Word: baha
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...Baha Men have been superstars for two decades in their native Bahamas. Marvin Prosper, 24, one of the nine-man band's new lead singers, says being a Baha Man in the Bahamas is like being a Yankee in New York City. They are also platinum-selling favorites in Japan. Their Back to the Island is the official song for Bahamas tourism...
Blame it on Baha...
...than 20,000 copies each; when Greenberg left, Atlantic dropped the band. Greenberg rescued them with a deal at his new label, Mercury. "It became a standing joke in the music industry," he says, "that whenever I moved to a new label, the first thing I did was sign Baha Men." But this time out sales were even worse; the group's second and final CD for Mercury sold a humiliating 700 units. When Greenberg resigned last year, Baha Men were adrift again...
...rejected it. He thought the song was too Caribbean for the American charts. He was probably right. The original version was a soca (soulful calypso), a horn-heavy, up-tempo form that is played at Caribbean carnivals across the U.S. every summer but has never really caught on. When Baha Men finally recorded Dogs, they explored beats more familiar to American audiences--throwing in some junkanoo (Bahamian festival music) percussion to give it their signature flair. The result is the catchy rendition you've heard so often: urban, with an echo of the islands. The rest of the CD cleverly...
...Baha Men have become the standard-bearers for other Caribbean acts, like the Trinidadian band Machel Montano & Xtatic, that hope to invade the American charts. Taylor warns that to succeed in the U.S., they too have to be willing to "refine" their sound. But that's just show business. If island artists can stand a little assimilation, they may find that what started off as a "Woof! Woof!" could grow to a communal commercial roar...