Music Festival begins
Friday, March 3rd 2006, Tobago News

The Tobago Zone of the National Music Festival 2006 27th Biennial Music Festival will be staged from next Thursday to March 11 at four venues. The local organising committee has released the dates, times and categories of the performances.

The festival opens with four mini preliminary sessions next Thursday and Friday at the Scarborough Methodist Church to cater for the large number of entrants in the boy's and girl's vocal solo, duet and gospel solo categories. Sessions will be held from 8.30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on both days.

The junior classes - boy's vocal solo 13 - 15 years and 16 - 19 years, gospel solo 13 - 19 years, boys' vocal duet and trio under 19 years and girls' vocal duet 13 - 15 years will perform before the adjudicators at the Mason Hall Secondary School on March 6 from 8.30 a.m. while from 1.30 p.m. will be recorder solo up to 12 years, secondary school choir (upper voices) under 19 years, recorder solo 12 - 15 years and secondary school choir (mixed voices) under 19 years.

On March 7 appearances will be from 8.30 a.m. by girl's vocal solo 8 - 10 years, 16 - 19 years and primary school choirs 8 - 11 years.

Sting and Diddy for Tobago festival
Earl Manmohan Scarborough
Saturday, February 18th 2006
Trinidad Express

The Plymouth Jazz Festival Tobago (formerly the Tobago International Gourmet Jazz Festival) will be held on April 21, 22 and 23 at the Plymouth Recreation Ground.

The festival, which includes both international and local entertainers, will cost the lone financier-CL Communications- between $18 million and $20 million, CL Communications CEO Tony Maharaj said.

The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) will provide infrastructural support to stage the event.

International stars who are appearing at the festival include Sting, Patti La Belle, Diddy, Natalie Cole, Vanessa Williams, Rhianna, Heather Headley, Doug E Fresh, Najee and Johnny Gill.

The local entertainers are Machel Montano, Shurwayne Winchester & Traffik, Destra, Rose, Baron and H2O Phlo.

Tickets priced at US$65 (April 21), US$85 (April 22) and US$100 (April 23) will go on sale at local outlets and on the international market by March 15.

Maharaj said a new system for the sale of tickets to avoid scalping would be in place and in addition to no bottles being brought into the venue, patrons would not be permitted to bring in chairs.

A media launch to provide information on the festival was held at Hilton Tobago ballroom yesterday. Maharaj, THA Tourism Secretary Neil Wilson, Tourism Development Company (TDC) president James R Hepple and THA Assistant Secretary of Infrastructure & Public Utilities Godwyn Adams attended the launch.

Wilson told reporters that the financial support by CL Communications would bring the festival in line with those in Barbados and Jamaica where the private sector was the sole financier.

He pointed out that the THA through the TDC would do all the international marketing through its offices in North and South America, the United Kingdom and other European countries.

He said the festival held at the same venue in August last year was well supported and hoped that this year would be even better

Wilson stressed that the purpose of the festival was to increase the visibility of Tobago as a tourist destination and that it was a very ambitious programme the Assembly was undertaking.

"We are fortunate to get the support of a prestigious group as CL to be on board with it," he added.

He assured that the Assembly was going to make every effort to avoid the pitfalls experienced last year of patrons getting to and from the venue.

Maharaj said the Plymouth Jazz Festival was now a legally registered company and formed part of CL Communications.

Ellis, Prince, Rio, Ware calypsoes in top 10
Tobago News, Monday, January 16th 2006

Reigning Tobago Calypso Monarch and 2005 National Calypso finalist Lesley-Ann Ellis, seven-time Tobago Calypso Monarch Prince, four-time Tobago Monarch Tobago Rio and two-time Tobago Road March winner Ware are among ten Tobago calypsonians who have made it into the 2005 Tobago Cultural Committee's Top Ten Tobago Calypsoes for 2005.

The Tobago Cultural Committee will host its 3rd Annual Calypso Award and Presentation function next Thursday at the Fairfield Complex, Bacolet Street from 7.30 p.m. Also in the top ten for 2005 are reigning Tobago Calypso Queen Wendy Garrick, former Junior Monarch Denelle Daniel, former Tobago Monarch Sherwin Cunningham, former Tobago Calypso Queen Lady IB, Windward Monarch Candice Robinson and 'hot boy' Dave Sampson.

