Ras Ricky during the album launch Surrounded by his fans, friends and family at the Beach Shak bar on Thursday night, Ras Ricky launched his tenth studio album titled Baskile. “It wasn’t easy to make the album but we got a lot of encouragement from organisations and artists such as Paradise Burning, Coco-de-Mer Music and others,” said Ras Ricky.

Ras Ricky during the album launch Surrounded by his fans, friends and family at the Beach Shak bar on Thursday night, Ras Ricky launched his tenth studio album titled Baskile. “It wasn’t easy to make the album but we got a lot of encouragement from organisations and artists such as Paradise Burning, Coco-de-Mer Music and others,” said Ras Ricky.

The singer described the title of his album ‘Baskile’ as a way of dancing and getting in the mood. The 19-track album includes such hits as ‘Bal Tanto’ which Ricky described as a song women will listen to while getting ready to go out.

“Women usually take longer to get ready when going out so this song will put them in the mood while they apply their make-up and get themselves ready,” he said. He also talked about his track ‘Sibir’ which is based on one of his female friends who always had a positive attitude towards others but she was in a hard place in her life.

Being in the music industry for more than two decades, Ras Ricky noted that he is happy that Seychelles now has its own online platform called Tropical Soundz Store which was set up for Seychellois artists. He added that before they made 500 CDs to sell in town but now with the online platform they are selling more CDs than if they were selling it physically. The singer remarked that he started working on the album two years ago, and his album this time is neater in terms of sounds as he is working with two new local engineers as well as a team of four people who includes Giorgio Bello. He described ‘Baskile’ as being one of his top three albums.

Fans will be able to buy the album on Tropical Soundz Store for ten pounds and will be available for streaming on multiple platforms such as deezer, iTunes and Spotify. It will also be on sale on Amazon as from June 29. Although being affiliated with politics and being outspoken Ricky noted that the album is not political and has been made solely for the enjoyment of his fans.

The singer concluded the night by performing some of the songs on his new albums to his fans that had gathered inside and outside of the bar.

Christophe Zialor