By Kimberly Ramkhalawan
kramkhalawan@caribmagplus.com
December 17, 2021
This year marks another Christmas under the pandemic and for trinis it means less ‘paranging’ house to house, a tradition passed on through the island’s Spanish influence, basically Christmas carols sung in Spanish to the beat of maracas, and a cuatro, a four stringed guitar.
My heart sunk a little lower this year as I heard my favourite band was not going to be making any guest appearances or performances at any events online or in person, and not due to the pandemic, but because of the loss of a few bandmates.
Sharlene Flores of Flores de San Jose, a parang band that has been serenading Trinbagonians for decades, shared in a social media post her inability to perform this year due to the passing of her beloved husband Wayne, who had shared the stage with her and the band since its inception.
Two other members passed away also in the past year including Ronnie Kallicharan on October 30th , while Sharon Codrington passed away in the latter part of 2020. Both were longstanding members pivotal to its formation in 1982.
Her songs remain lodged in my memory, and while they are mostly a fusion of traditional parang with some soca beats, the electric guitar and synthesizer sounds made it modern and gave it the perfect party vibe at every season.
Sharlene’s voice carried unique tones, notes and serenaded you at the same time, and she often gave that playful vocal tease in between musical beats in a song.
In the 1980s, her songs made it into the music video sphere, airing on local television station TTT. Videos such as ‘Spanish Confusion’ shot at the television station’s carpark located on Maraval Road, and ‘Si Yo Pudiera’ filmed at its studio employing chroma key for its visual background, directed by veteran television man Linus Pitt. She did a cover of Juan Luis Guerra’s ‘Burbujas de amor’ with an accompanying video of her and husband Wayne that became known as a love song also played during the season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rrzn7O3Jp4I Flores De San Jose
And while her songs might be popular, they are not considered so much traditional as the great Daisy Voisin, who sang while dressed in her paranderos garb, strands of pearl beads around her neck, one hand holding the mic in which she serenades and the other always carrying a bunch flowers. Dubbed the queen of parang her signature songs included ‘Sereno Sereno’, Hurray Hurrah, Allegria Allegria. She became popular in the 1970s with her band La Divina Pastora Serenaders. Though she passed away back in 1991, her musical influence of Trinidad and Tobago’s parang landscape remains untouched.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_pm863gN6c DAISY VOISIN
Bands at the annual National Parang Festival and competition have often followed her fashion and style. Today, Alicia Jaggessar of Alumnos de San Juan has taken that position in singing the traditional parang songs to this day. Her voice has become the national standard today, with even her leading virtual sessions in the last two years due to the pandemic.
In a normal year pre-covid, parang in Trinidad starts as early as September and then surely the competitions follow, along with the national festivals usually held in places like Lopinot, Paramin, Moruga where traditions have continued to flourish.
The festivals carry a stage where bands perform, usually set in one of the popular villages. Crowds gathered can often be seen dancing in a castillian waltz style or a Gavilan quick step manner. The outskirts of the festival often has locals taking advantage selling treats associated with the season including potted poinsettias, fresh seasoning herbs, pastelles, roast pork or garlic pork, bottled beverages such as sorrel and ponche de crème, local cocoa products to name a few.
Currently steelpan has become the modern addition to the parang band, some including drum sets and electric guitars.
This year concerts continue in a hybrid nature and virtually. The national parang band association while it cannot host it usual competitions, a smaller version of the festival took to Trinidad’s Queen’s Hall, a performing space in St.Anns, Port of Spain.
As many of us we resort to pulling our seasonal albums and tuning in to Youtube to help us ushering in the Christmas feeling we seemed to have lost in the midst of the pandemic.