High Street Riddim, the debut

From San Fernando to the World

Just 60 days ago on December 9, 2022, Trinidadian producer Michael ‘Tano’ Montano released his debut project powered by Ineffable Records, an EP named High Street Riddim.

High Street, a prominent street in San Fernando, Trinidad is an epicenter of energy and vibes, and it is also where Tano spent his childhood so, the essence of South Trinidad, specifically Sando, is pervasive throughout the project. The EP features a groovy sound based on bass and brass provided by Kyle Peters of BadJohn Republic and the All Stars Brass Band respectively.  It features artists Kes the Band (Jub Jub), Patrice Roberts (Grown Up), Mical Teja (Trini Gyal), Erphaan Alves (Lifeline) and Preedy (Rocket).

Since its release, the EP has generated over 325,000 streams on Spotify alone, with over 70% generated by Jub Jub the tune with fellow south man Kees Dieffenthaller from Kes the Band.  On Spotify Jub Jub was immediately positioned on the Global New Music Friday listing and then a week later, on the Local Pulse for Toronto, Canada.  With only two (2) months under its belt, the song is already in Kes the Band’s Top 20 Spotify songs streamed to date and if it continues at this pace, it will reach 1m Spotify streams this year.

The entire Riddim is also faring well on Apple Music & iTunes.  It is already hitting the charts in 60 countries thereby showing its effectiveness in helping to bring Soca Music to the world.  The EP itself peaked at #1 on iTunes (Reggae) in France & Canada the day after its release – and at #4 in both the United Kingdom & the United States within the first week. The #1 trend continued in both Bolivia & Costa Rica on Apple Music (Reggae).  It would go on to peak on that channel in the Top 10 in twenty-six (26) countries across the globe.

Shortly thereafter, in its native Trinidad & Tobago, the EP would peak at #1 on iTunes (All Genres). It would be more than a month after the EP release date before each of the songs would begin to appear on the Apple Music or iTunes Charts in its homeland.  Jub Jub led off in the #1 position on iTunes (All Genres) on January 14th with Trini Gyal by Mical Teja on its heels, that song would peak at #2 on iTunes (All Genres) just two days later on the 16th of January with Grown Up by Patrice Roberts peaking at #3 on the same day. 

After initially reaching Trinidad & Tobago on the iTunes charts, the songs would start to peak on the Apple Music charts shortly thereafter.  Before the week ended, Jub Jub would peak on Trinidad & Tobago’s Apple Music (Reggae) chart at #4; most recently peaking at #6 on Apple Music (All Genres) chart.

On January 12th Jub Jub would peak at #1 on Apple Music (Reggae) in Niger, West Africa and days later on January 18th, Grown Up would peak at #39 on the same chart.  Almost simultaneously as these two songs (Jub Jub & Grown Up) were penetrating their natural habitat, they were also being played directly across the seas nearly 7,500 miles away, with both songs performing very well in Niger on Apple Music (Reggae) chart in a country with a population 25x that of Trinidad & Tobago.

Trini Gyal by Mical Teja is the only song on the Riddim thus far to hit the charts in Japan, a country known for its affection for the music of Trinidad & Tobago.  Just days after its release, the song peaked at #30 on Dec 17th on iTunes (Reggae).  Similarly, Lifeline by Erphaan Alves is the only song to hit the charts in Qatar, peaking at #42 on Apple Music (Reggae) just earlier this week, on February 5th perhaps due to his growing audience in the Middle East.

With this EP, Tano has taken the rhythms that encapsulated his youth on and around High Street, San Fernando, Trinidad and shared it with the world.  From the Jub Jubs sugar candy reminiscent to many Trinbagoinans, to the Trini Gyals in his life and the Lifeline that is music, he is Grown Up and now his music taking off like a Rocket and – it does appear that this EP is a true story based on the life and times of producer Michael ‘Tano’ Montano.

EP: High Street Riddim

  • Produced by: Tano
  • Mixed by: Precision Productions, Dre Major
  • Mastered by: Precision Productions
  • Live Bass & Guitars by: Kyle Peters
  • Brass by: All Stars Brass

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