Roché Pinas (born 1988 or 1989), known professionally as Benjamin Faya, is a Surinamese singer. He primarily performs

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

and

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

, and has had several number 1 hits on the

Nationale Top 40 Suriname Nationale Top 40 Suriname is a weekly record chart in Suriname. It is updated every Thursday by the Natio40 Foundation (Dutch: ). Background The first Top 40 appeared on April 12, 2013. It is based on radio airplay, music store sales, and repor ...

. In 2016, he won the national song competition

SuriPop The Suriname Popular Song Festival (commonly called SuriPop) is a biennial song festival that has taken place in Suriname since 1982. The festival is organized by the Foundation for the Promotion of Arts and Culture in Suriname (Dutch: ). The ...

Early life

Roché Pinas was born in 1988 or 1989. He grew up in a family with seven children; as a child, he received high marks for singing in school. He is married with three children. His employer gives him space to work on his music career, and allows him to be absent for music trips abroad. Faya began to see success in his music career around 2015. In that year, he performed in the Poetry&Beyond Sessions, a concert series organised by the Platform Support Suriname Foundation. He was featured at the

Cayenne Cayenne (; ; gcr, Kayenn) is the capital city of French Guiana, an overseas region and Overseas department, department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Cayenne River on the Atlantic Oc ...

Reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

Festival 2015 and 2016 in

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

. Around this time, he also had several number 1 hits on the

, including "Heartbreaker", which he dedicated to his wife.

Breakthrough

In 2016, Faya entered the national song competition

; he won first prize with "Yu kori mi ati" written by . After this win, he received a number of offers to perform abroad. Apologizing to his fans in Suriname, Faya said in an interview that he would not be able to support his family with only domestic tours. He also revealed his dream to eventually perform at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 2017, Faya closed the Kwaku Summer Festival with the Mega Vibes Band. He also performed at the Reggae Lake Festival in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. In Suriname, he was part of the Dobru Neti (Dobru Night) festivities. Faya and several other Surinamese artists performed with

Nick & Simon Nick & Simon are a Dutch singer-songwriter duo composed of Simon Keizer and Nick Schilder. They became popular in their home country the Netherlands in 2006. Their album ''Luister'' (''Listen'') reached double platinum status in four months. I ...

at 't Vat in a concert recorded for Dutch television. In addition, he was invited to perform in the Christmas concert of De Surinaamsche Bank (DSB). In 2018, Faya performed four concerts in

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

as a member of SuriToppers, a touring

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

of SuriPop winners. In the same year, he collaborated for the first time with the Dutch

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

/ kawina band PASSION and contributed two songs for their new EP. In addition, he continued to perform in Suriname, including at events such as Ketikoti and the Heerenstraat Festival. Faya performed in a January 2020 benefit concert for the healthcare costs of singer . He was to be part of the SuriToppers again in 2020, but their performances were cancelled due to pandemic restrictions in the Netherlands. He did continue to release records: in mid-2020, he and producer Carter had a number 1 hit with the song "Silence". In 2021, Faya went to

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

, which borders Suriname, for a promotional tour. He told Surinamese newspapers that he wants to try to break through in the Caribbean with English-language songs, and he has been working on a new album in English.

Style

Faya cites Surinamese singer as a musical inspiration; in reggae, he was influenced by

Garnett Silk Garnett Silk (born Garnet Damion Smith; 2 April 1966 – 9 December 1994) was a Jamaican reggae musician and Rastafarian, known for his diverse, emotive, powerful and smooth voice. During the early 1990s he was hailed as a rising talent, howeve ...

Richie Spice Richell Bonner (born 8 September 1971), better known as Richie Spice, is a Jamaican reggae artist. He is a member of the Rastafari movement. Some of his most famous songs include, "Brown Skin", "Youth Dem Cold Rel Bad", "Grooving' My Girl", "Ear ...

and

Beres Hammond Beres Hammond Order of Jamaica, OJ (born Hugh Beresford Hammond; 28 August 1955, in Annotto Bay, Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica, Saint Mary, Jamaica)Moskowitz, David V. (2006) ''Caribbean Popular Music: an Encyclopedia of Reggae, Mento, Ska, Rock St ...

. Faya mainly performs reggae and

, but has also made forays into other genres. For example, he rapped in Kevin Cruickzz's 2016 song "Turn up". In 2017, he released the

Afrobeats Afrobeats (not to be confused with Afrobeat or Afroswing), or Afro-pop or Afro-fusion (or Afropop or Afrofusion), is an umbrella term to describe popular music from West Africa and the diaspora that initially developed in Nigeria, Ghana, and ...

song "Fika yu" with Skitzz and Lodilikie, and in 2018 he recorded the

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

song "Never give up". Faya released his first

Dutch-language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after its close relatives German and English. ''Afrikaans'' ...

song in 2020, titled "Je bent van mij".

References

External links

Benjamin Faya
on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

Benjamin Faya
on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

Benjamin Faya
on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faya, Benjamin Living people 1980s births 21st-century Surinamese male singers