Category Archives: Entertainment

Entertainment, General T&T, Movies

The black superhero

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By Dr Selwyn Cudjoe
September 07, 2020

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeChadwick Boseman, star of Black Panther, died last week Friday. The next day, former student Olivia Funderburg wrote me the following note: “Boseman’s death feels similarly shocking to Kobe Bryant’s death, in its suddenness. I was recalling how excited I was when you took us to see Black Panther. It meant so much to everyone that they got to see the movie with their friends, and with you. The way that Boseman embodied the Black Panther character and historical figures like Jackie Robinson, makes his death feel that we have lost a real-life superhero.”
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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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Entertainment, General T&T, Music

Thanks for the lyrics and music, Sparrow

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By Raffique Shah
February 28, 2019

Raffique ShahIt was a moment of sheer serendipity last Friday night. My wife Rosina and I had just watched the television news, and, scanning the local stations for some Carnival-related activity but finding nothing of interest, I resorted to YouTube for some good music that would take us to bedtime, around ten o’clock.
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Carnival, Entertainment, General T&T, Music

Chalkdust, calypso must change or die

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By Raffique Shah
February 16, 2018

Raffique ShahDear Chalkie,

I rarely respond to critics of views I express in my column, unless, like you, I hold them in high regard. Just as I enjoy the freedom to criticise public figures within the bounds of decency, I respect others’ right to respond to my opinions when we disagree, or even when they distort facts and resort to abuse.
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Business, Carnival, Entertainment, General T&T, Music, Politics

Death of calypso tents

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By Raffique Shah
January 30, 2018

Raffique ShahThey looked pathetic, three of the leading calypsonians in the country—Chalkdust, Sugar Aloes and Pink Panther—as they begged the Government for a “mere half-a-million-dollars” to operate the Calypso Revue tent over the three-week Carnival season. Admitting that they had already received $100,000 funding that was woefully inadequate, the top bards invoked the name, memory and legacy of the great Lord Kitchener, who founded the Revue 55 years ago. For Kitchener’s sake, they pleaded, grant us the half-a-mil.
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Carnival, Court, Entertainment, Gender, General T&T, Law, Media, Sex Crimes

Cops: Get permission before thiefing a wine

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By Jensen La Vende
January 11, 2016 – guardian.co.tt

CarnivalWith the Carnival season now in full swing, police are warning people who plan to gyrate on others that they can be arrested for assault if the person they want to “thief a wine on” decides to engage the police.

Speaking at the weekly media briefing yesterday, public information officer of the Police Service ASP Michael Jackman said it is an assault to touch someone without their consent.
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Entertainment, General T&T, Music

Interlude with Rudder and Tanker

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By Raffique Shah
January 02, 2018

Raffique ShahSerendipity often steals upon you in strange ways. I was about to shut down my computer last Wednesday night when, in my e-mail inbox, I saw a post by Lasana Liburd alerting me to a video interview he had conducted with David Rudder. I respect Liburd for maintaining high standards on his Wired868 blog, and for me, Rudder is a peerless trailblazer who attempted to usher in a new era in calypso music in 1986.
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Carnival, Entertainment, General T&T, Music

An Anarchist Anthem

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 06, 2017

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeLast Wednesday, Max Prime’s “We Jammin’ Still” was declared the Road March of the year. Over the two days of Carnival, it was played over 556 times as opposed Machel Montano’s “Your Time Now” that was played 77 times. On January 11, Joanne Briggs declared: “Ultimate Rejects” has already been declared the people’s anthem for Carnival 2017″ (Trinidad Guardian). She wasn’t wrong. Over the last two months, “We Jammin’ Still” replaced our National Anthem as an expression of our people’s sentiment: a directionless nation in crisis.
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Carnival, Entertainment, General T&T, Music

Hail the Queen

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By Raffique Shah
February 24, 2017

Raffique ShahI had planned to write on the resurgence of Calypso Rose since last year, when, having read about her successes in France, I decided to check YouTube to get proof of the pudding, in a manner of speaking. I have grown wary of boasts by many bards, more so those of the fast-foods Soca-ilk who make similar claims when all they have done is appear at carnivals or concerts up the islands or before diaspora-audiences in North America.
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