Ryan “DJ Private Ryan” Alexander is focused on building a holistic Carnival brand, that includes deejaying, music, events, and now mas.
The TT-born, international DJ has his own section, Aurum, in Tribe’s 2023 presentation: A New Dawn.
Private Ryan worked with designer Keisha Als to bring Aurum to life. The section is already sold out.
He said he has been evolving the Battalion brand. The road experience (mas) was always one of the components he wished to add to the growing brand.
[caption id="attachment_999161" align="alignnone" width="682"] Aurum was designed by Keisha Als. -[/caption]
There was a natural progression to mas design from working with Tribe over the years. The section is “colourful, vibrant” and was launched after Tribe’s official band launch, he said. The process began with a conversation with the mas band and then progressed to who he’d work with, to give life to the idea.
“I had taken a look at a couple designers, but I looked at Keisha Als, who does Tropix Swim, and she did do something that was very Battalion-like in 2020. I wanted her to bring something to the table that I could expand on in terms of a costume.”
[caption id="attachment_999162" align="alignnone" width="682"] A costume from DJ Private Ryan's section in Tribe's A New Dawn. The section is called Aurum. -[/caption]
They then went back and forth with the design; working with his team, her design and Tribe. Tribe was integral in the approval processes and making suggestions, he said. They then came to a final design which included a large backpack, a medium backpack and no backpack.
The initial conversation with Tribe took place around March last year.
He has also stuck true to producing universal music with soca at its core and has produced a number of singles under his Battalion brand. He has worked with top artistes to achieve this including Mela Caribe, Skinny Fabulous, Sekon Sta, Marzville, King Bubba, Patrice Roberts, Freetown Collective, Nessa Preppy, Terri Lyons and Guyana’s Timeka Marshall.
The music includes World on Fire with Patrice Roberts, Freetown Collective and Nigel Rojas, as well as Nasty Flow with Nessa Preppy, Dream with new artiste Mela Caribe, No Feteing Behaviour with Sekon Sta, Vibe with Sekon Sta, and Juicy with Timeka Marshall.
As a DJ, he took notice of the discussion of newer soca not being played in fetes as the season began.
That might have changed this week, however, sharing his thoughts on it, Private Ryan said there were two sides to it.
[caption id="attachment_999153" align="alignnone" width="1011"] DJ Private Ryan has introduced new events to the Carnival calendar including the Soca Baby Boat Cruise and Imagine - the J'Ouvert Party Experience. - Photo by Sureash Cholai[/caption]
“I think the cycle of them (patrons) consuming music shifted a bit, in this timing. We are now jump-starting Carnival and usually what happens, is the excitement of Carnival rolls over from the last one.
