​One week before her 79th birthday, Calypso Rose will perform at Coachella, one of the world's biggest music and arts festivals. 
Rose, real name  Linda McArtha Sandy-Lewis, was among the star-studded cast announced for the 2019 festival to be held in California.
She was announced for the April 12 and 19 shows which will be headlined by Childish Gambino, Janelle Monae and Diplo, among others

Other shows will see the likes of Ariana Grande, Khalid, Solange, Kid Cudi, Pusha T, Wiz Khalifa and a slew of acts from across the world.
Commenting on her selection for Coachella on Instagram, Rose said she is so excited."
I can’t wait to sing, dance and enjoy this time with all of you," she wrote.
Calypso Rose, who was recently awarded the Grand Prize for World Music award at the Sacem Grand Prix in France, has seen a resurgence in her career since she released her album Far From Home in 2016.
She has toured throughout Europe and in 2017 won the World Album of the Year at the Victoire de la Musique, considered the French equivalent of the Grammy Awards.
In May last year, Rose released her follow up album So Calypso. 
Source:  The Loop Jan 2019

Williams, 71, died in Barbados on December 11.
Pamela was one of two children Williams had with his first wife, Elsie Ribeiro, and was named Elsie after her, though she was known by her middle name. Williams also had a son, Alastair, with Ribeiro.
He had another daughter, Erica Williams-Connell, with his second wife, Soy Suilan Moyou.
Pamela’s funeral took place yesterday at the Chapel of Coral Ridge Memorial Gardens in Barbados.
She will be cremated on Friday.
Former People’s National Movement stalwart Ferdie Ferreira said he did not interact with Pamela as much as he did with Erica and Alastair, but said he remembered Pamela as a “decent, classical person” and was aware she had a “very powerful academic career.” Pamela was a retired regional representative of the Inter-American Development Bank and a former Caribbean Development Bank employee.
She lived in Wyndham, Strathclyde, St Michael in Barbados.

