3canal: Press

EXPRESS EDITORIAL
Lighting up the Positives

As Carnival 2008 moves into high gear and as we prepare to crown the monarchs in the various fields, it is opportune that we turn the spotlight on the 3Canal group that in ten years has managed not only to creatively cut a swathe for themselves but who, at the same time, has sought to open up a space for the many young talented performers they believe to be out there.

Their critically-acclaimed new show, "Shine", is a case in point because while they have been showcasing some of their new work to appreciative audiences at Queen's Hall, they have also brought on stage a number of young people who might never have had the opportunity to shine.

The theme - of the show, their hit-bound song and their coming Jouvert band, all bearing the same name - has been deliberately chosen to highlight the reality that, whatever the deviant youth behaviour which regularly makes the headlines, Trinidad and Tobago can boast of a high level of juvenile talent that often goes unnoticed.

So much of 3Canal's work is motivational that it is little wonder that the rapso, "Good Morning", which the National Joint Action Committee's cultural arm, the National Action Cultural Committee, judged to be the best calypso sung last season, urged a return to the old community verities that took for granted the extension of courtesies between the old and the young and, particularly, from the young to the old, ancestral respect being one of the glues that hold all societies.

But, whatever their inborn talents as expressed in their melodic lines, requisite rhythms and incisive, often trenchant lyrics, the major lesson taught by these three young men must be that achievement is not possible without hard, even back-breaking work.

In addition to their performances (for fees but also for charity) both here and abroad during the season, 3Canal has not only consistently found time over the years to do recordings but also to stage an annual show that has now become a fixture on the Carnival calendar and organise a thematic Jouvert band that continues to draw thousands.

We cannot think of any other group of entertainers that has so set out to tap the mother lode of Trinidad and Tobago's cultural history in terms of music, dance and theatre, to give the society an honest yet enduringly hopeful image of itself. Given the space that they have thus opened up none, we think, should be churlish enough to begrudge them this space.

3Canal adds Shine to Carnival
SIMON LEE

3CANAL has developed the positive theme of their award winning Good Morning Neighbour calypso of 2007, with their latest Carnival show Shine, currently running at Queen's Hall.

Acknowledging that Trinidadian society was experiencing loss of community, collapse and violence the Rapso trio's solution was what they did best-not pontificating in Parliament or absconding into airconditioned amnesia, but celebrating the light, in order to diminish the dark.

If the show in its entirety (including a pre-show most patrons could have done without) was patchy, when all synergies converged it hit high points local audiences would probably not have witnessed since the days of Rawle Gibbons' calypso musicals Sing De Chorus.

It's not surprising that with two former actors (Manwarren and Roberts) in the 3Canal frontline and other drama veterans including Michael Cherrie, Glenda McSween and Cecilia Salazar in the chorus, the dramatic aspects of this production were outstanding.

The choreography of the many dance routines was both indigenous yet modern. The lighting, all too often a repetitious pre-set programme in Caribbean shows, added levels of interpretation to a minimalist yet highly effective set design.

It's amazing the effects which simple variations in colour can produce. The black and white costuming of both principals and chorus, were suffused with pulsing red during the powerful indictment of gangand-gun subculture This Place Have Too Much of Gun.

Following the Orisa chant which marked the opening of the show,
most of 3Canal's songs stuck with their positive brief: Are You Ready to Rise; Now Is De Time; Out of Nutten (We building something, out a nowhere we goin somewhere); We Jammin for Freedom. There were also celebrations of the spirit of J'Ouvert and Canboulay (Ah love me festival), we have now come to associate with this band, who have redefined the music of the last authentic part of Carnival.

It was after the intermission that 3Canal showed the potential for using their new genre of J'Ouvert music, as the basis for a welcome departure in Carnival performing arts. With the same open-handedness which prompted them to give stage exposure to young artistes in the pre-show, the "Canalistas" co-opted one of the finest young male voices in T&T into the second half extravaganza.

Maximus Dan may be the voice of a new generation, but he obviously knows his roots (he was singing Kitchener on Saturday night). Maximus hit the same note of gravitas as 3Canal who fused social commentary and the aggressive posturing of the gayelle in such challenges as What Yuh Gonna Do (a call for the takers to make reparation to those they impoverished with their greed and corruption) and A Revolution Comin.

The circular dance which accompanied Heat in de Place, was an insight into the kind of carnival theatre Errol Hill was theorising more than 30 years ago. Here was an entirely transnational, yet local theme-the visceral call of the bass rhythm-brilliantly interpreted in the choreography. It's quite possible that Shine, like all good ideas based on simplicity, may be the beginning of the post-modern Trini musical. It certainly looks that way.

