Born Azana Makeda Smith on August 26, 1994 in a small community called Greenwich Town in Kingston Jamaica, Xana Romeo is the youngest daughter of Reggae veteran Maxie (Max Romeo) Smith. She has been playing around with music her entire life but more recently in 2012 she decided to make it her career choice.
Choosing her musical path with conviction Xana has become a fast rising Roots, Dub Reggae artiste. Her talents stem much further than singing though, as she also writes her own songs and is heavily involved in the business side of the industry too.
Interview With Xana Romeo about Free Reggae Downloading by Gav Pauze
Who are you and what’s your interest in Reggae music?
I’m Xana Romeo, daughter of reggae veteran Max Romeo, what I have for music is not an interest is more like love. Music is my Religion you know, my way of life.
How long have you been involved with Reggae music?
Well I was raised in an musical environment so you could say I’ve been doing music all my life. As a kid my patents operated a Vinyl company, while my dad was a recording artiste, we own sound systems, a recording studio and a Record label so I kinda work every little area. I now write and produce tracks of my own and run my family Record label.
What is your view about the digital side of Reggae?
When CDs came in everything done. At first it seemed easier and cool but as the years goes by sales dropped and most went bankrupt. We can’t make as much selling an album now, because one person purchases it and duplicates for everyone else. The production also, it’s so easy to produce a track now that everyone is doing it. It takes nothing to lick a riddim on your computer and record some vocals. It water out everything. What happen to developing a track from nothing? That feeling we get from a live riddim? Nothing have life anymore, the music is weak now a days, little or no substance. Because of this we have everybody turning to music as if it’s something that requires nothing. No one is taking the time out to know anything, to research, to educate them self musically. They just buy a computer or laptop and start making beats, with or without a studio, and the artists just sing, nothing else. I myself don’t call them artists, I call them singers and song writers cause there is nothing artistic about them. I spend my days with musicians, players of instruments, people who got passion for music, it’s a joy to be around them. I don’t see a man just waking up and being a doctor or lawyer, he has to spend years in school to do such thing, so why should a man just wake up and do music with no knowledge of where music is coming from? Niney the Observer said “before a deejay is qualified to play on radio stations, he should do a test, because if you don’t know where the music is coming from how will you know where it’s gong?” This is what mash up everything. It’s just laziness you know, no body want to put in work anymore. But Xana Romeo represent Quality, I learned from my dad, for those who know Max Romeo knows he stands for quality.
Free downloading of Reggae music/ Piracy is a serious issue that’s often avoided in debates, what’s your thoughts on this?
This free download thing destroy our sales. I believe that we are all given talents to use it to make a living. So why should I put all my time and energy into something that just go out free? At the end of the day we paid for studio time, marketing and promotion. All that money that went into our production how are we to get that back? I don’t see doctors giving free downloads to their remedy, or a link from a lawyer to download “How to get away with murder” why didn’t they think to have education on free download? Like why we go to pay all that money to education? Why not just post everything to be downloaded?
We worked hard to create a track, and for the world just take it like that it’s unfair. And because of the free download good music no longer has no value. Nobody wanna walk in a store and pay for what they can get for free. I myself love to have that original disc in my hand, I feel like I’m holding platinum
You see music is a very powerful thing, very spiritual. Music connects the world, emotionally, it’s says what your mouth can’t say and shows what your eyes can’t see. Music have the power to heal and to corrupt, and they are using it for nothing but wrong. I think they created this free download thing to spread bad messages through music, to have the crime rate rise so the world leaders can make more money, and control population. They don’t want good/positive messages to be spread, they don’t want to educate us.. Cause a educated nation means unity, and they want war. It’s all about control to them, and that’s destroying everything. They wanna kill the good, so the bad can live. It also have a positive effect I must admit, see if it was the case where I send out a mixtape to be downloaded and everybody gets it that’s nice, a bit more exposure for me. But it’s where I put out an album and they duplicate it to be downloaded for free that’s the part I don’t like. It’s the error in the invention.
If you could change one thing about what you have mentioned above, what would it be?
The world is too computerised and I’m scared to be in it. The computer inventor gave man the power to create just about about anything. At the end of the day is not just the free download it’s bigger than that. But I’d like where you can’t post another person work to be downloaded… Even though today that’s impossible.
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