Bouyon sensation group “Tolly Boys” will headline their first big show and they will do it right here on the island’s biggest stage, Carnival Village, at the Youth Extravaganza this Monday. Who are the Tolly Boys (YMW)?
It was in a party bus in April 2015 that Youry Fleming, now 18 years old, made his first song, “Tolly She Want.” He then sang it to his neighbour of the same age Mathieu Richardson, and Bernard Gumbs, also known as Wizito, the youngest of the group, heard them. A few hours later, at a party in their neighbourhood of Sandy Ground, Youry asked Wizito to sing his song “to see how people will react.”
Satisfied with the passion it aroused, the three teenagers recorded their first title the next day in the studios of Madtwoz. So began the adventure of the Tolly Boys (YMW). “Everybody started to dance with the song, the offers came and our life changed,” recaps Youry, the leader of the group. Since the success of their first title, the three boys regularly perform at Tantra, Soggy Dollar Bar, etc.
“Before we were just ourselves, but now we’re more popular, people recognize us,” he says. Those who missed “Tolly She Want,” hardly could have missed out on “On Plonge,” which was certainly the anthem of St. Martin’s Carnival 2017 edition. The music video, directed by the Guadeloupians of G-Islands, has been seen 511,000 times since its release on YouTube last January 29.
While many praise them, others qualify their words and pictures as pornographic and are shocked to hear children singing “Plonger dans la Coucoune.” It must be said that the Tolly Boys do not make just any music. “In the evenings, we could hear all the time the bouyon is not from Saint-Martin. Well, we decided to create a bouyon for and from St. Martin,” they explained. Originating from Dominica, bouyon is a style of music that is similar to very fast soca music with more than suggestive lyrics, which caused it being accused of pornography.
“Living from music is not in our interest for now” YMW said. Especially since Youry graduated from high school last year and took a gap year before resuming his studies, and Mathieu and Bernard are still in school (one in vocational training to qualify in Nautical Mechanic, the other a high school senior). “We’re young and we have not yet been contacted by someone serious.” They have already released six songs.
In general, together they choose an instrumental, composed by D-mitri, brother of Youry and local beat maker. They all write together, then choose the best text when they arrive in the studio. They do not plan to make an album. Despite their young age and their amateur aspect, they have their heads on their shoulders: “If you do an album, people won’t take the time to listen to it and analyse each song. It is better to get them out one after the other,” they say. Their next title is called, “Mannequin Challenge.” G-Islands already shot the video. They will release it for the Morning J’ouvert on the Dutch side.
Tickets are available at all Mc. Donald’s Restaurants for US $10. The show will start 6:00pm sharp this Monday, April 24, and is sponsored by Port St. Maarten, TelCell, Designers Choice, First Response and Mc. Donald’s.
