Andre Tanker orchestrates—there is no better word—perfect harmony between musical movements and plot movements. Key to that harmony is the articulation of a fusion that proved a prophetic precursor to the diversity of musical forms taken for granted in Trinidad today. At a time when ‘Trinidad music’ meant almost exclusively …
Read More »Bim at 45: Production far from perfect but Andre Tanker’s music scores big
“Revisiting Bim four and a half decades later, thanks to the 40th Anniversary Film and Music Pack, I find the film’s imperfections all the more endearing, its shortcomings charming. Perfection in any home-grown Trinidad film product back then would have been out of sync with place and context; it remains …
Read More »A swansong for Birdsong? Best laments for evicted pan side and national instrument
“Oh gorm,” David Rudder bawl out like Sprangalang. “Shot call!” The feckless, gutless, witless lot who are not “in charge” waited, it seemed, for an edict from the top. It never came. True to form, Culture Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly passed the buck. She had heard, said one report, that …
Read More »Humility was Jit’s hallmark; Raffique Shah pays tribute to late pan master
“I don’t know who Jit Samaroo was, but listening to others speak, he must have been a great man…my condolences to his family.” The Princes Town caller had phoned in to the TV6 Morning Edition show on Friday, which was devoted to pan arranger Jit Samaroo, who died the day …
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