BLACK ORCHID VIBRATIONS (Adele Ramos)

Adele Ramos' Number X
posted (January 26, 2007)

Three weeks ago, we told you about Adele Ramos's CD of recorded poems and songs - well, now she's brought out a DVD complete with performances, a music video and a candid interview with Mose Hyde. Here's a look at the video for 'Number X' and the message of empowerment behind that tune. Click here for more (Channel 7 Archives)

What the media has to say...

Reporter, Jan. 7, 2007:
"...it is a powerful mix of artistic innovation which brings both music and poetry toether..."

Guardian, Jan. 7, 2007:
"Overall, both are excellent releases and should please even discerning ears and minds..."

Adele Ramos’ new CD’s: a review

by Yaya Marin-Coleman (Amandala)
BELIZE CITY, Tues. Jan. 2, 2007
Adele Ramos is known for her analytical journalism pieces in the Amandala, and as a published poet. On December 29, 2006, she added dub poetry to her pool of natural talent, with the release of 2 CD’s. The Faiyah Haat Restaurant was the chosen space to share her Red Graffiti and Black Orchid Raw Volume 1 Poetry, with our community.

After listening to both CD’s, I felt that Adele took me, albeit reluctantly at times, on a path in the journey of life experiences. The Red Graffiti CD earned its title from one of her life experiences. She recalled a time when she felt that she was not being heard, and she vomited her feelings via a red marker on every glass, mirror, and TV that would grant her space to vent her thoughts.

True to form, she passionately shared her thoughts on many life experiences on the pieces that she penned. As the CD aptly stated, it is “an eclectic blend of music and rhythm poetry. This 14-track selection had pieces ranging in length from 34 seconds to 5 mins. 7 seconds of listening pleasure.

As I traveled with Adele, her voice range and the control she has of it, to evoke emotions, thoughts, and feelings, along with the wise selections of the tracks, we visited the worlds of being betrayed in love, the beauty of love via poetry, the loss of Belize’s natural resources, the freedom of Black people, how women want to be loved, pedophiles, physical abuse, and unborn children.

Mr. Slick, her first track dealt candidly with the emotions of betrayal. During the live performance, she took a short break after this piece. She appeared emotionally spent.

The second track on Red Graffiti, You are Not Alone, featuring 357 and Continental Cat, (artists from the Heights of Vibes camp) has been my favorite since I saw the live performance last Saturday night. The catchy R & B, reggae, upbeat love affirmation between an Empress and her Nubian Prince, leaves one feeling honored and beautiful about experiencing the essence of love.

Number X, track three, boasts the voice of a conscious sista who knows her worth and refuses to be swayed by a superficial brother.

Her wailing, at the introduction of her fourth track, Red Graffiti, gave me goose pimples. I felt in her voice, what her words would later translate into thoughts.

Track eight, Pedophiles, featuring Jamaal Ramos and Kayla Enriquez (Adele’s 10-year-old daughter), incorporated a role play between Adele and the youths. Though graphic, and short, the message is empowering.

The vibrant pictures of Adele on both CD covers were taken by Kayla. She captured her mom’s beautiful and quiet strength. In my opinion, the Black Orchid plant – our national flower - shares similar characteristics.

The second CD, Poetry Volume 1, left no stones unturned. A must have for the library of all poets. This 18-track disc addresses the Garifuna youth, Black on Black crime, conflict between sistas, being yourself, the need for statesmen and women, and the feelings of a poet who is used as a medium to express the thoughts and experiences of others as well as herself.

Raw is the perfect adjective to describe the tone of this CD. When one listens to this CD, one is able to feel the reality of many Belizeans, and to get a good visual of the tense Belizean climate.

The words of the second track - “Prisoner”, encapsulate the responsibility of a poet.

“My pen is your pen, My thoughts are your thoughts, You and I are one, We became one, That moment, You entered my mind, And took me prisoner.”

