For the past ten days my brother C*POP and my almost-brother Walt have been following Trinidad and Tobago recording artists Maximus Dan, Jah Melody and Marlon Asher as the three tour various cities in Europe. C*POP and Walt have been sending frequent updates, photos and videos which they’ve been posting at the Beach House Entertainment Facebook page. This video, the fourth in the series, is
a montage of scenes of the T&T Entertainment Co contingent leaving Berlin, arriving in Oslo, the June 3 show The Source Club in Oslo featuring Marlon Asher and Jah Melody, and the deejays who rushed to record dubplates with the two artists the day after
I also think it’s the best of the series yet. See the complete set of Europe tour videos here.
Episode #6 arrives a day late courtesy of the carnival week frenzy, which is not to say the show is without substance. Au contraire: in the final episode in the cut+clear carnival 2009 series, the members of 3canal and I visit with photographer, carnival connoisseur and Belmont native Jeffrey Chock at his home on Clifford Street for a chat about the carnival of yesteryear, the philosophical underpinnings of the changes taking place in today’s version of the festival, and—naturally—the experience of photographing one of the world’s most visually spectacular events.
This week’s 3canal track: “Paradise” remixed by Keshav Chandradath Singh
Trust the cut+clear carnival podcast’s most freewheeling and raucous show to date to be the one featuring women (it’s also the first CFR episode to feature explicit language!). In episode #5 the members of 3canal and I sit down backstage at Queen’s Hall with Cecilia Salazar, Dionne McNicol and Elisha Bartels, three key members of the 3canal Show, and discuss matters ranging from performing while pregnant to the banning of songs featuring “daggerin’” from the Jamaican airwaves. We also remember the late, great John Isaacs, the fourth member of 3canal, on the ninth anniversary of his passing.
Previews of this year’s edition of the 3canal Show begin on Thursday 12 February, 2009 at Queen’s Hall, Port of Spain, Trinidad. The full run begins on Monday 16 February.
This week’s 3canal track: “Where Do We Go From Here” from the album “Joy+Fire”
Stanton Kewley, Pelham Goddard and Wendell Manwarren at Pelham’s home in St. James, Trinidad
In cut+clear carnival episode #3 we visit veteran producer and steel orchestra arranger, Pelham Goddard, at his home in St. James for a chat about the evolution of music for steel orchestras and 3canal’s foray into the steel band arena with Pelham and the Exodus Steel Orchestra. In addition, Wendell treats us to a series of audio vignettes explaining certain aspects of the steel band scene in Trinidad and Tobago.
On episode #2 of the cut+clear carnival podcast 3canal and I chat with Curtis “C*POP” Popplewell and Walt Lovelace, the men behind the Beach House Carnival fête and some of the country’s most original music video work.
Tune in to hear Curtis and Walt hold forth on why they prefer not to be referred to as fête promoters and the state of music video production in the country.
This week’s 3canal track: “Joy+Fire”, from the album of the same name.
For the 2009 carnival season I’ve teamed up with 3canal to produce a series of down and dirty (dutty?) podcasts called cut+clear carnival. We’re keeping it deliberately simple and free-flowing: the plan is for us to meet on Mondays, riff for 15 or so minutes on things carnival-related, preferably with a guest, then have the show edited and uploaded by Tuesday.
In this pilot episode Roger Roberts and Wendell Manwarren of 3canal shoot the breeze with MPC wizard Keshav Chandradath Singh of the cut+clear crew and Canboulay.
See you at the launch of 3canal’s 2009 release, Joy+Fire, on Sunday 19 January at 6pm at the Queen’s Hall Courtyard, Port of Spain, Trinidad!
In episode #47 I drop in on CFR’s house band, 3canal, to chat with Roger Roberts and Wendell Manwarren about last week’s ReThePublic concert; the band’s upcoming appearance at the WOMEX world music festival in Seville, Spain; and how 3canal learned to stop worrying and love Facebook.
Saturday July 21st 2007, 2:21 pm
Filed under: Music Posted by: Georgia
". . . in Trinidad, I was trying to make a song that wasn't very soca-ish, but I was in a soca environment with soca producers who were having a lot of soca stuff going on. I wasn't thinking about American clubs at the time, about what sort of stuff they were listening to, what kids in Paris were listening to. I was just there in the moment in Trinidad. It had the ups and downs: the basic chorus, soca for the tempo, and you just fuck around with that. You create a new way to feel music."
Singer M.I.A., explaining, in The Village Voice, why she was lurking around Studio Film Club last year (or was it earlier this year?). Maybe I’ll like Kala, her upcoming album, better than I did Arular.
- Guadeloupean saxophonist Jacques Schwarz-Bart’s MySpace page. His latest album, Soné Ka-La, gorgeously synthesises Guadeloupean gwoka and all that jazz (full-length music samples are available at MySpace).
And while we’re on the subject of great saxophonists, the New York Times yesterday runs a moving article about Sonny Rollins — who’s now 76 — as he comes to terms with the death of his wife and (reluctantly) embraces technolological change.
- My photos from last night’s Divali dinner at Omi and Lalo’s are up on Flickr. They’re a bit on the dark side, and again, will be more appreciated by those who know the people in them. But I do deconstruct a dinner plate.
- And here’s one from the tech files: last night, in my quest for a method of cheating the upload date on a few of my photos so they wouldn’t appear at the top of my Flickr photostream, I came across h4ppierphotos, which worked like a dream.
