Stephen Ventura says that developing Jamaican and artistes music is his primary focus. - Contributed This is the second and final installment of an interview with producer and artiste developer Stephen Ventura. The first was carried in yesterday's Sunday Gleaner.
HIS STUDIO in Miami was called, tongue firmly in cheek, 'Undercover Carport', because it was in a residential area where commercial activities were frowned upon. In that time span, he worked with underground hip hop artistes such as I95 South, Lords of the Everglades and the Kidnappers. His success rate, he says, "...was pretty good".
Then it was back to Jamaica. When asked why he would return to the land of wood and water despite what appeared to be a promising future in the United States, he said "My goals were and are always set for Jamaica, so any opportunity I got..."
These opportunities included being road manager for the Jamaican group The Mighty Diamonds, with whom he embarked on a world tour that covered the United States, Europe and Japan among other places and with a Miami-based Jamaican band called Crucial Substance. When he got back to Jamaica, Ventura started a sound system called Celestial Sounds that did "...parties, that sort of stuff... after-work jams, evenings with Donavon Dacres, Friday night Jams- parties in club settings, country gigs...", he said.
VISION
It is almost impossible not to like Stephen Ventura, and more to the point, admire the man. He has a vision, not just for himself but the entire island. He would be fine if he concentrated entirely upon himself, yet Jamaica is his primary focus. Ventura honestly cares and does a lot to prove it. Dancehall diva Ce'Cile has stated that Ventura's Celestial Sounds gave her the first 'chance' as it were. Up and very coming artiste Nadirah 'Nadz' Seid describes Ventura, as someone who is "talented, very creative and talented-, outside of the music he is a very good friend."
Ventura told The Gleaner that "My goals are always set for Jamaica" and the proof of the pudding is that he started Jamaica's very first digital recording studio, also called
Celestial Sounds, in 1993. "I worked with everybody. We started mastering. Everyone who wanted something mastered would send it abroad, we were the first (to offer the service locally)," he said.
Ventura's focus has shifted somewhat to production and artiste development. "We don't rent out the studio anymore. We started M-Phatic as co-ordinators for distributors and promoters, then went into production, working with Kings of Kings, and launched a couple of rhythms," he said. M-Phatic's focus is now as a record label and on artiste development. He calls the organisation "... a family; it's not a crew, everyone is involved."
Ventura is working with The Star and its 'Artiste of the Month' feature by offering the winner of the sound-a-like competitions the chance to record a song, among other incentives. When asked why, he said: "I love anything that offers opportunities. I see it as development. I like to see new artistes. Right now I'm campaigning, I'm going around to the radio stations... I don't mean the next Bounty Killer, I mean anyone new. Anything like that (the feature) I'm willing to help."
He is not all business however. Again, he is constantly smiling and even breaks into a laugh every now and then. The unmarried Ventura says his philosophy is "...have fun and make sure other people have fun."
- Chaos