I found myself thinking at various points, while listening to both CD’s - “Is that Adele?” At times her voice does not sound like the voice I recognize as hers. The quality of the music is clear, sharp, and professional. The recording studio - Heights of Vibes Studio, must be acknowledged for their exceptional collaboration and their wealth of artistic talent.

Most of the lyrics are Adele’s that she has penned over a 7-8-year time period. During a brief interview with the artist, she expressed her enjoyment of music and the fact that her inspiration is derived from a range of people.

Thanks to her, now I know that a track “is a line on which something is recorded.” In her patient, caring voice she explained the technical aspect of hearing beats in your head, and building on those beats. I had to admit to her that I did not hear beats in my head.

Anyways, she tapped a beat for me on the desk, and she changed the tempo, so that I would hear the difference in the sound. One may build on the sounds of the beats, or combine the beats. There are different sounds for different instruments; the beats may be used alone or in combination with the various instruments.

It’s her intention to “express herself publicly, and that people will listen to the messages. Life has its ups and downs, but you can overcome.” Adele would also like “to build awareness of how issues affect people and what can be done to bring those issues to the front burner.”

A country tour is scheduled beginning in Dangriga to promote her CD’s. The Red Graffiti sells for $15, and for Black Orchid Raw, Poetry Volume 1, for $10. She may be contacted at 602.0181, website:Black Orchid Belize

The following are two reviews from honest listeners.

“Adele’s better at spoken word than the written words; she is good at expressing herself verbally, and she is very versatile.” - Kalilah Enriquez, poet.

“Adele is very focused and serious; she knows what she wants, so it’s easier to work with her.” - Father Lee, Heights of Vibes CEO.

Adele Ramos, a self-described lover of the arts, stated that, “2007 will be a year to explore my poetry, music, painting, and fashion design.”

News Stories available on the Web:

Inside Adele’s Diary

Channel 7 News: posted (January 3, 2007)

It could easily appropriate the name of that popular movie, "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" but Adele Ramos isn't that, she's an artiste on a serious hot streak. We first introduced the Amandala's assistant editor as "Black Orchid" two weeks ago and since then she has been in the studio putting in serious work. Last week Adele released not one but two CDs of dub poetry. The CDs are titled "Raw" and "Red Graffiti." "Raw "is an 18 track disc of short poems while "Red Graffiti" is a fourteen track set of edgy poems which read and reveal like the pages of Adele's diary. She told us more about the new release.

More...Channel 7 story

Local journalist releases CD of songs, poetry

Channel 5 News: December 29, 2006

Adele Ramos has made a name for herself as a journalist but tonight we preview her latest attempt to conquer the world of a recording artist. Kendra Griffith explains.

Kendra Griffith, Reporting
On Saturday, poet Adele Ramos will be releasing not one but two debut CDs. The first is entitled Red Graffiti.

Adele Ramos

“It’s an album of poetry and songs and a combination of poetry and music. It’s different from anything that I have every worked on before. Actually I am releasing along with this another CD called Black Orchid Raw and it’s all poems, but the focus is on the voice. The difference between Red Graffiti and Black Orchid Raw is that they introduce different styles of dealing with poetry and working along with music and the messages are broad and varied. I address everything from love to corruption, pedophilia, a whole host of issues.”

More...Channel 5 story

BELIZEAN POET TO RELEASE LATEST WORKS TOMORROW

Love FM: December 29, 2006

Journalist Adele Ramos will this weekend release two compact discs featuring a wide range of her poetry. Ramos Daly stopped by our studios to tell us more about the CDs.

Adele Ramos:

“I have my first CD called red graffiti and that a CD that features dub poetry and music and that CD really includes a wide range of pieces that talk about things like love, pedophilia, corruption a whole host of issues. The second CD also very versatile but what is different about that CD is that it’s a raw poetry CD so you get to hear the raw voice. So you get to hear the emotion in the voice the expression that can be lost when you do poetry against the music. And so they are two very different CDs speaking about a range of issues and it’s actually my way of really demonstrating what you could do with poetry.”

