Burchmore Simon – the man and his music
Kaieteur News
March 11, 2007
He's mostly quiet, unassuming and ever-smiling. He is never known to be one to literally blow his own trumpet unless it is in the Kross Kolor recording studio and he never openly shows any other emotion.
Some call him humble. He could easily be considered one of the more committed Guyanese music patriots with the golden touch.
Burchmore Simon, who lives by the Keep It Simple Simon (K.I.S.S) principle, is likely to be among the first names to be mentioned during discussions of who is the best of the Guyanese music Producers, Arrangers and songwriters.
He has produced winning and hit pieces for just about every music genre in Guyana for most of the top artistes, and the singers have all become popular. But quite unlike the international music arena where the artistes and the producers enjoy lucrative benefits, it has not happened for him on home soil just yet.
Aside from being the mover behind the X2 duo, Simon is a true patriot to the local music arena.
Burchmore did well in the overall standings for Mash 2007, with the ‘Headhunters Krew.' His handiworks at writing, producing and arranging were most evident in the 2007 Mash music arena.
In the Carib Soca Monarch 2007 competition ‘Lilman' placed second, ‘Bones-man' placed third and Adrian Dutchin placed fourth. Vanilla placed sixth while ‘Bones-man' won the best newcomer prize. Vanilla went on to win the Road March prize and Tennicia won the children's calypso monarch. Burchmore also produced the winning calypso for the Mighty Canary “Show me the love”.
In 2007 he wrote and produced the winning song for the children's calypso monarch, “Tell me why”
performed by Tennicia DeFreitas which helped her to successive wins.
He also wrote, produced and arranged the song “Coco Stick” and Queen of the Band for Vanilla, which won the 2007 road march.
Flashback
2006 saw him as the producer with the winning Carib Soca song “One”, sung by Adrian Dutchin. That song went on to win the Road March competition.
Since the introduction of Kross Kolor Records, Burchmore has been successful as a songwriter, arranger, and producer.
Looking back it seems appropriate for this man to be best nicknamed ‘The man with the Musical Midas touch.'
Starting in 1990 his input into the then almost dormant musical arena spoke volumes and included him penning and producing the song ‘Number one lady', which quickly became a household favourite.
Then came 1999 when he wrote, arranged and produced the Guyanese classic Miriam William's hit single “Stop the Hate”, followed by the popular “Someone”.
On the album “The beginning” he wrote, arranged and produced the songs ‘Green Eyes' and ‘Spellbound', which US-based Guyanese singer Sydney Chester rendered.
Two years later he wrote and produced the song ‘Test Me' performed by Shady and soon followed up with ‘Put Down The Gun'. This song moved swiftly up the local charts and made the band KKode Redd a household name.
In 2004 he produced the song ‘Fete on Fire' performed by Adrian Dutchin, which copped the third place spot in the inaugural Carib Soca Monarch. The year 2005 came with even more success for Simon as he produced the song ‘Display', which won the Soca monarchy.
Not long after, the duo X2 emerged and immediately they went to the very top of the local music scene with a series of songs including ‘Krazy,' ‘Tick tack,' and ‘Hands up'. Two of these songs spent six weeks on the charts in Suriname and went on to do great things for Guyanese music in the USA, Canada, London and across the Caribbean.In this very year Burchmore produced the ‘Wine till yuh drop' album which spawned hits such as ‘Tick tack' featuring and Lil Man's ‘Wine and touch yuh toes.'
In 2006 he produced another hit under the label ‘Wine till yuh Drop, volume two', which saw hits such as ‘Guyanese Wine' featuring Big Red, ‘Soca Music', and ‘Wine Baby Wine' featuring Malo. He also co-wrote the song ‘Push it Back' and ‘5,4,3,2,1' featuring Vanilla and Ice.
He was the man behind Lilman and Malo who brought third and fourth in the Carib Soca Monarch respectively in 2006.
As if that was not enough, Burchmore Simon wrote the winning song “Honesty” for the 2006 children's calypso monarch winner Tennicia DeFreitas.
He has also done work for international artistes including Maka B, Richie Spice, TOK, Elephant Man and Kiprich.
In recognition of his contribution he was given a special award by cell phone giant, Digicel, in the form of a cricket bat endorsed by the entire West Indies cricket team. Some of the artistes recognized Simon's contribution to the local music industry recently and presented him with a special trophy for his dedication to their development.
In 2006 he was also awarded for his contribution to the development of music in Guyana by the Guyana Folk Festival Committee in the USA .
Burchmore reiterates that his whole life is governed by the KISS principle “Keep it simple Simon.”