Eastside Radio’s Album of The Week is ‘People of the Sun’ by Anthony Joseph released on Heavenly Sweetness.

For ten years or so Anthony Joseph has traveled the world, recording and performing music in a somewhat makeshift manor. Visits to Trinidad until recently had been limited to only a few weeks or a month, but yet from wherever Anthony may have found himself, he never felt for a moment that his island was far from him. This bond is so strong that even the distance of thousands of kilometers couldn’t weaken its grasp. A force evident in the rhythms, poems and books and now honored even further in the recordings for his new album. ‘People Of The Sun’

And so, by uniting local musicians, the aptly named Caribbean Roots, they began recording in the very heart of Trinidad’s capital, Port of Spain. The idea was to soak up the intense effervescence of its local music — from both past and present — and to finally bring into existence, an album that had long lurked inside… Anthony’s mind.

With his inimitable talent for blending elements of Caribbean soul, funk and jazz while showcasing his uncanny storytelling ability, this wise wordsmith has presented himself as someone who can link two generations of Trinidad together. Thanks to him, the older generation, steeped in local musical tradition and the new young generation, who are more open to current trends, have now joined forces. So here you have practitioners of the steelpan, soca, and rapso right alongside lovers of more contemporary R&B, soul and rock flavours. Creating something far from being an old-fashioned rendition of the past, nor a digital reckoning of the present, what we have is a tasteful fusion that wholeheartedly points toward the coming times.