Parang Association to launch orchestra
Alicia Jagassar -
THE National Parang Association of Trinidad and Tobago (NPATT) will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a year of celebrations starting from April 18.
Its president Alicia Jagassar, in a media release, said as it intends to produce a number of events to highlight the association’s journey throughout the years and to educate the national and international community about parang.
It will host a 50th anniversary church service called Giving Thanks and Blessings for the parang Artform. This will take place on April 18 at the Church of the Assumption, Long Circular Road, Maraval. Parranderos and their instruments will be blessed then, a media release said.
Siparia chorus woman turns La Divina Pastora into a household name
Destiny. Thatâs the only explanation for just how a shy chorus singer became the most iconic name in parang music.
At the ripe age of 47 years a backup singer by the name of Daisy Voisin was inadvertently thrust into the spotlight, when the lead singer for her Siparia cultural group failed to appear at the 1971 Best Village competition, at the Queenâs Park Savannah in Port of Spain.
âIt got started by accident,â Mervyn Alleyne, a founding member of the iconic singerâs La Divina Pastora band told the Kitcharee with a chuckle on Friday afternoon.
Thatâs the very foundation of Los Alumnos de San Juan, says lead singer Alicia Jaggasar.
The 11-time National Parang Association of T&T (NPATT) best lead vocalist and queen of parang says when you strip away their pretty costumes, airtight harmonies and inventive instrumentation, her iconic band is at its core a charitable movement.
Jaggasar joined the then San Juan Secondary School band in 1987, less than a year after they first came together. Back then she recalls herself a young, dreamy-eyed music-lover obsessed with Latin music.
âI love Latin music, and parang is of course a form of Latin. Our main purpose back then was to go to the old folksâ home not far from the school,â Jaggasar recounted with an audible smile when asked by the Kitcharee on Friday afternoon to relive the bandâs formative years.