Yesterday I happened to come across the MySpace page of Ralph Thamar, Malavoi’s former lead singer. Around the time I arrived in Martinique Thamar was just starting his solo career, and I recall once having somehow gotten seated at a table (probably due to some screw-up in the seating plan) with him and Edith Léfel and Marijosé Alie at a bizarre event called “La Nuit des Stars” that was being televised by RFO Martinique. Those were some strange times, indeed.
I no longer keep up with French Caribbean music like I used to, and this video for the song “Fe Van” reminded me of what I might be missing. Accompanying Thamar on piano is Mario Canonge, another fine Martiniquan musician whom I had the good fortune of meeting briefly last year, when he played with the band Sakésho at a jazz festival here in Trinidad.
“Fe Van”, incidentally, is from Thamar’s 2005 album Alma y Corazon.
Wednesday August 09th 2006, 10:22 pm
Filed under: Music, Video Posted by: Georgia
My talented amigo Walt Lovelace sent me this video he directed for Trinidadian rock band Orange Sky’s “Running with the Dogs” a couple of weeks ago, and insisted I post it on CFR. (”Don’t I need permission?” I asked. “You have my permission,” he replied.)
So here it is. The snake is real, and so is the lightbulb.
“It’s quite an exciting little thing,” Wendell Manwarren of 3canal told me over the phone yesterday as we discussed “Caribeana Imperia“, the show the band has been preparing over the past few weeks in Washington DC. That’s almost certainly an understatement. “Caribeana Imperia” opened on Thursday 13 July and from all reports audiences had no difficulty getting into the groove.
In CFR #44 the three members of 3canal — Wendell, Roger and Stanton — and choreographer Dave Williams fill me in on the details over the telephone from their DC headquarters.
“Caribeana Imperia” runs at the Gala Hispanic Theatre in Washington DC from Thursday-Sunday until July 30. The show is directed by Hugo Medrano and Wendell Manwarren.
Please consider supporting us by buying a CFR t-shirt, and if you’re an Amazon.com shopper, you can also support CFR by initating your purchases by clicking on any of the Amazon.com links on the site.
Tuesday July 04th 2006, 7:05 pm
Filed under: Music, Video Posted by: Georgia
Digging around in my Libsyn archives today, I came across this 2005 video for 3canal’s “A Happy Song”, which I’d compressed and uploaded ages ago but never did anything with. I figure now’s as good a time as any to unveil it. The video was directed by Walt Lovelace and Wendell Manwarren.
“Happy Song” is from the CD Jab Jab Say — grab yourself a copy at CD Baby.
CFR is back! And what better way to celebrate my return to podcasting than by paying a visit to cut+clear productions, headquarters of 3canal, CFR’s “house band”.
This time the topic isn’t the band but rather band member Wendell Manwarren, who was in Germany a few weeks ago appearing in a soon-to-be-released television documentary which aims to “capture the vibe” in the FIFA World Cup 2006 host country ahead of the arrival of the Soca Warriors (Trinidad & Tobago’s football team) and the legions of Trini fans in June. Wendell shares with us the highlights of his whirlwind tour (seven cities in 2 1/2 weeks!) and explains why there’s now a pink rhino covered in blue devils gracing the streets of Dortmund. We also play two tracks from 3canal Vibes, the group’s 2006 album, which you can purchase online at CDBaby.
Please consider supporting us by buying a CFR t-shirt, and if you’re an Amazon.com shopper, you can also support CFR by initating your purchases by clicking on any of the Amazon.com links on the site.
The Bay of All Saints, Salvador da Bahia by Patricia Carmo
Inspired by a line from David Rudder’s “Bahia Girl” about the affinities between Trinidad and Brazil, I get on Skype with my friend Gillian Marcelle during her sojourn in the enchanting Bahian capital, Salvador, and learn a bit about the land of capoeira and Carnaval (and caipirinhas!).
Please consider supporting us by buying a CFR t-shirt, and if you’re an Amazon.com shopper, you can also support CFR by initating your purchases by clicking on any of the Amazon.com links on the site.
EPISODE 40 FINDS ME sounding like I’m just coming off a bout of ‘flu (which I am) and 3canal in a feisty mood as we discuss the football-inspired “Vibes It Up”, their second release for the Carnival season, talk about their upcoming variety show and ponder the champagne-and-caviar road down which Carnival seems to be travelling. Lots of raised voices and cross talk and few punches pulled.
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When the Christmas season rolls around, English-speaking Trinidad starts singing in Spanish. Episode #39 explains – briefly – the whys and wherefores of the musical form known as parang and offers a sampling of parang tunes by Los Parranderos de UWI.
Links: “The Sound of Christmas” – 1997 Article on parang by yours truly (PDF format (1.8 MB) – first published in Caribbean Beat) | Buy Los Parranderos de UWI’s Mi Parranda at Rhyner’s Caribbean Music Online Store
Please consider supporting us by buying a CFR t-shirt, and if you’re an Amazon.com shopper, you can also support CFR by initating your purchases by clicking on any of the Amazon.com links on the site.
Dominique Le Gendre with Royal Opera House accompanist Chris Willis
CFR gets classical in episode #38, as I visit with Trinidad-born composer Dominique Le Gendre at her home in London. I chat with Dominique about her early musical influences, about Caribbeanness and the classical tradition, her experiences as a Associate Artist at the Royal Opera House and her chamber opera “Bird of Night”, which is set to debut at the Royal Opera House in October 2006.
Please consider supporting us by buying a CFR t-shirt, and if you plan on doing any of your holiday shopping at Amazon.com, do support CFR by initating your purchases by clicking on any of the Amazon.com links on the site.
- Guadeloupean saxophonist 
, Orange Sky’s latest album, is available at 
– audio version of the Bard’s complete works, scored by Dominique |