Kirkland "KB" Bodie
By K. NANCOO-RUSSELLFreeport News Reporter
Grand Bahamian artist Kirkland "KB" Bodie took home his third Cacique award on Friday night - the People's Choice Award for Secular Performer, for the song "I Is A Bahamian."
Bodie, who has devoted almost two decades to the entertainment field, shared his feelings yesterday with The Freeport News on receiving the honour.
"The Cacique Awards are like our Oscars, our Grammys, so to win it means that the people are voting for you, they are checking for you, so it makes you feel good," he said.
"With it being a song that speaks to them as a people, I feel good that people really like the product."
Bodie did say however that he was hoping for fellow entertainer Terez Hepburn to have won the award. She was nominated in the same category for the song, "Ya Ga Talk It" which was written by Bodie, and, had she won, she would have been the first female to take home the award in that category.
"I actually was pulling for her and as luck would have it they gave it to me. I feel good, but I would have preferred that my girl won it."
On stage performing at Summer Junkanoo 2009 photo: Lyndah Wells
Bodie said he has always felt love from the Bahamian public for his music, with his first two Cacique awards being won for the songs, "Civil Servants" and "Toters."
"My music has always been appreciated. I've never had a problem with feeling underappreciated with my music. Bahamian people have always supported me. I think they feel something real in my music. They feel like I'm speaking to us, so I think that they are kind of proud of it," he said.
Expressing his opinion on the current state of the Bahamian music industry, Bodie said he believes there should be more regulations mandating that more local music be played on radio stations.
"We still let the radio stations run amuck. We let them play all the foreign music they want to play... We bring a lot of negative music that demeans women, talks about guns and being a bad boy. Yet, we still want to be a touristic nation and we don't push our own," he said.
"If you are going to be a touristic nation, you should push people who are pushing tourism as far as singing to Bahamian people and singing to a Bahamian product. That's where I think we are going wrong."
Making reference to local songs that are presently getting some airplay on the radio such as "The Sailor Man Song" and "Stop the World," Bodie said local musicians are still not getting the kind of attention they deserve.
"It's wrong... We would push foreign before we push our own. Everytime we make 20 steps forward, we have the powers that be or the radio stations taking us 40 steps back. We are always struggling; it's always an up hill battle to try to get our music out there."
Bodie also said he believes there should be more invested by both the government and the private sector in the Bahamian music industry.
"In the future, I hope to see it as a multi-million dollar industry, that we have artists who are actually interested in pushing our culture... We want to get involved in those things where we see the quick results, but people need to see the viability of music," he said.
"We need more businessmen to understand and I think we need government backing from culture and tourism and I think we can see some things."
Moving forward, Bodie said he is currently working on a new album which should be released sometime around the end of February.
"This year I'm going to be working on four projects. I've been laying back for the past two years just catching myself. I'm trying to now move everything ahead and get myself back into the business," he said.
