Instead of sulking when her favourite local festival was cancelled, Maple Ridge’s Lynell Adams decided to put her woes to music.
“I just said, ‘Oh, my, COVID, you mash up everything,’” she explained, when asked about her inspiration for the song: COVID 2020, Ya Mash up de Partee!.
The Maple Ridge Caribbean Festival was due to celebrate it’s 20th year in town, and Adams said she had really been looking forward to it.
“I’ve been to almost every one of them,” she said. “You see people you haven’t seen in years and catch up.
“I’m going to miss getting together, as well as the music, and the food.
“For me, [the festival] is summer.”
She teamed up with Christina Washko, and her son Brando Kotarski, to get her song out to the locals who love the Caribbean festival as much as she does.
Washko shot the short film, and interspersed the footage with scenes of people enjoying the festival in previous years, and Kotarski recorded the calypso backing track for the song.
In addition to writing the song, Adams had a blast picking out her outfit for the music video.
“I went to a lot of second hand stores while getting my costume together,” she said. “I found the shirt with the flamingos at a thrift store in Surrey.”
She paired that with an old white blouse, some pink nursing pants she used to wear as her uniform, some pink water slippers she found in a Mission store, a wide-brimmed pink and white hat, and a white masquerade mask.
“Everything just came together after that,” she said.
“I even had flamingo socks, though you can’t see them in the video.”
READ MORE: Maple Ridge resident wears polka dot outfit to spread some joy and inspire
Adams said she just wanted to promote Maple Ridge, and thank everyone who has watched the video. She is hoping next year’s Maple Ridge Caribbean Fest will be twice as fun.
ronan.p.odoherty@blackpress.ca
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