The artiste expressed his shock and disbelief at his song being dubbed in the upcoming James Bond film, No Time To Die, that was shot in Jamaica. The movie is set for release later this year after being postponed twice in 2020 due to the novel coronavirus being declared a pandemic in March 2020, a month ahead of the first scheduled premiere in April 2020.
Teacha Dee, whose real name is Damion Darrel Warren, says his song is part of a compilation released in 2016 was produced by Giddiman Productions, whose CEO is Reggae producer and “Handcart Boy” singer Perfect Giddimani.
According to Teacha Dee, who resides in Germany, he says he was shocked when he was first contacted. “But afterwards, I did some research on the placement company and then I called Perfect Giddimani. When I realized that it was real, I didn’t speak for about nine hours,” he said.
Giddimani recalls the company detailing their role, which includes matching songs dubbed over scenes in movies. After that, MGM stepped in to finalize the copyright license for use in the Bond movie. “I signed the license deal for “Rastafari Way” last year. It is one of the songs on my “Horns of Africa” various artiste project, and it is also on Teacha Dee’s 2018 album. It feels like I have been rewarded for good work, and the fact is that this song wasn’t a huge seller. Rastafari way is a timeless, beautiful song and for that reason, I am not surprised that the producers chose it to be a part of No Time to Die,” he said.
According to Giddimani, the song, which is produced by Vienna- based House of Rhythm band, is to be credited for mixing the song. “At first, reggae artistes coming to Europe were a bit hesitant [to] use House of Rhythm because of the question, if “dem white bwoy deh can play’, but they have proved themselves to the point where, on all the major festivals, they were backing up to 16 reggae acts.”
While not saying how much was earned from the deal, Giddimani confirms that it was “very lucrative.” He added that MGM paid upfront fees for the mastering while the artists and musicians were paid upfront. “what is important is that they all owned their publishing, so that is a plus. The company paid pretty early, too, before the original release date of the movie, so we are all very satisfied.”
Meanwhile, Teacha Dee says the song is about the struggles he faced after deciding to leave teaching to pursue Rastafari.
“It is a great feeling of accomplishment to know that such a big franchise has picked up this song…it is a big song and this is such a wonderful thing that I hope Guyana can be proud of this, too.”
The bond movie is set to release on October 8, 2021.