Friends, family, the musical fraternity and the country at large are mourning the passing of yet another musical icon, Dr Andrew Marcano, aka Lord Superior, fondly known by friends and family as 'Supie'.
Superior passed away on November 24, 2018 in New York, after ailing for some time.
TUCO Trinidad and Tobago issued a statement on Sunday, hailing Marcano's musical genius and passionate spirit.
"For the third time in less than a month, the calypso fraternity is plunged into mourning another calypso icon, with the death of Dr Andrew Marcano, also known in the calypso Industry as Brother Superior who passed away on Saturday 24th November 2018, after ailing for some time now."
"Supie as he was fondly called, was one of those special bards who advocated for years, that there should be more calypso played on local radio stations to the point that he laboured for over twenty years until he was afforded a radio license from the government."
"He called his station Superior Radio and was one in those days that played calypso music twenty-four hours each day," the statement said
Dr Marcano was known for always being impeccably dressed. 
"One of the bards who was always dressed to kill as we say in T&T, he will be remembered for the life of our cultural history."
"On behalf of the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation, once again the President Mr Lutalo Masimba and his General Council along with the entire TUCO membership, we sincerely extend our deepest condolences to his immediate family around the world and here in T&T."
"May the soul of the late Dr Andrew Marcano aka The Brother Superior rest in peace with our calypso ancestors. Funeral arrangements will be forthcoming as they are received by TUCO," the statement said. 
Friends, family, the musical fraternity and the country at large are mourning the passing of yet another musical icon, Dr Andrew Marcano, aka Lord Superior, fondly known by friends and family as 'Supie'.
Superior passed away on November 24, 2018 in New York, after ailing for some time.
TUCO Trinidad and Tobago issued a statement on Sunday, hailing Marcano's musical genius and passionate spirit.
"For the third time in less than a month, the calypso fraternity is plunged into mourning another calypso icon, with the death of Dr Andrew Marcano, also known in the calypso Industry as Brother Superior who passed away on Saturday 24th November 2018, after ailing for some time now."
"Supie as he was fondly called, was one of those special bards who advocated for years, that there should be more calypso played on local radio stations to the point that he laboured for over twenty years until he was afforded a radio license from the government."
"He called his station Superior Radio and was one in those days that played calypso music twenty-four hours each day," the statement said
Dr Marcano was known for always being impeccably dressed. 
"One of the bards who was always dressed to kill as we say in T&T, he will be remembered for the life of our cultural history."
"On behalf of the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation, once again the President Mr Lutalo Masimba and his General Council along with the entire TUCO membership, we sincerely extend our deepest condolences to his immediate family around the world and here in T&T."
"May the soul of the late Dr Andrew Marcano aka The Brother Superior rest in peace with our calypso ancestors. Funeral arrangements will be forthcoming as they are received by TUCO," the statement said. 
His son, Moriba Marcano, said in a social media post that the calypso icon was a visionary of his time.
"RIP Dr Andrew 'Lord Superior' Marcano, my dad just passed in NY, one of his favourite places in the world, where he was set to be a star in the 1960's before deciding to return to Trinidad in an attempt to assist the burgeoning nation in forming its cultural identity."
"He was a great man and a visionary of his time writing songs to help guide humanity in general and his people in specific. Sadly misunderstood and underappreciated, I studied the man like a text book and I only hope that his genius and goodwill will be more easily recognized in the afterlife. I loved you dad," he said.
Actor Michael Cherrie also issued his condolences:
“Remembering Andrew Marcano - Lord Superior RIP... calypso great...make new and wonderful vibrations in that new realm...my deepest condolences to you, Moriba Marcano...Godspeed Supie...”
Jazz musician Etienne Charles issued his condolences via social media:
"Dr. Andrew Marcano aka Brother Superior aka Lord Superior aka Supie. the consummate Gentleman, class act, pillar of knowledge, guiding counselor and boss calypsonian. Thanks for your friendship, musicianship and clever wit. I'll say your name forever.  my heart and condolences go out to your family and loved ones," he said. 
Minister of Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries, Clarence Rambharat, also acknowledged Dr Marcano's monumental contribution to local culture. 
"Dr Andrew Marcano - Rio Claro’s Lord Superior has gone. So much remains to be told- seeing the greats at Crown Theatre and the train as Rio Claro’s connection to the best artistes of the day; living with Spoiler; campaigning for local content in the airwaves and completing more than 60 years in calypso," he said. 
Dr Marcano was born in Rio Claro in 1938 and made his debut into calypso at the age of 16 singing a calypso called "Coconut" at the Victory Calypso Tent in Port of Spain. In those days he was considered to be the youngest Calypsonian to perform locally.
Some of his memorable calypsoes were, Spread Joy, San Fernando Carnival, Saga T'ing, We want a day, Standardise Pan, Cultural Assassination and Put the women on top.
He was awarded the Hummingbird medal Silver in 2015 and received his Honourary Doctor of Letters at the 2017 graduation ceremony at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad.
He was considered to be the first calypsonian to produce a record on his own record label, the first to Perform at the Madison Square Gardens, in New York, USA, and the first to produce a full-length calypso musical.
He would have celebrated his 81st birthday next month.
"Rest in peace Bro Superior. You truly did it your way," said TUCO.

