Levé means to rise, to wake up, to get up and this is what AbiYah sings of in this recording, an awakening. In Levé, AbiYah briefly reminds us of the fight of the Negre Mawon and Kalinago whose efforts allowed the Commonwealth of Dominica to remain “unconquered” by the colonial masters. The Kalinago and maroons played a key role in upsetting slavery on the island, eventually forcing the British to abandon slavery.
AbiYah says, “It is a song that reminds us of the type of resilience, endurance and will power that existed and still today is epigenetically programmed into us a peo- ple. We are the descendants of those same Kalinago and Negre Mawon warriors who together could not be conquered. So to in the 21st century, I believe that if the citizens of Waitukubli Levé ,with our freedom fought for by our ancestors as a weapon we can conquer the world, a world that did not defeat us at Massacre, a world that is afraid of who we are and our potential. Remember their names and their stories, tell it to your children and grandchildren and tell it to the world. To name a few Kalinago( Carib) Warner, Calypso, Rosay, Balla, Jacko all provided an archetype for our independence.”
Although she is known for her reggae grooves AbiYah also sings cadence as well as soca and calypso. She views cadence-lypso as Dominica’s very own form of con- scious music through which Dominicans should continue to convey our freedom of thought and expression. She encourages young musicians to get more involved in cadence music. It is a high level musical genre and product unique to us which still has room for musical exploration and expression.
The track was produced and mixed by Hilroy “ObadYah’ Alfred and mastered by Dernel Green.
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