The University of Toronto is holding a special webinar, A Rose Among Thorns: Calypso Rose’s Life, Music and Impact, as part of Calypso History Month celebrations, on October 22.
It’s scheduled to last three hours, with three singers each doing two classic Rose songs, and four short academic talks.
The event has been organised by actor, playwright and comedian Rhoma Spencer, who has been a stalwart in the Toronto Caribbean community for many years (though she returns to Trinidad to launch her first comedy album and headline an event to showcase at Kafe Blue, Port of Spain on October 19). 
Spencer was recently made an artist in residence at the Queer and Trans Research Lab at the university, and plans to create a musical on the life of Calypso Rose, to be given a staged reading next June. Last October she also organised a Calypso History Month online conference and when she approached the university about doing one to start her artist-in-residency term, it was very supportive.
The programme will begin with three experienced female calypsonians performing Rose classics. Two are based in Canada – Macomere Fifi, who is the six-time Canadian calypso monarch, and Susan Grogan, a singer from Barbados who is the leader of Neu Jenarashun, a soca band in Toronto.
The third is Stacey Sobers,the TT Calypso Queen in 2018, who will be the young Rose in Spencer’s forthcoming musical next June.
She also is the lead in the concert at the Central Bank Auditorium, We Love Kaiso Since We Small on October 29. This is the fifth in the series of annual kaiso concerts that she calls Crackers and Cheese. She was featured at the 2022 Taste of Carnival performing GB’s Legacy Lives, a tribute to Singing Sandra that Sobers commissioned GB to write.
Presenters of academic papers will include Dr Hope Munro who will look at the changing musical textures in Rose’s music. Munro’s book What She Go Do: Women in Afro-Trinidadian Music (2016) is a detailed study of women in calypso.


Andil Gosine, a York University professor and artist/curator, will discuss the new role that Rose has taken on in France over the last decade, with many live shows and working with her record label there, Because Music, with a new album scheduled to come out soon. Gosine has been in Trinidad for the launch of his new book, Nature’s Wild, at Medulla Gallery, and the first display of artist collaborations that grew out of it. Gosine also recently curated an exhibition at the Ford Foundation gallery in New York City which the New York Times praised as a “a lush introduction to an international and multigenerational group of female artists of Asian-Caribbean origin.”
Dr Alison McLetchie, who teaches at South Carolina State, and has been writing about calypso for years, says her talk will focus on “the complexity that is the life of Caribbean women and a female performer”.
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The moderator for the event is writer Dr Ramabai Espinet.
Spencer had hoped to have Rose herself participate, but she is recovering from a recent knee operation. This event is a way to celebrate her long career and hope for her speedy recovery.

The webinar takes place on Zoom on October 22 from 2pm EDT/ TT time.
Registration is free and further details and the link to register are at:
https://sds.utoronto.ca/events/a-rose-among-thorns-calypso-rose-life-music-and-impact/
ing musical textures in Rose’s music. Munro’s book What She Go Do: Women in Afro-Trinidadian Music (2016) is a detailed study of women in calypso. (Source:Newsday, Oct 15, 2022)