The grand show will be bolstered with guest performances from four-time National Calypso Queen Shirlane Hendrickson, 2005 Star of Tomorrow Duane O'Connor and rising star Jervae Caesar. A band of top-rated musicians headed by ace musician Earl Knights has been contracted to back the artistes.

A release from the organisers indicated that the top ten songs were selected from 20 top Tobago calypsoes from the 2005 season by a 50-member panel of judges and that the Calypso of the Year will be announced on the night of the show.

Tobago singer blows up MTV
T&T Guardian, 12th January 2006, by Laura Dowrich-Phillips

His video for the song Memories is on heavy rotation on Synergy and MTV Tempo but David Reid is largely unknown—in T&T, that is.
Thanks to MTV Tempo, he has been receiving calls from up the islands in countries such as Bermuda, St Kitts and the Bahamas. The video was produced by Ezone and Militainment.

Still, the 32-year-old Tobagonian has aspirations of building a name locally, a somewhat challenging task since he resides and holds down an eight-hour-a-day job in California.

“I plan to be down there more this year. I usually come at least three times a year. When I’m in Trinidad, it’s like I’m in school, there’s so much to learn,” he said of the music scene.

When he visits for Carnival, Reid intends to do some work on his first album, which he plans to release in March. It includes collaborations with Dawg E Slaughter and Patrick “Vybe” Gordon.

“I intend to use a few producers in Trinidad also to give the album a different feel,” said Reid, who has already worked with Ryan Daisley on most of the production. Daisley is a former bass player with the now defunct Barbadian band Coalishun.

Reid’s album Memories will comprise 13 songs, among them the title song, Be AfrAID, a song about HIV/Aids, and Waves.

To hear the passion in Reid’s voice as talks about his album via telephone from California, it’s difficult to believe that he only started singing five years ago.

Before that, Reid was an avid pannist. Born in Signal Hill, Tobago, he started playing pan with West Side Patience Hill in his early teens. He was asked to join Our Boys Steel Orchestra, the management of which admired his skills.

“I joined them in September 1993, and travelled with them to Houston for a month. In 1994 we went to California and I stayed there,” he recalled.

In California, Reid said, music went out of his life. He went to college, did a degree in electronics and got a job at an electronics company.

And then fate pulled him back into the music scene.

“There was this band and one guy couldn’t make it to a performance and they asked me to fill in for him. It was then I realised how much I missed the steelpan. It reignited my love for it.”

Reid then went to play in Insomnia, a soca band run by former Atlantik bassist Wayne “Lemo” Lemessy. In Insomnia Reid played the steelpan and became a vocalist on the encouragement of his friend Lisa Wickham.

Reid said that when he started to sing it became his passion. Unfortunately the band lasted only one year because Lemo, the musical heart of the band, returned to Trinidad to play bass for Atlantik.

“I suffered from withdrawal syndrome so I formed my own group, a five-piece band called Tambrin.”

Although Tambrin lasted a year, the group did many performances in that short time, opening for Byron Lee, providing backup for Calypso Rose and playing gigs over the summer.

After Tambrin, Reid focused on doing the music himself. He established a studio at home and started writing. Memories was the first song he wrote.

“The sky is the limit where the song is concerned,” said Reid, who opened for Dwayne Wiggins of the group Tony, Toni, Tone.

“He was blown away when he heard the song. We were hanging out in Inertia studio when he heard the song. “He asked me to open for him but that would have entailed touring across America.”

“I did two shows with him but it wasn’t feasible for me. It was a nice experience...

“Of course, they thought it was reggae,” he recalled.

Groovin’ In The Shade set for January 4
Guardian 28.12.2005
http://www.guardian.co.tt/entertain3.html

de bassman has a new cd release....

Money funny, Shadow sings on new CD
Wayne Bowman
Sunday, December 18th 2005, T'dad Express
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=123231503