WE Spotlight - All In-na ‘Tizzy’

by Susan Noyce


(photo by Ken Maguire)

Island diva Tanzania “Tizzy” Sebastian had better hold on tight, because her star is rising fast.

This vivacious Antiguan cocktail mix had music and movement swirling through her veins long before she took to the stage, and her fans are reaping the benefits.

The echoes of 2006’s “Expose” are still throbbing worldwide, and they’re pushing Tizzy towards what she says will be her ultimate performance this year at the 2007 Antigua Carnival Party Monarch Finals being held August 4th.

“So far, people have been pleased with the music that we’ve brought out, and of course the performances that we’ve put down, and it’s only going to get better from here,” she said. “Come Party Monarch, it’s going to be crazy, because there’s been a lot of crazy things going on so far, and we’re only looking forward to the best,” she added.

‘Crazy’ might describe the see-sawing of reigning Party Monarch Claudette “CP” Peters, who shocked fans when she announced that she would not be defending her title. Two days later, she recanted, saying 2007 would be her final year. Controversy swelled last year after CP didn’t sing her entire song, and was instead carried down from the stage into a frenzied audience. Tizzy’s fans screamed, “robbery”.

Nonetheless, the El-A-Kru lead singer, Tizzy, says there’s no rivalry, and that she’s aiming to do more than just produce Carnival hits.

“I feel that I have a product to put out there, a product to market, and I’m gonna do the best I can to do that,” she said. “Last year, after Antigua Carnival, Expose wasn’t really finished. It led on to Trinidad Carnival, we’ve put it on Tempo, and I’ve been getting calls from all over the world to come and perform. We just came back from St Lucia’s ‘Colour Me Red,’ and it was fantastic. All the DJ had to say was “X” and you could hear the crowd start singing o, o, o, o, oooo (the song’s hook).”

The thirst for stardom has many fuels, but Tizzy insists it’s love of country that drives her performances. Her band’s name, El A Kru, stands for “Little Antigua Crew,” and Tizzy is hoping to catapult this year’s offerings into the stratosphere, right beside to her last hit.

“People are loving all the songs on the album, and it really shows how much they appreciate the hard work that we’ve put into the music to get it out there. When we make music, we try and show people our feelings about the music, about Carnival, about the industry - about life. All of this is incorporated into the lyrics, and this is how we come up with the substance of the songs, and the music for the songs, and when the people latch on to it, it really shows us that they appreciate the hard work we put into it,” she says.

Many say it’s already crowded at the Soca top, but this artist is steering a parallel course, instead of masterminding a collision.

“I can’t be anybody else but Tizzy. I’ve heard so many things… how I can’t do this or that, but from the first performance I did at Party Monarch in 2004, I took it to a level people had not seen in Antigua for a while. In 2006, I took it to another level. 2007 is going to be even hotter… even greater. So whenever I come out… whenever ‘Tizzy’ comes out, it’s a standard, it’s quality, it’s style, it’s class. There is no other Tizzy around; nobody can say I am like this person or the next. I am Tizzy, I can only be Tizzy: T-I-Z-Z-Y!”