Category Archives: Music

Carnival, Entertainment, General T&T, Music

Machel resurrects the old

By Raffique Shah
February 19, 2024

Raffique ShahIt took Machel Montano 40 of his 49 years to creatively and graphically make an emphatic statement on this senseless commess that surrounds calypso and soca. I am still not sure however that his contention—that soca is the soul of calypso—is correct, but he laid down the gauntlet for anyone who wishes to argue otherwise. I have never entered the debate before. Not when it raged in the 1970s with flamboyant stage performances by artistes like SuperBlue, Maestro, Ras Shorty I and the like.
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Entertainment, General T&T, Music

Music, a universal language

By Raffique Shah
October 17, 2023

Raffique ShahA few days ago, I awoke from an afternoon nap to the sound of Indian music literally filling the house. I was somewhat disoriented transitioning from sleep to wake but also, because of the volume at which the music was being played. We hardly ever turn the volume up lest we disturb our neighbours. As I walked to the living room where our small music player is housed, I saw my wife sitting, tapping away her fingers to the rhythm of the music, and my daughter going about her normal schedule for the day. All doors and windows in the house were shut tight so nobody could complain about noise coming from our house.
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Carnival, Entertainment, General T&T, Music, Sex

Porning our Carnival

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By Raffique Shah
February 27, 2023

Raffique ShahIf anyone in the country was surprised by the minimalist style that almost all the designers opted for in outfitting female masqueraders, such poor folks have either detached themselves from Carnival for some time, or ceased to be bothered by the near nakedness of thousands of adults, whose gyrations and simulations of sex, could one day erupt into an orgasmic explosion, the effects of which might send some uncontrollable individuals into uncharted dimensions, something akin to never-ending euphoria on steroids.
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Carnival, Entertainment, General T&T, Music

Cro Cro: our warrior king

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 20, 2023

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeA few days ago, businessman Inshan Ishmael issued a pre-action protocol letter to Cro Cro (Weston Rawlins). He demands Cro Cro respond favourably to his letter within the next 28 days or face legal action in the High Court. Ishmael says he is the subject of Cro Cro’s calypso, “Another Sat Is Outside Again”.

Attorney Richard Jaggasar, Ishmael’s lawyer, says, “In the trial it will be contended that it was immaterial whether Cro Cro intended to cause harm or was careless in making his statements, as the tort of defamation is one of strict liability.” (Express, February 14.)
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Entertainment, General T&T, Music

Defending our noble art form

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 13, 2023

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeBusinessman Inshan Ishmael plans to take Cro Cro (Weston Rawlins) to court over what he says are Cro Cro’s “highly defamatory lyrics about him” in his (Rawlins’) 2023 calypso, “Another Sat is Outside Again”. He says that he never listens to Cro Cro’s calypsoes because they always denigrate the East Indian community. This time, he is really offended.
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Entertainment, Music

Look-me! A reclamation of self

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 05, 2022

PART I

“Man is a rational substance consisting of soul and body.”

—St Augustine, “The Trinity”

“The human person… is a being at once corporeal and spiritual.”

—Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeTwo weeks ago I gave a lecture at a Transformative Leadership Bootcamp at QRC organised by Dr Brian Harry, to a mix of younger and older people who asked my opinion of the themed party Stink & Dutty. Implicitly, the questioner included those unscripted events such as Jam Naked and FOC that are occurring across the country. My puritanical instincts and old-fashioned notions of decency almost demanded that I regard these events as expressions/manifestations of moral and social decadence.
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Entertainment, General T&T, Music, Passed on

Joker, the Bard of Trinidad

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By Raffique Shah
June 28, 2021

Raffique ShahI imagine that like me, most calypso aficionados first became aware of the existence of the late Winsford ‘Joker’ Devine when, in 1980, a virtually unknown calypsonian, ‘King’ Austin Lewis, emerged as a favourite for the calypso monarch title in his debut appearance, singing Devine’s record-breaking composition, ‘Progress’. The affable Austin didn’t win the title, running second to accomplished performer Lord Relator.
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Carnival, Crime in T&T, Culture, Entertainment, Music

Opportunities lost

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By Raffique Shah
September 07, 2020

Raffique ShahEarly morning Independence Day. I switch on the television, remembering that there would be no military parade this year, thanks to Covid-19, the Great Destroyer. So what is there to watch? On CNC3, I catch the last few words of the Prime Minister—rerun of an interview he’d done with Natalee Ligoure a few days ago. Then the host excitedly introduces 2020 Panorama champions, Desperadoes—their winning performance on Carnival Saturday night.
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Carnival, Culture, Entertainment, General T&T, Music

Kaiso ’til yuh puke

By Raffique Shah
February 25, 2020

Raffique ShahI was pleasantly surprised by the quality of many calypsoes I heard during the first half of the Calypso Monarch finals last Thursday night. My self-regulated sleeping hours did not permit me to take in the second half, which I’m sure was better. But based on the performances I watched and listened to, I can safely say that calypso is on the rebound, albeit slowly. For this, we need to thank the young bards who have decided to stay with traditional calypso even if they sometimes venture into the soca arena to share in its rich rewards.
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General T&T, Music

Those were the days my friend…

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By Raffique Shah
July 04, 2019

Raffique ShahThere is a song, a beautiful song in lyrics, melody and its first recorded rendition, that has been the anthem of successive generations that grew older—over 50, over 60, take your pick. It is an ode to nostalgia, but more than that it celebrates youth even as it warns the young that growing old has its challenges, an inevitability that we must all face.
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