More...on Love FM story

Adele Ramos on Love

Channel 7 T.V. News, Friday, February 18, 2005

You know her as the hard-hitting, in-depth journalist whose articles fill up the Amandala's pages every week. But Adele Ramos, Assistant Editor of the nation's leading paper, is also Adele Ramos, the poet who's got a rather sizeable soft spot for love poems, and from what we can tell, one heck of a love jones. She lays it bare in her new book, which features 30 new poems. But more than just "jonesing," Adele told us today the collection is a true-true love story, her story.

Adele Ramos, Poet
" If you look at everything from start to finish you realize that it sort of tells a story. It begins with creation of the Supreme Being, the first poem speaks of the perfect garden where the analogy is given of the Garden of Eden where God created man and woman. You know love originated with him and I think that as human beings naturally it is within us to love each other and so naturally the anthology goes from that point of creation and then it jumps into the early phases where you have a young girl, in my case, starting to discover emotions, romantic emotions, or that stage you call it a 'crush,' for somebody you admire, and after that it grows."

" For me it began as really a hobby, one night it served basically as my counselor to sit down behind my computer and do this. The process served as my counselor and I am happy to be able to share this with other people because I know that I'm not the only person who goes through these experiences. So I hope at the end of it all, I will be able to positively touch somebody else out there."

PHASES is available at The Book Center for $10 or from Adele herself. It was self-published by through her RAMOS PUBLISHING imprint. She is now working on a novel about domestic violence.

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Journalist publishes poetry book

Channel 5 T.V. News, Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Inspiration to put pen to paper or in this digital age, put fingers to the keypad, can come from a wide range of emotions: anger, fear, happiness or love. For journalist Adele Ramos, a tumultuous break-up drove her to sit down at a computer and when she got up, the core of Phases: A Love Anthology had been born. Ramos promises that the work will touch every reader's inner being.

Adele Ramos, Poet
" It wasn’t that I thought well you know, I should just sit down and write some poems. It was just something that, I guess, was led by the spirit and you know. I just sat there and I wrote literally for hours and so many of the poems that are in the book actually come out of that experience. It was for me a cleansing experience because over those hours, I was able to assess some of my emotions, some of my experiences, and go through a phase of healing. It’s never a complete process but it was an important step."

Karla Heusner
" Have you had any reaction from anyone reading it that maybe it would have been something they would have written themselves?"

Adele Ramos

" Definitely. Not necessarily written, but something they would have been through. I’ve had that reaction from people. It’s been nothing but love from the people who have read it so far and I’ve been very, very encouraged."

This is Ramos's second publication. The first, released in 2000, was a tribute to her grandfather entitled Thomas Vincent Ramos: The Man and His Writings. The poetry book is available at the Book Centre at a price of ten dollars.

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Adele Ramos releases love anthology – PHASES

Amandala newspaper, Sunday, February 18, 2005

A new poetry book authored by Amandala journalist, Adele Ramos, will be released on Friday, February 18, in Belize City. The 30-poem anthology titled PHASES includes a variety of love poems that tell of real-life experiences, but also address the issues of domestic violence and HIV/AIDS.

Ramos, a third-generation journalist, first began to write for the Amandala in 1995 and is currently the newspaper’s Assistant Editor. In 2000, she released the book, Thomas Vincent Ramos: The Man and His Writings, published by the National Garifuna Council of Belize.

" I have been writing poetry since I was a teenager. I had deliberately held off on publishing my poems until I was able to compile a full spectrum of love poems that tell a distinct story," she revealed.

The poems are laid out to tell a fascinating love story, beginning with pieces such as Schoolgirl’s Crush and Puppies. On the pages of the book, she also pours out intense emotions—the joys of love, the deep fascination that a woman has for her lover, the agony of separation, the hurt of deception and infidelity, and the ecstasy of unconditional love.

Acclaimed Belizean poet, River of Fire, who wrote a short review of her work, called it, "A truly beautiful collection of poetry for any library." He also wrote that the poems " read like a personal love letter from a special woman to the right man."

PHASES, the debut production of Ramos Publishing, will be available on Friday at the Book Center on Church Street, or from the author herself.