Nine years ago, Den­nis Mc­Clung had a run­down swim­ming pool and an am­bi­tious goal, to plant a gar­den that would pro­vide a self-sus­tain­ing food sys­tem for his fam­i­ly.
Mc­Clung and his wife trans­formed the emp­ty ce­ment pit be­hind their home in Mesa, Ari­zona, in­to a closed-loop ecosys­tem teem­ing with life, from veg­eta­bles to chick­ens, even a pond with tilapia. The in­no­v­a­tive ur­ban farm was soon pro­duc­ing enough food to feed the cou­ple and their three young chil­dren, cut­ting their month­ly gro­cery bill by al­most half.
But what Mc­Clung ac­com­plished af­ter that is even more re­mark­able. With no for­mal train­ing, just plen­ty of in­ge­nu­ity, hard work, and re­source­ful­ness, Mc­Clung is now help­ing peo­ple around the world build cli­mate-re­silient and high­ly pro­duc­tive food sys­tems. Since launch­ing his non­prof­it or­gan­i­sa­tion Gar­den Pool, in 2012, Mc­Clung’s back­yard ex­per­i­ment has bloomed in­to a mul­ti­fac­eted op­er­a­tion that is col­lab­o­rat­ing with for­eign gov­ern­ments on food sus­tain­abil­i­ty, op­er­at­ing pub­lic seed li­braries, of­fer­ing class­es and work­shops, de­vel­op­ing a so­lar-pow­ered wa­ter ster­il­i­sa­tion sys­tem and most re­cent­ly, work­ing on a HoloLens ap­pli­ca­tion de­signed to help users build cus­tomised food sys­tems.
Though Mc­Clung’s farm­ing meth­ods might be low-tech, the tech­nol­o­gy he us­es to pow­er his or­gan­i­sa­tion is not and dri­ven by Mi­crosoft. He us­es Win­dows 10, Of­fice 365 and a Sur­face de­vice for graph­ic de­sign, re­search, pro­pos­als, and mar­ket­ing; col­lab­o­rates with em­ploy­ees and vol­un­teers re­mote­ly via Mi­crosoft Teams; and us­es Skype to teach a 3D mod­el­ling course to in­terns.
Work­ing with Chaney St Mar­tin who is based in T&T, the Gold­en Grove Prison be­came the site of his lat­est im­i­ta­tive where in­mates had been tend­ing an en­closed gar­den in a field by haul­ing wa­ter­ing cans back and forth in the blaz­ing heat. Mc­Clung set up a self-ir­ri­gat­ing wa­ter col­lec­tion sys­tem and a fish pond and added ver­ti­cal grow­ing, rais­ing plants in stacked lay­ers in­stead of in the ground to boost the gar­den’s pro­duc­tion. Prison ad­min­is­tra­tors were so ex­cit­ed about the changes that they asked for their own train­ing ses­sion.
“They said the project served as a mod­el for them to do the same thing on their own farms,” says Chaney St Mar­tin, an in­ter­na­tion­al spe­cial­ist in wa­ter and soil man­age­ment for the In­ter-Amer­i­can In­sti­tute for Co­op­er­a­tion on Agri­cul­ture (IICA), which part­nered with Gar­den Pool on the Trinidad project and sev­er­al oth­ers in the Caribbean.
There was al­most no bud­get for the Trinidad prison project, Mc­Clung said, so in­stead of us­ing a pre­made lin­er for the fish pond, he made one by mix­ing ce­ment and sand. He built the pond’s pump from spare pipes and used some old ce­ment blocks to cre­ate raised gar­den beds. “We re­al­ly had to be Mac­Gyver on this one, be­cause the prison re­al­ly didn’t have any bud­get,” Mc­Clung says, laugh­ing. “We just looked at what they had, and we got re­al­ly cre­ative.”
St Mar­tin, met Mc­Clung at a con­fer­ence a few years ago. The two got talk­ing and re­solved to work to­geth­er in the Caribbean. When Hur­ri­cane Ir­ma raged through the re­gion in Sep­tem­ber 2017, dev­as­tat­ing sev­er­al is­lands, they seized the op­por­tu­ni­ty to help. Mc­Clung, un­en­cum­bered by the bu­reau­cra­cy of a large or­gan­i­sa­tion, and his da­ta quick­ly mo­bilised re­sources and ar­rived on the ground to work with the IICA, St Mar­tin said.
“It was a tremen­dous ef­fort. If you un­der­stand the Caribbean con­text, peo­ple tend to be sus­pi­cious when out­side or­gan­i­sa­tions come in,” he says. “But Den­nis was able to come in and blend in very eas­i­ly with the cul­ture. Peo­ple re­al­ly loved the work that he did.”
Mc­Clung is turn­ing to da­ta col­lec­tion to val­i­date and quan­ti­fy his mod­els for sus­tain­able farm­ing. He’s work­ing with gov­ern­ments in coun­tries where Gar­den Pool has con­duct­ed projects to col­lect da­ta on farm yields, pro­duc­tiv­i­ty, and costs, and is part­ner­ing with Joel Cuel­lo, a pro­fes­sor of agri­cul­tur­al and biosys­tems en­gi­neer­ing at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ari­zona and an ex­pert on ver­ti­cal farm­ing, on the HoloLens project.
With his first in­ter­na­tion­al of­fice based in Trinidad, us­ing datasets from their work, Mc­Clung and Cuel­lo plan to de­vel­op a HoloLens app us­ing Mi­crosoft AI and oth­er ser­vices that will al­low users to se­lect a food sys­tem mod­el and scale it to a par­tic­u­lar space. The app will tell them how much the project would cost, what ma­te­ri­als are need­ed and how much it would pro­duce. The goal is to have a pro­to­type by the end of next year, Cuel­lo said.
He sees in­for­ma­tion shar­ing as crit­i­cal to Gar­den Pool’s ul­ti­mate goal of pro­mot­ing glob­al food se­cu­ri­ty. “No one on this plan­et should be hun­gry with the tech­nol­o­gy avail­able to us right now,” he says. “It’s just a mat­ter of us­ing it ef­fi­cient­ly and spread­ing it to those who need it. “The fact that we’re chang­ing the world is more im­por­tant to me than be­ing rich or tak­ing the fame and the glo­ry for it,” Mc­Clung says. “I’d rather share the knowl­edge so that oth­ers can do for them­selves.” 
Source:  Trinidad Guardian, Dec 2018

