Amsterdam based Reggae artist Smiley already released two big tunes this year and 2011 has only just started. WorldAReggae.com’s Sander Nesta wanted to know more about this so he linked up with Smiley to ask some question about the tunes, but also about Smileys successful previous year plus offcourse what we can expect from this bright smiling artist …

1. Greetings Smiley, How are you doing.
Everything Bless, looking forward to this year, came back from Aruba full of the good vibes, can’t wait to spread some of that with the whole massive.

2. 2011 is just begon and you already released two tracks, ‘Keep the Joy’ with Anthony B and ‘State Of Emergency’ on the Youth Riddim both sound amazing and get a lot of international attention. Especially in Germany where the both tunes got an official release and made it even into Riddim Magazine. First the Track with Anthony B, what is it about?
Keep the joy is an uplifting song, the message in the song is about keeping a positive mood towards life, cause in life there are many moments that bring you down and before you know it you’re in a negative cycle, so with this song I want people to know that good always prosper over evil sometimes it takes a lil time but on the long run the good always prosper, so no matter the circumstances in life one positive taught is stronger than 100 negative.

3. How did you link up with Jamaican Reggae Star Anthony B?
I was in Jamaica a couple years ago to do a music video with Junior kelly (Dem A Wonder), while I was there I voiced a couple of riddims from Altafan, the song keep the joy was one of them, after hearing the outcome Altafaan was eager for me to do a colab with Anthony B so after many reasoning between my manager Malida Harry and Altafaan we decided to make it happen and of course Anthony B was feeling the vibes.

4. The track is produced by Al.Ta.Fa.An. Records. You allready collaborated with them before, what is it like to work with them?
I’ve been working with Altafaan on different projects for the last couple of years and the outcome were all positive, in the music business there are many who so called themselves producers but don’t amount to nothing cause they don’t take the craft serious, so I am privileged to be working with producers who take the music as serious as I do.

5. OK, about the other tune, “State of Emergency”. You gave WorldaReggae.com end of last year the exclusive Premiere of this tune in one of the WorldaReggae Studio Sessions. What did you have in mind when you wrote this tune?
State of Emergency, the title speaks for itself, if you look around the world there are many outrageous things happening to societies all over the world some places are in such a bad state that the government are killing their own people, State of Emergency was inspired by such issues, I remember writing the song at the time the authority in Jamaica were looking for Dudus Coke, Jamaica was in that time in a state of emergency.

6. Last year was a blast with you bringing out great material. As there is the  EP “Lively Road”. How did you expercience this periode lats year and the reactions to your EP?
Last year was definitely an excited year , I released my first Ep with song s like Big money Bag , Lively road off course and many more big tunes, after the release the feedback was great and got me on some big festivals in Germany like Reggaejam and Ruhr reggae, so over all it was an successful year

7. Do you have any favorite tunes on your EP? And why especially that one?
My personal favorite song on the Ep is Big money Bag, the riddim is so crossover with a heavy fat baseline, and the topic of the song is one I totally can relate to, cause I man want a Big money Bag

8. You are known as a reggae artiest but the  SKA song Lively Road got a lot of airplay on the Antilles plus you made it in the Top5 of ‘Dolfijn FM’ . What was the feeling you got when you heard this?
It is an honor to have a mainstream radio station pick up on my music, when I say mainstream I mean to say they play everything that is Top 40, so for me to be played alongside artist like rhianna and bands like kings of leon is definitely a good thing, cause as an reggae artist you are always put in a box and season, so if your music can break those boundaries it is most definitely a good forward

9. To promote your EP “Lively Road” you performed at the reggae festival ReggaeJam in Germany. How was this experience for you?
ReggaeJam is in my perspective a real authentic reggae festival, with a great promotor the lineup was the best of many festivals that year, so to be part of that line was good feeling, and it was a nice day, cause we took a whole bus with crowd from Amsterdam who were all positive people, so it was a great day

10. Sander Nesta en Malida, your manager (Love & Unity Music) organised a bustour to ReggaeJam last year. A bus full of reggae minded people having a lot of fun together pon the road. Wouldn’t it be nice to do this again this year Smiley?
The bus trip was a first timer for me and I had a great time chilling out with people who got nothing but love for the music, I don’t see no reason not to repeat it this year, we will just have to wait and see what the festival season is bringing this year.

11. The WorldaReggae.com team would love to see you more on stages throughout Europe, in our humble opinion you are one of the better Reggae Singers in Holland and surroundings. Your shows are always full of energy and you keep the great tracks coming. Where can we expect to see you this year?
I am always looking forward to pleasing the crowd with a good live show so I put in a lot of work into it, my band members sometimes go crazy cause they sometimes find it’s too much practice , but I say practice makes perfect, so right now it’s up to the festival promotors to acknowledge the work me and my whole crew put into this movement and get it on their stages .

12. Can we expect new tracks, EP or maybe an album this year?
I will not say too much now, but one thing for sure worldaReggae.com get’s the exclusive of what’s on the menu

13. Did you already check out our new website, worldareggae.com? You like it?

I love the vibes on WorldaReggae.com, keep up the good works and give thanks for the support every time

14. Is there anything else you would like to share with our visitors on WorldaReggae.com?
To all those who visit WorldaReggae .com note that this website is original and brings you the latest news in the Reggae industry before any other, so keep on checking it out cause me Smiley is going to bringing you all some more exclusive stuff here on WorldaReggae.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnTngeIuOfM