At the top of our Christmas wish lists
Not sure what to get the musician in your life?
Concert tickets, custom-made instruments and private lessons from their idols are gifts that would likely make them happy. Lifestyle asked artists to share what they would put at the top of their Christmas list if money wasn’t an issue.
Daniel Frith, aka comedy reggae artist Uzimon, said: “All I want for Christmas is a clone of myself so I can finally watch myself perform live. I know my live shows are the best on Earth and it saddens me I can’t be in the audience to watch them happen.”
Kristina Bassett, a Bermudian singer living in the UK, said: “All I want for Christmas is Rihanna tickets for her ANTI world tour, a piano to finally teach myself with, and for Kendrick Lamar and J Cole to release a joint album so I can buy it!
“All of these three things would really help me to be inspired. I’ve been a fan of Rihanna for so long and feel seeing her live would push me and encourage me to keep going with my singing.”
The 20-year-old, who performs under the stage name Bassette, added: “Kendrick and J Cole are possibly my favourite rappers currently.
“They speak about real topics and I think a project together would be insane and influential. Finally, [I’d like] a piano because I have a keyboard at the moment which I barely use.
“It doesn’t have as many keys as a full piano and I think I’d be more motivated to practise if I had a full piano, maybe.”
Violinist Taylor Rankin said his dream gift would be round-the-world plane tickets.
He’d take along some friends, his drummer, Dwight Hart, and of course, his violin, Leroy.
“That way we’d be able to visit as many obscure music- and food-related locations as possible,” he said. “To be able to just jump on a plane with Dwight Hart, my violin Leroy and a couple other young, talented Bermudians, to spontaneously follow the journey that our instruments, voices, hearts and stomachs would unravel would be incredible.
“To do so, in the wild — jungles, favelas — [would be] pure flow; places where only music notes, charming eyebrows and respect can pry open truly genuine experiences.”
Electronic dance music DJ Harry Dunkley said all he wants for the holidays is for “everyone on Earth to feel the giving spirit of our art today and every day”.
“Music gives smiles to you from me and to me from you. It’s just that simple,” he said.
A custom-made bass is at the top of musician and producer Derek Simmons’s wish list.
“I’d probably cry if I got a five-string MTD custom-made bass and [state-of-the-art producing unit] UA Apollo 8,” he said.
“MTD is probably one of the best brands of bass I’ve come across and they make custom basses to your specific need. The tone of these instruments is phenomenal, a bass player’s dream.
“As for the Apollo 8 ... need I say more? Being an audio engineer/producer makes that a must-have.
“It’s a state-of-the-art audio interface that enhances the quality of playback and recording. With that in my arsenal it would almost complete my ideal home studio set-up.”
Local artist Joanna Stapff happens to be dating a musician.
“All I want for Christmas is to cosy up with my boyfriend and drink mulled wine and watch feel-good films,” she said.
“But because he sings with Big Chill it would be sweet if he serenaded me at Elbow Beach on Christmas Day with the Mariah Carey’s version All I want for Christmas is you. It’s cheesy but touches my heart every time.”