EXTRA! EXTRA! Now playing!
#MalaikaCarnivalQueen Spotify Playlist!
It’s 4 hours of music 🎶 featuring 60 songs in 9 languages.
There’s #soca - #musicaltheatre - #reggae - #calypso - #Bollywood - #Quebecpop - #san jarrocho - #salsa - #R&B - #neo soul - #acidjazz - #mento - #dancehall - #soul - #disco -
#tropicália - #rock - #Indigenous - #hiphop music.
The languages are many-- English - Patois - French - Spanish - Hindi - Swahili - Somali - Wyandot - Portuguese.
The songs are clean, radio versions so no cursing. Perfect for a long car ride or music at your next event.
I curated the playlist myself.
To listen, all you need is to visit www.spotify.com or go to the Malaika, Carnival Queen playlist near the end of the post. It doesn't cost anything for a basic account.
Please have a 🎧 listen to the playlist and let me know what you think 💭.
It’s 4 hours of music 🎶 featuring 60 songs in 9 languages.
There’s #soca - #musicaltheatre - #reggae - #calypso - #Bollywood - #Quebecpop - #san jarrocho - #salsa - #R&B - #neo soul - #acidjazz - #mento - #dancehall - #soul - #disco -
#tropicália - #rock - #Indigenous - #hiphop music.
The languages are many-- English - Patois - French - Spanish - Hindi - Swahili - Somali - Wyandot - Portuguese.
The songs are clean, radio versions so no cursing. Perfect for a long car ride or music at your next event.
I curated the playlist myself.
To listen, all you need is to visit www.spotify.com or go to the Malaika, Carnival Queen playlist near the end of the post. It doesn't cost anything for a basic account.
Please have a 🎧 listen to the playlist and let me know what you think 💭.
(Why a playlist?
I have created playlists on YouTube for other books in progress for years. These were songs that I could listen to that got me into the minds and worlds of my characters. These songs set a mood. One day in 2021, I saw author Yolanda T. Marshall share her Spotify playlist for her then new book, C is for Carnival. I had thought it was an amazing idea. At the time, I had listened to Spotify but didn't know that anyone could create a Playlist but then I decided that I would create a Spotify playlist for my next book. I have since learned that many other authors have been creating Spotify playlists for their books as well.
My selection process of songs
The songs that I selected embody the themes found in Malaika Carnival Queen: love, loss, family, longing, linguistic and cultural diversity, community and, of course, Carnival. Just like the characters in the story, these songs are unapologetic and full of heart.
I imagined the places where Malaika, the main character, travelled in all of the books of the Malaika series that led her to this fourth story. From the sunny beachy home she left behind in the Caribbean to the blustery chill of a Quebec winter of her first arrival in Canada, the songs I chose evoke the sounds of each place.
In the newest book, a new setting is introduced-- an Ontario farm. While conducting research for this book, I visited with seasonal agricultural workers in Ontario, I heard the sounds of music they loved from the Caribbean, American R&B, as well as the Patois and Mexican Spanish languages spoken. The workers came largely from Jamaica and Mexico, but there were others from Trinidad, India, and other places. The music selection includes soca by Alison Hinds, Patrice Roberts, Machel Montano, Kes the Band, and others, san jarrocho music by Los Lobos and others, and even Bollywood from these homelands.
Loss and nostalgia are themes within this book as well as the dreams that occur throughout. I had fun going through my own memories and archives for songs that had the right amount of saudade, a Brazilian equivalent of nostalgia. These songs include Quebec pop ballads by Celine Dion, Michelle Rivard, and Jean LeLoup, as well as other songs by Selena, Luther Vandross, Bob Marley & the Wailers, and Brand New Heavies, and País Tropical, a tropicália song from Brazil.
I went through my inventory of songs that mention carnival, dreams, journeys, and queens, selecting the ones that I think were most fitting. Songs by Les Nubians, Patra, Tarrus Riley, and others felt fitting.
I spent the past week listening to the playlist as I drove, rested and recovered from the flu, cooked, and washed the dishes. I wanted to listen, to hear if the songs complimented each other instead of against each other. tweaked the list, adding, and taking ones that didn't fit. Sixty may seem like a lot of songs. It is. Interestingly, I was shocked by the final tally since I felt like I had heard some songs soooooo many times after my listening of the list.
I should also mention that many of these songs are personal favourites and reflect my travels and stays in Quebec and throughout Caribbean.
So listening to it was the fun part and brought on a lot of vivid memories.
Throughout the listening, Spotify kept suggesting new songs but, I felt there was no need. The list is perfect the way it is. (If you know how to shut that feature off, please let me know.)
Please have a 🎧 listen and like the playlist. Let me know what you think 💭.
I have created playlists on YouTube for other books in progress for years. These were songs that I could listen to that got me into the minds and worlds of my characters. These songs set a mood. One day in 2021, I saw author Yolanda T. Marshall share her Spotify playlist for her then new book, C is for Carnival. I had thought it was an amazing idea. At the time, I had listened to Spotify but didn't know that anyone could create a Playlist but then I decided that I would create a Spotify playlist for my next book. I have since learned that many other authors have been creating Spotify playlists for their books as well.
My selection process of songs
The songs that I selected embody the themes found in Malaika Carnival Queen: love, loss, family, longing, linguistic and cultural diversity, community and, of course, Carnival. Just like the characters in the story, these songs are unapologetic and full of heart.
I imagined the places where Malaika, the main character, travelled in all of the books of the Malaika series that led her to this fourth story. From the sunny beachy home she left behind in the Caribbean to the blustery chill of a Quebec winter of her first arrival in Canada, the songs I chose evoke the sounds of each place.
In the newest book, a new setting is introduced-- an Ontario farm. While conducting research for this book, I visited with seasonal agricultural workers in Ontario, I heard the sounds of music they loved from the Caribbean, American R&B, as well as the Patois and Mexican Spanish languages spoken. The workers came largely from Jamaica and Mexico, but there were others from Trinidad, India, and other places. The music selection includes soca by Alison Hinds, Patrice Roberts, Machel Montano, Kes the Band, and others, san jarrocho music by Los Lobos and others, and even Bollywood from these homelands.
Loss and nostalgia are themes within this book as well as the dreams that occur throughout. I had fun going through my own memories and archives for songs that had the right amount of saudade, a Brazilian equivalent of nostalgia. These songs include Quebec pop ballads by Celine Dion, Michelle Rivard, and Jean LeLoup, as well as other songs by Selena, Luther Vandross, Bob Marley & the Wailers, and Brand New Heavies, and País Tropical, a tropicália song from Brazil.
I went through my inventory of songs that mention carnival, dreams, journeys, and queens, selecting the ones that I think were most fitting. Songs by Les Nubians, Patra, Tarrus Riley, and others felt fitting.
I spent the past week listening to the playlist as I drove, rested and recovered from the flu, cooked, and washed the dishes. I wanted to listen, to hear if the songs complimented each other instead of against each other. tweaked the list, adding, and taking ones that didn't fit. Sixty may seem like a lot of songs. It is. Interestingly, I was shocked by the final tally since I felt like I had heard some songs soooooo many times after my listening of the list.
I should also mention that many of these songs are personal favourites and reflect my travels and stays in Quebec and throughout Caribbean.
So listening to it was the fun part and brought on a lot of vivid memories.
Throughout the listening, Spotify kept suggesting new songs but, I felt there was no need. The list is perfect the way it is. (If you know how to shut that feature off, please let me know.)
Please have a 🎧 listen and like the playlist. Let me know what you think 💭.
Preorder your copy of #MalaikaCarnivalQueen at the link. The book will be in stores on May 2.
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