Page 36 - IB January 2023

Music Music

DMP PUTS

SOLOMON

ISLANDS

MUSIC ON

THE MAP

By Rowena Singh reaction that it got, and it gave them (DMP) the confidence to
do more songs.”
Island Reggae, ragga and dancehall band DMP (Doorman’s
Project) is preparing to tour the United States for the first Long Way Home
time, after a year that has seen it release a new album and DPM released its fifth album, ‘Long Way Home’ last year.
receive international recognition. “We wanted to do something different,” says Lopez. “The
With millions of streams and numerous awards, the Solomon boys hadn’t released an album for seven years. We had
Islands band are the talk of the Pacific. DMP have also signed started this project back in 2019 just before COVID hit. We
up with global reggae label, Ineffable Records. had written the two songs with (‘lover’s rock’ superstar) Da
Victor Edgardo Lopez, DPM’s band manager, promoter, DJ Ville from Jamaica first. He had come to the Solomon Islands
and producer says the band was formed by a brothers Arak to perform for New Year’s Eve. We had a few days with him
and rapper, Evin Rush, and their friends Mossa and Blad P2A. really. We had shown him a few of our songs and what we had
“Arak had written a song when he was still pretty young. been working on. We had recorded those songs in a matter of
His nickname back then was Doorman. The older guys would three or four hours in a hotel room. He was leaving the next
make him go out for cigarettes, go get me this and get me a day. That was the start of the album.”
drink. It was respect for the elders. He wrote a song at the The album features other collaborations with British Virgin
studio at the time, he didn’t have an artist name and the en- Islands singer/songwriter Iyaz and Jamaica’s Anthony B during
gineer had written on the computer Doorman’s Project, they their short stopovers in Solomon Islands, just before COVID
were his files, his session on the computer. It was where the closed borders.
name DMP came from.” “We were still working on that album when COVID hit and
That song was ‘Signal De Ples’, which Lopez says did well in I was stuck in Australia, the boys were here so we went back
the Solomons. “It showed that there’s this ambitious kid who and forth on the internet sending files (music files),” says
wanted to make music and had done it and for it to get the Lopez.

36 Islands Business, January 2023