October 2019 Blog Posts (34)

“Trinidad” is the refrain to What’s Your Name, the new soca anthem launched by the New York-based artiste Julius (Rodney Julius). “It’s a powerful patriotic song…and it will still have you going in a fete,” said Julius on his recent trip home.

“When Trinidadians the world over listen to this song, it must ignite them to come home for 2020 Carnival, and walk barefeet on the beach in Tobago and eat some…

Trinidad and Tobago’s Education Ministry has signed an agreement with the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation (TUCO) for calypso to be taught in schools as part of the visual and performing arts curriculum.

TUCO believes introducing calypso in schools would reduce juvenile delinquency, as well as, improve communication among students.

The collaboration…

Cardi B and Offset are only listening to dancehall music whole living their best lives in the Caribbean.

Cardi B followed this mantra without fear when she partied in Turks and Caicos with her husband Offset and a few friends. Cardi is a smart girl and knows that a true Caribbean party has to include a few dancehall bangers, especially those for the ladies. She captured a lot of the evening’s proceedings on…

Port-of-Spain, Trinidad – Barbados continues to make its presence felt when it comes to Caribbean entertainment. In the world of Soca, a genre that continues to grow, Barbados’ Kirk Brown is pushing hard ahead of Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival 2020 season.

The DJ who’s proven his worth as an artiste, having shared the stage with big names like Rihanna, Shaggy and NeYo, is bent on…

Yes, the superstar singer, Rihanna, is from the Caribbean island of Barbados, but for a while, some social media users wondered whether she was, in fact, from Jamaica.

Despite talk of regional unity, rivalry among Caribbean islanders is real. On social media, this usually boils down to little more than witty banter, point-scoring and humour, especially on quick-fire Twitter. But when Barbadian Twitter users…

Nessa Preppy has never been shy to embrace her sexuality and certainly caused a stir with the release of Issa Snack, but all is not what it seems as she explained to me on a recent visit to London

NOTTING HILL and Leeds carnivals are just passed.

Throughout the year in this column I’ve spoken to some of the artists that look like they may have the big songs for…

Entertainers from Jamaica, Haiti, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, and St Lucia, will headline the inaugural Creole Culture Fest which takes place October 18-20 at Miramar Amphitheatre in Florida.

The event is promoted by Madame Gougousse Inc. Performers include KES The Band, Konshens, Nessa Preppy, Nailah Blackman, Klass, Gabel, Roody Roodboy, Rara Lakay,…

Atlanta is a massive hub for culture and diversity; we love to celebrate with huge events throughout the city every year. From Afropunk to one of the most successful pride parades in the country, there’s something to celebrate for everyone. The Atlanta Caribbean festival in 2020 will be here and will be the brightest and most colorful cultural celebration you’ll see all year.

The 32nd Annual Atlanta…

Miami Carnival is a medley of Caribbean culture— waist-winding (or whining) rhythms of soca,  food offerings from various islands and masquerade bands dazzling in colorful and dramatic costumes.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. One radio personality made a point on Wednesday, of telling listeners that he felt Machel Montano was pretty much acting like a groupie when he attended Rihanna’s Diamond Ball last week. All this because the superstar soca artiste who has collaborated with the likes of Doug E Fresh, Ashanti and Shaggy, had taken and posted a lot of celebrity pics, post event.

Fans are…

Brooklyn-based TT rapper Devyn “Young Devyn” Tyson, who performed at Tuesday’s Black Entertainment Television (BET) Hip Hop awards cypher, was described as shining at the event in a October 8 BET.com article.

She was one of the hip hop cyphers (an informal gathering of rappers, beatboxers, and/or breakdancers in a circle, in order to jam musically together) performing at the award show.…

Fall is here. And we are so ready for Miami Carnival.

The 35th annual extravaganza of all things Caribbean — music, food, crafts and culture — comes to the Miami-Dade County Fairgrounds Oct. 13. Sunday’s celebrations kick off at 11 a.m. and run through 11 p.m.

“For over 35 years, Miami Carnival has endeavored to be the nucleus of Caribbean culture during every…

Young and as­pir­ing Chut­ney So­ca artiste have been told now is the time to hold per­sons in high of­fice, in­clud­ing or­gan­is­ers and stake­hold­ers ac­count­able for their ac­tions.

This came as teach­ers protest­ed yes­ter­day at the Bri­an Lara Prom­e­nade for the de­lay salary nega­tion and forced a low turn out of teacher sup­port at the School’s In­tel­lec­tu­al…

Musical prostitution.

This is how 31-year-old aspiring artiste Sancha Samara Scipio has described her experience trying to break into the soca music industry, after being told by a popular radio DJ that she needs to "post more sexy pictures" and "show more skin" to get recognition.

The mother-of-two posted about her experience on Facebook last week, showing…