Best known as a photographer in Guadeloupe, Robert “Bob” Thimodent is also a singer-songwriter. His first album, “Bobohkay” which has 9 tracks was released in 2015 and it is still relevant today. The artist whose songs are mostly heard abroad, just shot the video of “Bananas Party”.
“Bananas Party” is the fourth video of Robert Thimodent’s first album titled “Bobohkay” – which has nine tracks – released in 2015.
The first video was “Olivia de Bolivia”, a song dedicated to Olivia Pinheiro, a star in her country, Bolivia, since she was crowned Miss Bolivia 2010 and won many other beauty contests among which Miss Caraïbes Hibiscus 2011 that took place in the French part of the island of St. Martin. Robert “Bob” Thimodent had met the young woman who is also the muse of several well-known brands during a report for the Guadeloupean private channel Canal 10 : “Right away, she had declared her “undying love” to me, we had hit it off which had caused a lot of jealousy (…). Since then we have kept in touch, she knows that I had dedicated this composition to her and she loved it a lot”, said the artist.
The second video was about the track “I Remember” ; the third video has illustrated “Pa tini travay” and is about the endemic unemployment in Guadeloupe and in the rest of the world.
Bananas and sugar through bloodshed
So, the singer-songwriter has explained the origin of this song on this fruit, which is today one of the most important exports of the island to Europe. “I love the banana from home. I was a spoilt child and my mother did not want me to do housework. When I became an adult, I learned to cook and I collaborated as a photographer on the cookbook published by Les “Cuisinières de Guadeloupe” with Violetta Chaville. Among the recipes I made, there was soup, court-bouillon of fish and of course fried banana on which I put cane sugar like everyone but also of cane syrup from Marie-Galante or honey syrup to make a more personal recipe. And I thought to myself: why don’t you write a song about banana ?“, said Bob Thimodent.
However, the artist did not want to make an umpteenth song about banana in funny terms, he also broaches another colonial culture, that of sugar cane. “Behind this fried banana recipe with cane sugar, there is also the sale by auction of enslaved African that they forced to come here to plant the cane and make this sugar, there are all the atrocities made to the “Maroons”. Today, we still have statues such as Delgrès, Ignace or the Mulatto Solitude in front of which we put some flowers but we do not have the economic power”, explained Bob Thimodent.
The lyrics of “Bananas Party” are in English and its music, reggae: “It’s a way to show my Caribbean culture. Songs come in Creole, French or English. When I was a child, I learned to speak English by going to Antigua, I also have a lot of Antiguan friends. My music is eclectic, I’m a fan of Bob Marley”, he said. Steeve Douglas who is an arranger, musician and sound engineer made the arrangements of the track.
Many foreign fans
To make the video of “Bananas Party”, the singer who wanted to offer his fans a high quality work surrounded himself with a team of professionals from Guadeloupean audiovisual company, PJK Entertainment. We quickly understand that several images of this video are not trivial : cane fields, La Darse market, Place de la Victoire in Pointe-à-Pitre which is a place where there were blood baths, beautiful African dresses worn by the pretty young women surrounding the singer, statues of revolutionists during period of slavery… Other locations of the video – including the beautiful “Villasticréole” located in Deshaies – enhance the beauty of the island of Guadeloupe.
Bob Thimodent work with the “Gwadekay” company managed by Soana Desvarieux and “Bananas Party” is on 280 digital platforms in the world. There is a saying that goes “No one is a prophet in his land” and if Robert “Bob” Thimodent is known in Guadeloupe as one of the best photographers on the island, his musical career is developing mainly thanks to his fans from the United States, Holland, Germany, England, Scotland, Nigeria or France (Île de France region) for example according to royalties paid to him by SACEM, the French body responsible for collecting and distributing music royalties.
