Onesty conquers Jamaica

If it could be possible, she would participate during the whole European tour of Black Uhuru, and she is also proposed as festival act. Thanks to Marcia Simpson, the woman behind Ajang Productions, the management company (and record label) that took Onesty under their wings. But Tina Sureda also has to work to earn a living.  She is very happy that she may perform in Roma, with the band of Black Uhuru, and again in Paris. Last week she was already as opener of Ziggy Marley in the AB, in sound, with DJ Thierry Ashanti. You see that she has grown mentally, in her appearance and movements, convinced of her own abilities and her own songs. "For me, everything comes together now, at the appropriate time, with the right people."

Tina was a fixture on this site when she still was called O.N.E.S.T.Y. But it was only in 2012, after a lot of suffering and happiness, both here and in Jamaica, she finally got the break she had long deserved. "A friend from Amsterdam, has brought me in contact with Jermaine Forde in 2012, son of Brinsley Forde (Aswad) and Marcia Simpson. Jermaine and I made an appointment in London to record a new riddim for "From the Heart", a song from my first album. Between recordings I let him hear a demo of ten new songs and he was immediately interested to mix and release the first track. "And I'm going to put you in touch with my mother," he said. When I heard her name, a bell rang. When I went to Jamaica for the first time a few years ago, Black Marshall already gave me the number of Marcia. I also called her when I was in Jamaica but she was not in the office. The next day I was already in Ochi, and it didn't happen. Maybe I wasn't ready for it. That meeting with Jermaine was a real turning point."

"Ajang immediately came into action. Beginning of January 2013 they released 'Life starts', the first single and clip from the new album, and the whole year heavy promotion was made for me. Radio and TV picked up the track. Meanwhile, I know that Ajang is a professional organization that really speed up things, but there is a certain mystic between Marcia, Jermaine and me.The entire team believes in me, and that gives a very good feeling. Marcia is like a hub , where everything comes together. I never met such a woman. She is the manager of Black Uhuru for 20 years and enjoys great respect in Jamaica. If she introduces a new artist, people listen. She also took Spade under her wings, a Chronixx style singer-singjay with whom I have recorded a combination. Ajang is also the label behind different riddims: "Life starts" of course , but also "Dreamland", "Cross Breed"..."

"Ajang has an office and a studio in the center of Kingston, on Constant Spring Road. Jermaine does the production, Marcia the management, and there are also a number of publicists, a network of people who send the news about me into the world through tweets, websites and Facebook. I only have to be an artist in Jamaica. Everything is organized for me, I don't have to worry about a thing." "The first day of my stay, I already had to appear on LinkTV.
"Life starts" topped for 2 weeks at number 1 (early April), ahead of tunes from Bugle, Macka Diamond, Spanner Banner and other popular artists. The version that Spanner Banner has made of "Life starts" is in heavy rotation on Irie FM."

I'm a rebel too

"I was in the shower when the video of "What is love" was on Hype TV. I heard the intro, I did not turn on that music?, I walked towards the big screen...Wow!
Jahmie, come look, Mommy's on TV! It was the first time that I saw myself on TV. I called Marcia. I'm on TV! Yes girl , I already see you on TV for a half year. In the beginning my video was in high rotation, almost every hour on screen, and six months later, they still played it. Tina has done ten radio interviews in three weeks (Irie FM, Radio UWI, Styles FM, RJR, Roots FM...) and four TV-recordings (Hype, Link, TVJ, Best). She also made two videos and two combinations, one with Spade and one with Blacker, a presenter of LinkTV. "People recognize me in the street. Hey Onesty, what a gwaan? I thought, he knows me from Spanish Town, where I last stayed. But no: Mi know you from TV, man! Mi love it. Whether I'm in the store, a rasta suddenly says: "Singer!" 

Jermaine said that many people recognized me." "They act like they do not know you but they know you. Typical Jamaican." "I'm in a taxi as we breakdown. The driver halts a passing car, tries to force a jump start, but ultimately it is decided that I will ride in the other car. On the front seat is a man and his mother, his grandmother is in the back. The person doesn't say a word during the whole trip, I tell my story and when I get out, the grandmother suddenly opens her mouth: Yeah man, mi hear yu' 'pon Irie FM yesterday!"

With all the mystic in Jamaica, we would almost forget that Tina Sureda still records her music in Beljam. "I would like to give credits to Jermaine as a producer," she says, "but I have made all my music by myself at the great Ebony studio of Sensi P in Zwijndrecht. The best studio is the studio where you feel at home and for me that is Ebony. In Jamaica I do my voicings preferably at Ajang or at Mixing Lab." 

"Life starts" was the first song Jermaine heard of me, and which he has immediately released. Natural mystic: I can't call it anything else. Without Jahmie I had never been able to write that song. I had to wait for this moment." The new start will also figure in a beautiful new clip. "Not good enough" shows the way Tina has made it for herself, from waitress to singer , but portrayed in Jamaica. And she sings better than before, let there be no doubt. "I now have a vocal coach who helped me find the voice I was looking for. Just by using slightly different techniques I now sing as I always wanted to sing. That has to do with the position of your mouth and such. Suddenly I realized that I really am a good singer. I just need to use the right techniques."

"I realized that a lot of my lyrics also needed improvement. Since I went through quite a lot in life, I have something to tell. As a job coach I now coach youth but in my way. I have been in their situation and I stand close to their world. I make sure they want to come, that it is not a mandatory number. I care for these youngsters, they are my youth. I want to achieve something with them and if possible teach them something. I engage myself as hard in my job as in my music. Music is and remains the driving force behind everything I do but life experience is a nice inspiration for my songs." That, and her experiences in Jamaica, of course, the country where Jahmie and Tina have now permanently lost their hearts.
"Jamaicans are my kind of people. Rebels, and I'm a rebel too."