“[…] Bunji’s clever ragga-style rapid-fire toasting managed to include a range of references, from isosceles to Wallabees… Their joint ownership of Hard Fete is itself more powerful than anything either of them said in defence of it, and they had plenty to say. “[…] Nailah and Skinny’s offering is a …
Read More »TUCO president on Road March rules, Fay-Ann’s fourth title and Machel/Patrice
Does soca empress Fay-Ann Lyons-Alvarez now have four Road March titles, on the back of her credit for current hit tune Hard Fete? On Wednesday, TUCO (Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation) announced that Ian “Bunji Garlin” Alvarez and Fay-Ann were co-winners of the 2023 Visit Trinidad Road March title, which might …
Read More »Bunji: “When you have a family, there’s no longer a thing as MY win!” Road March champ fires back
“[…] Our family will have our names on everything together just like cooperate institutes, groceries, shops, stores and other businesses. “And if that is a problem for you then… there’s cliffs all over the island that have no barriers and no need for parachutes. Feel free…” The following is a …
Read More »Hard Fete rules the road! TUCO tallies for Bunji and Fay-Ann
Soca power couple Ian “Bunji Garlin” Alvarez and Fay-Ann Lyons are the first Road March champions of the post-Covid-19 pandemic era, as the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation (TUCO) announced the husband and wife pair as the Visit Trinidad Road March champions. Their popular song, Hard Fete, was played 135 times …
Read More »Noble: The ‘Other’ Trinidadian children are representing well, and why Bunji betters Duke
Derek Walcott, Nobel Prize winner, once lamented: “Colonials, we began with this malarial enervation: that nothing could ever be built among these rotting shacks, barefooted backyards and moulting shingles; that being poor, we already had the theatre of our lives.” Yet, he is at one with Chinua Achebe, the towering …
Read More »Live Wire chronicles: Closed borders, price gouging and Bunji’s risk-ué adventure
By the time of writing, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, Health Minister Dr Deyalsingh, Finance Minister Colm Imbert, Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus, Communications Minister Donna Cox, National Security Minister Stuart Young and a small army of doctors have all faced the public, represented by their emissary, the media. And yet …
Read More »Famalay for the Road! Machel nears record; here’s how he compares with Kitchener and Super Blue
Soca star Machel Montano is now just one hit away from the all-time record for Road March titles, as he was awarded his tenth crown today by TUCO for Famalay—a collaboration which includes Ian “Bunji Garlin” Alvarez and Gamal “Skinny Fabulous” Doyle. Famalay was played 346 times at the respective …
Read More »Rowley in Leggings: Live Wire considers PM’s advice on spotting murderers
When you have just finished sermonising, in the wake of a murdered young woman, and the first person to offer you a “thumbs up” would probably be ex-Port of Spain Mayor Raymond Tim Kee… Maybe you didn’t appeal to the target audience you had in mind. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley …
Read More »PHRASER’S STYLE: How the International Soca Monarch underdeveloped soca music
It has been the impetus for a few soca men and women to develop the capacity for serious money-making but, overall, the International Soca Monarch (ISM) has, for years, done a great deal to put the genre several steps back. It has encouraged unhealthy sectionalism and underdeveloped the soca music …
Read More »The Minions attack Bunji; Mr Live Wire joins racist letter exchange
You have purpose… People see you trying hard to prevail in life, Make you feel that without them you going to fail in life, As you start to grow your strength and you making strides, Their minions come to crucify like they nailing Christ, Look at all of them and …
Read More »Machel exhausted from jump and wave; save him Bunji
Trinidad and Tobago soca icon and now six-time Road March winner, Machel Montano, revealed yesterday that it was getting increasingly harder to write a “power soca” hit song. “Power soca is not that easy to construct,” Montano told the Trinidad Express, “there are only so many ways to say ‘jump …
Read More »Soca stars uncover indentured labour racket
Trinidad and Tobago soca stars Ian “Bunji Garlin” Alvarez and Fay Ann Lyons-Alvarez might have executed a daring daylight escape from indentured servitude yesterday, right in the land of their birth. Locals might have heard of the alleged labour racket by another name. Caribbean Prestige Foundation (CPF) chairman William Munro …
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