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BY SANDRA CHOUTHI

The reworked version of the late Andre Tanker’s “Hosanna” that you might be hearing on the radio nowadays is the result of no more than two hours’ studio work.

“Everything is original,” said Maximus Dan, whose male voice is the other you hear on the track.“ All we did was edit parts.”

Renamed “Hosanna Fire,” the song emerged after Dan performed at the “Making of a Lion” tribute concert to Tanker in September.

Tanker died in February.

Dan recalled what led to the remix.

Three weeks after Dan’s performance at the tribute, at which he sang “Hosanna” and Tanker’s 2003 release,“Food Fight,” Tanker’s daughter Zo Marie and her husband Ryan called him.

“We sat down and started to brainstorm,” said Dan, 24.

Dan decided not to interfere with “Andre’s music,” believing he couldn’t repeat such a vibe. Instead he sang within the “spaces” in the original track.

“I did not want to sing over Andre’s part,” Dan said.

Nuff respect.

A month ago they got together again. The final product took little time. To give the chorus more punch, Dan said Nadia Batson from Tanker’s group, Contraband, was roped in.

Tanker’s original vocals are still there. Background vocalist Batson, who’s on the Party Alliance CD with KMC, Denise Belfon and Dan, reworked the chorus and Dan did his thing. The result works. There’s only one minor difference: the song is about a minute shorter.

The work was done in about two hours on different days at Mark Fojo’s Star Songs Belmont studio.

Expect to hear “Hosanna Fire” a lot at Carnival fetes.

Dan has plenty of material of his own to offer his fans: “Doh Break Yuh Neck” on KMC’s Concubine Rhythm; “Lend me a Hand” with Dawg E Slaughter’s Trample Rhythm, which is all about co-operation.

Check out his lyrics:

To build a bigger jail, lend me a hand

To lock away dey tail, lend me a hand

To send them in the school, lend me a hand

‘Cause enough of them a fool”

“It’s a constructive song, a heights tune, something to think about,” Dan said.

Wait, there’s more.

There is also “Over Yuh Head.”

Think action movies, cops-and-robbers, raids, arrests.

“The mark of the beast roaming all around

Dey vandalisng all over de town

Doh let me see them harassing no one

Like Jericho, dey surely tumbling down

Hands over yuh head”

“All my lyrics on consciousness, positivity,” he said.

“Over Yuh Head” is recorded on a fast rhythm with “plenty alternative rock guitars” from Orange Sky’s Nigel Rojas.

“I don’t believe in doing something one way all the time. It have a lot of people who listen to alternative rock, but don’t vibes soca all that much; they don’t study local artists or local music. I more or less bring things to them,” Dan said. “I try to think global, think wide. I like to go with a high degree of difficulty, in places they’d never think of going.”

Of Rojas, who will be on stage when Dan performs the song at fetes, Dan said he was very easy to work with.

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... dang how long ago dem tek dat pic???

maximusssssssssssssssss... this is your year babes.... enjoy it...

Dey bombing from a distance
Dey act like dem do know that god is watching from a distance

Bless Up Maximus all the time!!