Bazodee is heading to India. 
The Machel Montano love story featuring Bollywood star Kabir Bedi will be screened as part of the Chennai International Film Festival on December 14.
In making the announcement on Instagram, the soca king said this is the first time films from Trinidad and Tobago will be screened at the Festival.
"So I’m glad our movie will be included in this inaugural group. Many thanks to the High Commission of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in New Delhi, India  for showcasing and promoting Bazodee," he wrote. The movie will be screed at the Devi Bala Theatre in Chennai. 
Bazodee premiered globally in 2016 and has since been screened in the US, Barbados, Jamaica, Montreal, Canada and London, UK. The movie won the Audience Award and Best Music Award at the Latin Asian Film Festival, which took place in London.
Bazodee stars Montano, British Asian actress Natalie Perera, Trinidadian/British actor Valmike Rampersad and Indian/Russian star Staz Nair.
Source: The Loop, Dec 2018.

​CHAIRMAN of the Trinidad Tourism Ltd and former Miss Universe 1977 Janelle “Penny” Commissiong said the number of visitors to Trinidad fell 3.6 per cent in 2017 from the previous year.
Making a comparison with the Bahamas, which has a population of about 400,000, Commissiong said 6.3 million people visited those islands in 2017, compared to 375,000 visiting TT, whose population is about 1.4 million.
She said the Bahamas was a well-developed traditional destination in close proximity to its primary market, while TT was a somewhat underdeveloped, non-traditional destination relatively remote from its most important market.
Commissiong, the feature speaker at a Rotary Club of PoS lunch yesterday at Fitzblackman Drive, Woodbrook, said she did not think crime caused the drop in arrivals to the country.
“We are not sure yet why the numbers have dropped 3.6 per cent, so one will have to do studies on that, do surveys to see what that 3.6 per cent is, and what time of the year that happens. But I really wouldn’t say it’s the crime, because we are here, we are in it.”
She said while visitors to the Bahamas could buy a package holiday to any one of its islands, interacting only peripherally with Bahamian staff and service providers, most visitors to Trinidad had personal business or other connection to a Trinidadian.
Commissiong said there was a clear difference and distinction between the core tourism product in the Bahamas and the basis of the initial tourism marketing and development thrust in Trinidad.
She said Trinidadians must make a conscious effort to acquaint visitors with its tourism products of reliable quality and good value for money and all consciously and actively become ambassadors, guides, promoters and providers of tourism services in Trinidad. Commissiong said many Trinidadians did not compute that it was Trinidad that most visitors came to.
“Now that the separation is there in terms of marketing, I think the focus is a lot clearer. I don’t see it as a daunting job because we have the product, a product which Trinidadians take for granted and don’t realise as a tourism product. It is about getting Trinidadians to understand we are in the game and have always been in the game.
Source: Newsday, Dec. 2018

News coming to hand is that Fred Mitchell more popularly known as The Mighty Composer passed away today.May his soul rest in Peace
The singer was born Fred Mitchell but was also known as Agba Olu Sino Amono.
His calypsoes were popular in the 1960s and 70s. He offered hits such as “Workers’ Lament”, “Supposing”, “True or Lie”, “Black Fallacy” and “Child Training”. He was also a master of ceremonies, comedian, impresario and tent manager.
As a pioneer, he was a foundation member of the first Calypsonians’ Association in Trinidad and Tobago. He was also a TUCO founding member and an executive member for many years.
Composer is known for portraying the Red Indian character, parading in the traditional mas category on Carnival Monday and Tuesday in San Fernando. He is fluent in Warao (Warahoo) speech. Apart from Warao, he is proficient in patois and he is also fairly versed in Yoruba which he uses at every opportunity.
On July 30, 2018, the Emancipation Support Committee (ESC) dedicated a concert titled “Shikamoo – Ancestral Rhythm” to Composer for his contribution to the art form.
The Swahili word Shikamoo means “I respect you”. ESC said the concert was in keeping with this tradition of respect and reverence for elders and ancestors.