Reportage
Le rituel égalitaire du carnaval de Trinidad
LE MONDE | 06.02.08 | 15h30  •  Mis à jour le 06.02.08 | 15h30
PORT OF SPAIN (TRINITÉ-ET-TOBAGO) ENVOYÉ SPÉCIAL
Il fait nuit. La ville semble assoupie. Simple apparence. A 3 heures du matin, lundi 4 février, on a bien mieux à faire que dormir à Port of Spain, capitale de Trinité-et-Tobago, les îles caribéennes voisines du Venezuela. C'est le lundi du carnaval, le jour du "J'ouvert" (le jour ouvert), l'ouverture officielle de l'événement national qui a donné au pays son image de capitale du carnaval, partagée avec Rio de Janeiro, au Brésil.
Dans tous les quartiers, chacun rejoint l'endroit d'où doit partir son groupe, pour une déambulation frénétique derrière un semi-remorque porteur de décibels neutralisant toute idée de silence à des kilomètres à la ronde. Pendant cinq heures, une exaltation collective déferle à travers les rues. Un chaos paradoxal, sauvage et bon enfant, une transe joueuse coloriant tout ce qui se présente sur son passage.
Gare à ceux ayant omis de garer leur voiture en lieu sûr. Elle subira le même sort que trottoirs, chaussées et individus croisés en chemin. A chaque groupe sa couleur. Pots et petites fioles de peinture circulent. On se badigeonne avec allégresse des pieds à la tête. Les nouveaux venus sont baptisés comme il se doit.
Aux environs de 4 heures, les camions sono s'ébranlent, encadrés chacun de leur tribu très agitée. On saute sur les derniers tubes de soca, la musique saturée de boîtes à rythmes la plus cotée par la jeunesse pour "winer" (collé serré énergique), on marche d'un pas dansant au son métallique des steel bands, les orchestres de bidons (les pans) symboles de Trinidad, ou sur un calypso, l'emblème musical du pays, rendu célèbre dans les années 1950 par Harry Belafonte.
Les cortèges se croisent. Les musiques se chevauchent, les peintures se mélangent quand les corps se frôlent. La rue est une suite ininterrompue d'images-chocs, de regards éperdus de joie et de fatigue, de visages hagards dégoulinant de peinture.
Le J'ouvert est le rituel et l'essence même du carnaval dans sa profonde tradition. "C'est là où les valeurs s'inversent", commente Jean-Michel Gibert, un Français installé à Trinidad, impliqué dans la promotion de la musique locale depuis une quinzaine d'années. "Hier, le maître devenait l'esclave et l'esclave le maître, aujourd'hui la femme devient l'homme et vice versa, le riche devient pauvre."
La peinture, la boue, la mélasse, le goudron, le chocolat, tout ce dont les participants au J'ouvert s'enduisent le corps accentue le côté égalitaire. Il ne s'agit plus de se montrer dans les plus beaux, les plus créatifs, les plus chers costumes, comme on le fera le lendemain pour mardi gras, mais d'être simplement ensemble en laissant courir un brin de folie.
"Le J'ouvert est la partie la plus "pure" du carnaval. Vous pouvez faire ce que vous voulez avec les moyens dont vous disposez. C'est un rituel de renaissance, qui n'est pas gâché par l'argent comme d'autres aspects du carnaval", déclare le charismatique Wendell Manwarren, du groupe 3canal, figure de proue du rapso, mélange de rap et de calypso. "Rise and Shine, It is a New Day, Be The Change You Want To See" ("Lève toi et brille, c'est un nouveau jour, sois le changement que tu veux voir"), chante, juché sur son camion avec ses deux compagnons, Wendell Manwarren, le corps et le visage couverts de peinture blanche. Sous l'aspect faussement naïf des paroles se cache une dénonciation de la corruption, de la violence, de la perte de valeurs.
En 1994, 3canal commençait sa carrière par une chanson intitulée Blue. Cette année-là, au cours du J'ouvert, toute la ville avait été repeinte en bleu par les dix mille fans qui suivaient leur camion.
3canal
participera le 19 octobre à la soirée d'ouverture, consacrée à Trinidad, de la Fiesta des Suds, à Marseille, et sera au Zénith de Paris le 20 octobre pour une soirée "All Stars Caraïbes".
Patrick Labesse

3Canal dazzles with 'Shine'
Wayne Bowman wbowman@trinidadexpress.com

Wednesday, January 30th 2008

Rapso trio 3Canal premiered their live presentation for Carnival 2008, Shine, to an appreciative audience at Queen's Hall, St Ann's, on Monday night.

Accompanied by their band, Cut and Clear, 3Canal-Wendell Manwarren, Roger Roberts and Stanton Kewley-performed their Carnival 2008 songs, as well as selected items from their repertoire of the past 12 years.

Their vocal performance was enhanced by a troupe of singers, dancers and dramatists that included Michael Cherrie, Cecelia Salazar, Dionne McNichol and Glenda McSween-Collens.

The show opened with a series of performances by several young and developing artistes hand-picked by 3Canal. Although the audience expressed minor appreciation for these fledgling acts, they really came alive when the headline act 3Canal took the stage, kicking off their presentation with a procession from the back of the auditorium featuring Orisha chants led by McSween-Collens, who did the vocal arrangements for the production.

Cheers erupted throughout the hall as the black curtain went up, lights turned on and 3Canal materialised singing "Shine".

The vocal performances were punctuated by dramatic monologues presented mainly by Salazar and Cherrie, who gave voice to poetry by Martin Carter.

Following the intermission, Maximus Dan appeared on stage and sang "Piranha" followed by "Love Generation". He was backed by Cut and Clear and the Shine troupe, and received an appreciative round of applause from an obviously impressed audience.

3Canal then returned to end the show with another session of their most loved songs.