Kavelle Anglin-Christie, Staff Reporter 
Soca artiste Morris 'Jumo' Primo. - Contributed
HE MAY not be the king of soca just yet, but Jumo is without a doubt the king of wining.
"For me, it's a natural thing. Leon Caldero was the man all respect to Leon. He has his style and I have mine, he was then and I am now. I am the upgraded form of Leon," he laughs.
He isn't being narcissistic; you'd know this if you have seen him move his hips in an almost sinful way. But there's more to him than a chiselled physique, as Jumo is also a family man. During the interview he was a bit down because he misses his family but his hectic schedule doesn't leave room for many breaks.
GOING CRAZY
"Basically right now I don't have a life. I have a daughter back home and I miss her so much. I spoke to her today and she was crying, so I feel like I'm going crazy. She was like 'Daddy when are you going to come home?' But I don't even know when, so I'm a bit down. But I've got to find some time, even if it's for a week. She was very sad," he said, his voice getting softer.
Morris 'Jumo' Primo is Guyanese and says he teamed up with Byron Lee and the Dragonnaires in 2001 after Lee saw that Jumo was, quite simply, a lady magnet.
"I was in New Jersey at the time with a band I used to work with called 'Jerusalem'. We were playing at the same venue as the opening act for Byron Lee and when he saw all the ladies running up to the stage he asked who I was," he said. After that, Jumo was 'in like gravy' as some say. "I didn't believe that he would call me, but he called before I even got off tour and from there I started performing with them," Jumo said.
Now Jumo has hits of his own, including Crazy, Hands Up and Tick Tock. "Crazy is number one in Canada and in Barbados my music is doing really good right now. Tick Tock is also number one in Barbados and Guyana," he said.
Jumo also entered the Caribbean Star Search last year, where he and Adrian as 'x2' placed second. "Basically we sent in a copy of our song and out of 300 people we placed second," he said.
However, before the success, Jumo says he was just a "simple young man who loved music... I'm the eldest of 11 and the one who really took up music. So I was just someone who was trying to make it. During that time I tried out for like five different bands and I was doing some deejaying as well. So I have to say thanks to Byron Lee and all the other bands for giving me a chance. Now that I am here, I still have a long way to go though," he said.
FUSION
Jumo describes the songs which have made him a success as a fusion of many genres. "I'm really into mixing music together. In Guyana we call it 'cook-up', anything that is mixed and has a real nice flavour," he said. Jumo says this cook-up is the way forward for soca and dancehall. "In order to get what you are looking for you have to keep experimenting...The fast music is really for Carnival - it's seasonal. You can't always be doing 'an jump, an jump-an-jump-an-jump'," he said.
In order for soca to develop as far as reggae you have to slow it down and think of getting other artistes on it. Like Machel Montano is taking it to a different level with Shaggy and all those other people. In order for the music to last it has to be groovy so anybody can dance to it, especially since some in the outer world only think we sing about 'jump and wave'," Jumo said.
