Courtesy: Overtime Media
Photos: JERMAINE CRUICKSHANK
As a positive consequence of being in England right after the pandemic, Rodney “Benjai” Le Blanc was able to see parts of Europe that he never visited before. The talented singer/songwriter eventually returned home with a whole new perspective on the Soca scene and the Carnival circuit.
“It was amazing for me to realise that no one out there in the real world cared about how many titles I won or what my latest release was. They all wanted to hear and see me perform my previous works. So, whereas people here in Trinidad always complaining and asking for new music, the rest of the world is waiting to see and hear us and all the songs that Trinidad has put on the shelf for some reason. It was eye-opening and mind-blowing at the same time.”
Le Blanc spoke with XVibes exclusively shortly before performing at the Flava Village in the Queen’s Park Savannah on Tuesday night and praised Kees Dieffenthaller for including him on the hit collaboration, “Carnival Friend”.
“You know, Carnival Friend is one of those songs,” Le Blanc explained. “Big up Kees one time – He wrote the song. Benjai said: “He came to me with the song, Kees wrote the song, you know, when he first sang it for me my son was right there with me. My son picked it up one time and he kept singing it in my head. I was out in Canada, came back, did the recording, went back to Toronto and I got the song after. It was when I saw how people were reacting to it when we performed it for the first time, I got to realize how much the industry missed another flavor. I didn’t think about it as them missing me the artiste, it was more like they missed the flavour that I bring.”
That flavour that’s ‘Phenomenally’ Benjai.
https://youtu.be/OOY65G7NhGE?si=xivxExr4DQgyj_NX
https://youtu.be/ZPQ835Zal4s?si=-9KsRddlu2LKWJGG
