spirit of Carnival not just from an enjoyment perspective, but also to have an understanding of what it represents, which is having the freedom to be,’ he concluded.
