By Michael Mondezie
‘Boy, Aaron Duncan? Mighty Sparrow? That is one in all, it not the best things, I’ve done in music to this point.’
The incredulous tone in that fervent declaration from Aaron Duncan is sufficient to let the entire world know he’s waking up this morning feeling like a child in a kaiso candy store.
Duncan can have one in all his biggest musical dreams come true when he releases ‘Legacy’, a collaboration with calypso legend The Mighty Sparrow (Slinger Francisco).
What makes the moment even sweeter for the 19-year-old calypso/ soca star is it’s a song he completely wrote and produced. The recording and music video, shot in Recent York, USA, brings full circle a promise made to a then six-year-old Duncan by The Birdie in 2010.
Duncan first met Sparrow after becoming the youngest winner of the Junior Calypso Monarch that very same 12 months. The 2 went on to share the stage at a concert held on the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) in 2012. A snippet of their duet of Sparrow’s ‘Education’ features within the music video of their 2022 collaboration, set for release on Tuesday morning.
‘He (Sparrow) told me every time I able to do a song together, he would do it. But I didn’t have the facilities. I wasn’t a author or producer, as yet, so it never happened,’ Duncan told the Kitcharee during a telephone call on Friday.
Intriguingly, Duncan, who would win three more times to amass a formidable 4 Junior Monarch titles, says he knew the time was right to begin on the project after having a dream one night in April of this 12 months.
‘I woke up in the future and had a dream I needed to do a song with the Mighty Sparrow. I called him and I said I’m ready, I would like to do a song with you. He say: ‘Once I prefer it I’ll do it,” Duncan related.
THE TRUE LEGACY IS THE MUSIC
The ‘Legacy’ single and music video is a beautifully constructed, sentimental piece of music filled with nostalgia and intrigue. The Birdie, surrounded by youth, appears to be in his element and genuinely having fun with himself.
After several false flag rumours of his passing earlier this 12 months, It’s heart-warming to see Sparrow performing to camera again. One line that stands out is when Sparrow sings: ‘That is when the people know That the mighty Sparrow is alive and kicking with meh boy AD’ Duncan says while he’s aware of Sparrow’s iconic status and his own day-by-day growing legend, the true legacy they’re referring to on this song is the shared heritage of calypso music.
‘It’s really all in regards to the legacy the music holds between each of us. The approaching together of generations. And its calypso history month so it’s prefect,’ he beamed.
Watching Sparrow operate at close quarters has been a privilege, Duncan added.
‘It was an ideal experience. I didn’t get to work with Sparrow in his prime, but it surely was still a tremendous thing for me to see Sparrow execute. We needed to bring the studio to him. We needed to bring people to record him. I used to be so determined, I doh care what it took, I needed to make it occur,’ he said.
With the recording accomplished and in hand in May, Duncan said he wasn’t satisfied. He told his parents, Lydia and Sylvester, he needed to shoot a music video for the project with Birdie.
‘My parents say, ‘How we getting a music video? Sparrow quite in Recent York!’ I say well now we have to go Recent York,’ he recalled.
The production was shot last month, on September 7. Duncan says it’s his ‘biggest music video ever’.
‘I can’t wait for you guys to see it. Though he can’t walk and had to take a seat and sing, the energy he dropped at the entire experience was magnificent. I would like to see what I can experience again to beat that. It can take an extended time,’ Duncan declared.
Paying tribute to Sparrow and having him reciprocate that love was the most effective a part of all the process, Duncan said.
‘He kept congratulating me and telling me I wrote an ideal song. He was comfortable to see that a youngster like me is acknowledging the greatness that’s the Mighty Sparrow. We appreciate what now we have now, but we don’t look back at what it got here from. Sparrow is one in all the icons to assist innovate and promote soca.
‘And that is one in all my first collaborations. I couldn’t start with anybody higher. This was an ideal opportunity for me and I used to be so comfortable when he said yes. Even my very own father didn’t consider me until he actually heard the song.
‘He all the time says he’s the largest fan of Sparrow. He used to pay big money simply to see Sparrow sing, now today, his own son singing with Sparrow. That’s legacy!’ an emotional Duncan concluded.
