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Lord Shorty
Ras Shorty I (6 October 1941 – 12 July 2000), born Garfield Blackman and also known as Lord Shorty, was a Trinidadian calypsonian and soca musician, known as the Father of Soca and The Love Man. Biography He was born Garfield Blackman in Lengua Village, Princes Town, Trinidad, and rose to fame as "Lord Shorty" with his 1963 hit "Cloak and Dagger", subsequently taking the name Ras Shorty. A prolific musician, composer and innovator, Shorty experimented with fusing calypso and the other Indian-inspired music, including chutney music, for nearly a decade before unleashing "the soul of calypso,"...soca music. Shorty was the first to really define his music and with "Indrani" in 1973 and "Endless Vibrations" (not just the song but the entire album) in 1975, calypso music really took off in another direction. On 30 August 1977 Shorty's friend and collaborator Maestro (Cecil Hume) died in an accident in Trinidad and his loss was felt by Shorty, who penned "Higher World" as a trib ...
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Trinidadians
Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The country is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a result, Trinidadians do not equate their nationality with race and ethnicity, but with citizenship, identification with the islands as whole, or either Trinidad or Tobago specifically. Although citizens make up the majority of Trinidadians, there is a substantial number of Trinidadian expatriates, dual citizens and descendants living worldwide, chiefly elsewhere in the Anglosphere. Population The total population of Trinidad and Tobago was 1,328,019 according to the 2011 census,
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United National Congress
The United National Congress ( UNC or UNCTT) is one of two major political parties in Trinidad and Tobago and the current parliamentary opposition. The UNC is a centre-left party. It was founded in 1989 by Basdeo Panday, a Trinidadian lawyer, economist, trade unionist, and actor after a split in the ruling National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR). After spending six years in opposition, the UNC won control of the government in 1995, initially in coalition with the NAR and later on its own. In the 2000 general election, the UNC won an absolute majority in the Parliament. In 2001, a split in the party caused the UNC to lose its parliamentary majority and control of the government. From 2001 to 2010, the UNC was once again Parliamentary Opposition party. In May 2010, the UNC returned to government as the majority party in the People's Partnership. The UNC's Political Leader, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, was sworn in as the first female Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. The part ...
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1941 Births
Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Euthanasia Centre in Germany, in the first phase of mass killings under the Action T4 program here. * January 1 – Thailand's Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram decrees January 1 as the official start of the Thai solar calendar new year (thus the previous year that began April 1 had only 9 months). * January 3 – A decree (''Normalschrifterlass'') promulgated in Germany by Martin Bormann, on behalf of Adolf Hitler, requires replacement of blackletter typefaces by Antiqua. * January 4 – The short subject ''Elmer's Pet Rabbit'' is released, marking the second appearance of Bugs Bunny, and also the first to have his name on a title card. * January 5 – WWII: Battle of Bardia in Libya: Australian and British troops def ...
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Nailah Blackman
Nailah Blackman (born 2 December 1997) is a Trinidadian singer and songwriter most strongly associated with the soca genre. Her grandfather, the late Garfield Blackman, also known as Lord Shorty or Ras Shorty I, invented the style of music known as 'jamoo' and is also credited with inventing soca as a means of reinvigorating calypso music. Her mother, Abbi Blackman, is a calypso star in her own right. Nailah is the niece of Avion Blackman, lead singer of the Los Angeles-based Christian-reggae band Christafari, and Nehilet Blackman. Early life Blackman grew up influenced by the sound and artistry of the musical traditions of soca and calypso sounds. At the age of five, Blackman began singing regularly and entered her first calypso competition two years later. Her professional career then began at the age of 11. She is not only classically trained in voice but also in various instruments including the guitar, keyboard and steelpan. Career In 2016, Blackman performed her song " ...
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Rapso
Rapso is a form of Trinidadian music that grew out of the social unrest of the 1970s. Black Power and unions grew in the 1970s, and rapso grew along with them. The first recording was ''Blow Away'' by Lancelot Layne in 1970. Six years later, Cheryl Byron (founder of the New York City based Something Positive Dance Company) was scorned when she sang rapso at a calypso tent; she is now called the "Mother of Rapso". It has been described as "''de power of de word in the riddim of de word''". Though often described as a fusion of native soca and calypso with American hip hop, rapso is uniquely Trinidadian. History Rapso music is itself an evolution of the chantwell or griot tradition of African music in the diaspora. It is called "the poetry of Calypso" and "the Power of the Word in the rhythm of the Word". Rapso is the poetic "rap" form of Trinbagonian music—the next evolutionary step of Calypso and Soca music. It also has origins in the oral tradition elements of the p ...