​Balancing her studies with her spiritual growth has worked out well for Cassandra Khan who won the President's Medal, Gold for outstanding performance in the 2018 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations.
The 18-year-old Naparima Girls High School pupil, who lives with her parents Nancy and Haroun Khan at Ragoo Village, Wellington Road, expressed jubilation at her award.
In an interview, Cassandra said she was able to accomplish everything through the blessing of Jehovah God and his son Jesus Christ. 
"My father always said I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It is a verse from the Bible which is my personal motto. I know that I was able to accomplish this because God has blessed me," Cassandra said.
Having written 11 subjects including Spanish, French, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Maths and Additional Maths, Geography, English Literature and English Language as well as Dance, Cassandra was able to score 11 distinctions in all subject areas. 
She never studied Spanish and French in school but pursued the subjects on her own, doing private lessons with Spanish teacher Sherry Ragobar-Toolsie and her daughter Candi.
Cassandra said she was always involved in extracurricular activities but instead of detracting her from her studies, these activities strengthened her.
At the Diamond Evangelistic Centre, Cassandra taught Modern Dance, sang in the choir and participated in drama. 
Her father Haroun Khan who headed a Sunday School for decades in Ragoo Village honed her skills as a drama student. 
"I was stunned when I found out that I won the President Medal, gold. It was something I prayed for and I worked hard for it. I am just thankful that I was able to make my family and my village proud,"
Cassandra said. Asked what she wanted as a reward for her accomplishment, Cassandra responded, "I already have everything. I have a mother who is very encouraging and who prayed with me and for me always. I have a father who taught me how to persevere even when times get tough. I don't need a reward. I already got what I wanted and that was to make them proud."
Cassandra is currently in Lower Six and plans to pursue a career in geochemistry.
"I want to do laboratory work in the oil industry as well as a study of the earth. I love geography," she exclaimed. Cassandra thanked her teachers at Naparima Girls High School for motivating and assisting her.
Her mother Nancy said she heard of her daughter's success from the principal of Naparima Girls High School Carolyn Bally-Gosine. "I started screaming. My husband was dumbfounded and speechless. We were so excited and happy," Nancy said. 
Bally-Gosine said Cassandra was always a diligent and humble student.
She said the school has performed well in all subject areas at CSEC as well as the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) Unit One and Two levels. 
"We had 100 percent passes. At the CSEC level, we had 24 places in the merit listing for the region. Our students are doing well across the board in almost every subject area. Cassandra was an all-rounder. She was great in her balance of subjects and she was able to accomplish a lot. She deserves the Presidents Medal. She said Cassandra was part of the school's musical, the Sound of Music as well as a participant at Sanfest and the National Dance Festival."
- by Radhica De Silva. Photo by Ivan Toolsie.
Source:  CNC3 November 2018

Trinidad and Tobago's best and brightest continue to shine as shown by Trinbagonian Zubin Deyal, who was recently awarded the 2019 Commonwealth Caribbean Rhodes Scholarship.
Rhodes Trust Caribbean said in a Tweet on November 20, 2018, that Deyal, 20, won the scholarship while at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill campus. 
Deyal, son of journalist Anthony Deyal, studies Economics and Finance at the UWI Cave Hill and represented Antigua in swimming and youth cricket. 
Rhodes Trust Caribbean said Deyal will read for the MSc. in Economics for Development at Oxford University.
Edith Clashing, manager of the Wadadli Aquatic Racers swim club, congratulated Deyal via a Facebook post:
“Congrats to Zubin Deyal and his parents Indranie and Tony Deyal. This is indeed a proud moment for all of us. Zubin is a past member of the Wadadli Aquatic Racers (WAR)Swim Club and student of the St. Joseph's Academy. Keep reaching for the stars young man. Well done!”
In 2017, Trinbagonian Mandela Patrick was chosen as the 2018 Commonwealth Caribbean Rhodes Scholarship Winner and was selected out of nine other candidates to study at Oxford University. 
In 2016, Trinbagonian Simone Delzin won the prestigious scholarship for 2017, and prior to that, the scholarship was awarded to for­mer na­tion­al schol­ar Zahra Christi­na Gomes in 2015.


About the Rhodes Scholarship 
The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford. It was established in 1902 making it the first large-scale programme of international scholarship.
The Rhodes Scholarship was founded by English businessman and politician Cecil John Rhodes, to promote unity between English speaking nations and instil a sense of civic-minded leadership and moral fortitude in future leaders irrespective of their chosen career paths.
Although initially restricted to male applicants from countries which are today within the Commonwealth, as well as Germany and the United States, today the Scholarship is open to applicants from all backgrounds and from across the globe.
Source: The Loop, November 2018