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Ataklan
Mark Antonio Jiminez, better known by his stage name Ataklan is a Trinidadian singer-songwriter and performer primarily of the modern rapso tradition. Ataklan has been referred to as "Trinidad's answer to Beck" and a "fiercely independent songwriter and singer and arguably the most original artist to have emerged on the island since David Rudder".Broughton, Simon; Mark Ellingham; Richard Trillo (2000), ''World Music: Latin and North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, Volume 2'', p. 523. Since his emergence in 1993, Ataklan has released tracks including "Flambo", "Naked Walk", "Flood on the Main Road", "Shadow in de Dark", "Soca Girl" and "Caribbean Swagga", among numerous others. Early years Born and raised in Chinapoo, Morvant, Laventille, Trinidad), Ataklan underwent vocal and performance training in his formative years from Ras Shorty I, who has been recognized as the inventor of what we now know as modern Soca music. Ataklan was a foundation member of the four-member ...
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Avion Blackman
Avion Claudette Trudy Henrietta Blackman (born 30 January 1976) is a Trinidadian reggae recording artist, and the wife of Christafari front man Mark Mohr. She has produced three solo albums, as well as providing vocals and bass guitar for Christafari since 2003. Early life Blackman was born in San Fernando, Trinidad, the daughter of famed calypsonian, Lord Shorty. Her father invented Soca music (The Soul of Calypso) and later changed his name to Ras Shorty I and created Jamoo music. When Blackman was at the age of four, a spiritual quest prompted her father to move the entire family into the forests of Trinidad endeavoring to create a simpler and more humble lifestyle for him and his family. The next twenty years of her life were spent living in the forest, seven miles from the village of Piparo, where she was home-schooled along with her 24 brothers and sisters. The family lived a lifestyle of simplicity, with no electricity or plumbing, and growing most of what they ate off th ...
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Watch Out My Children
"Watch Out My Children" is a song composed and recorded by the late Trinidadian calypsonian Ras Shorty I in the 1997. It is a song telling about drug abuse. It was translated into ten languages. "Watch Out My Children" was adopted by the United Nations as the theme song for its campaign against the proliferation of drug abuse.Loutoo, Jada'Watch Out My Children' now UN theme song against drugs' ''Trinidad and Tobago Newsday'' July 20, 2000. See also * List of calypsos with sociopolitical influences This is a list of calypsos categorised by main topics. "Calypso music has been used by Calypsonians to provide sociopolitical commentary. Prior to the independence of Trinidad and Tobago, calypsonians would use their music to express the daily st ... References Ras Shorty I songs Trinidad and Tobago songs Songs about drugs 1997 songs {{1990s-song-stub ...
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Central Range (Trinidad And Tobago)
The Central Range is a mountain range on the island of Trinidad. It extends diagonally across the island and is a low-lying range rising from swampy areas into rolling hills. The tallest hills in the range are Mount Tamana (307 mDay, M.J. and Chenoweth, M.S. 2004. The karstlands of Trinidad and Tobago, their land use and conservation. ''The Geographical Journal'' 170:256–266), Mount Harris and Brigand Hill; all located in the northeastern portion of the range. The Central Range mountains are biodiverse, and are home to the Tamana Caves - the site of Trinidad's largest bat roost. Howler monkeys can be found here and numerous species of birds as well. There are numerous streams and clean springs that flow from the Central Range. However there are few waterfalls. The most prominent of these falls are the Brasso Venado falls in Brasso Venado, and Gran Couva falls, or Carmelita falls, located in Gran Couva. To the north of the range are the Northern Lowlands (East–West Corridor ...
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Piparo
Piparo is a village in Central Trinidad on the southern edge of the Central Range. The village has three main claims to fame: # Piparo was the base of operations of Dole Chadee (born Nankissoon Boodram), a notorious drug lord who was executed in 1999 for the murder of four members of the Baboolal family. # Piparo was the home of Ras Shorty I (born Garfield Blackman) during his self-imposed break from the soca world. Living simply in this rural community Ras Shorty-I developed Jamoo, a fusion of soca and gospel music. # Piparo was the site of a large mud volcano eruption on February 22, 1997. The eruption covered an area of 2.5 km² and displaced 31 families. The mud volcano now lies active where the eruption took place ( as of October 2019). During the early twentieth century, Piparo was an important cocoa bean producer. The small village is mainly inhabited by people of African and Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, ...
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