HENRY Pereira will for­ever be lauded for bringing a local identity to parang music.
So exclaimed National Parang Association of Trinidad and Tobago (NPATT) public relations officer Joanne Briggs following the recent passing of the parang stalwart.
“What Henry did is bring a sense of ‘Trinidadianess’ to the music. Even though he kept the tradition of the parang music structure, he incorporated some of what we are in the music,” said Briggs, during a WhatsApp exchange with the Express yesterday.
That vision changed the course of the genre and gave parang the unique sound that is loved throughout the islands today, Briggs said. Pereira’s iconic parang hits “Parranda Fina”, “En El Corazon del Hombre”, “Andamos Buscando”, “Soca Sereno” and “Canta Noel” are all standards of the genre.
“For example, with ‘Parranda Fina’—which is a favourite of a lot of parangderos, and they perform it as part of their repertoire—that song has a calypso rhythm to it. And it also describes where we go to sing parang and what we do for parang. It’s basically a tribute or love song for what parang is for us as parangderos,” Brings added.
Pereira, 76, passed away on September 25. The Los Reyes parang band lead singer had suffered “a long illness” and was buried on September 29, following a service at St Anthony’s RC Church, Tabaquite.
NPATT president Alicia Jaggasar expressed condolences to both the Pereira family and Los Reyes yesterday. Jaggasar, lead singer of Los Alumnos de San Juan, said Pereira’s contribution will live on for decades to come.
“Mr Pereira will be missed. Many parang bands play his music, and his contribution to the artform would live in the hearts of all parranderos and parang lovers forever,” Jaggasar said.
Briggs, meanwhile, said while parang music has lost another formidable act, they are still privileged to call on the experience and wisdom of veterans like Clarita Rivas, Michael Lezama and the surviving members of the famous Santa Cruz-based Lara Brothers band.
“We still have people like Clarita Rivas around. We still have some members of the Lara Brothers still there—for example, Pink Eye. Even though he hasn’t been in the frontline as the Lara Brothers were, he is still part of the foundation of parang here. Yuh have people around. Our foundation members like Michael Lezama from San Jose are still here to learn from,” Briggs said.
The Spanish teacher from Tabaquite
In life, sharing knowledge is what Pereira did best. He was fondly known as the Spanish teacher from Tabaquite, having taught at the only secondary school in the area, Taba­quite Composite, after starting his teaching career at Rio Claro Government Secondary School.
Pereira’s big break in music came unexpectedly after joining his first band, Los Muchachos del Agua, in 1973.
The guitarist for the band, a young Pereira, found himself thrust into the spotlight and asked to do a solo one night when the original lead singer failed to show.
“That performance won him the prize for best lead singer. He went on to win this title numerous times,” Briggs recalled.
Jaggasar, meanwhile, says the passing of legends like Pereira leaves immense spaces in parang that must be filled by those next in line. It’s up to the more experienced parranderos on the island to set the pace anew for the next generation, she said.
“Henry Pereira has influenced the lives of all parranderos in Trinidad and Tobago. During his earthly presence [he] ensured that his legacy would live on through the knowledge and skills imparted to us parranderos. On a personal note, Mr Pereira has been instrumental in me being the writer and parrandera I am today. I am writing and my eyes and heart are filled,” Jaggasar concluded. {source:  The Daily Express, Oct 5, 2022}

August 20th marked 206 years since the largest group of Merikins arrived in Trinidad on August 20th 1816.
From 1815 to the 1820s, Trinidad became home to over seven hundred formerly enslaved Black people from the American South who had served in the British Colonial Marines during the War of 1812 in the US.
In exchange for their service, they were freed from slavery in the US and given land on which to settle in Trinidad. Known as the Merikins—an abbreviated version of the word, “Americans”—they settled mainly in six Company Villages in isolated forested areas in South Trinidad during a time when slavery was still being practiced.
The cultural heritage of the Merikins is kept alive today by descendents of the Merikins both in and out of the Company Villages. Organizations like the Merikin Commission, Merikin Inc. and the Merikin Heritage Foundation, which were formed by members from the community, work to educate the public on the rich history of these freedom fighters.
Our exhibition, “Celebrating the Merikins” provides some history on the Merikins and their cultural heritage. Follow this link to view or download the exhibition: https://natt.gov.tt/.../pdfs/Celebrating-the-Merikins.pdf
At the National Archives, we have a Merikin Collection, which includes colonial correspondence and records pertaining to the arrival of the Merikins in Trinidad.



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Trinidadian calypsonian, David Rudder was among four Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nationals who were conferred with the Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC) at the opening ceremony of the recent 43rd Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM, in Paramaribo, Suriname.
The other honorees were: Former CARICOM Secretary-General, Amb. Irwin LaRocque; cricketer extraordinaire Sir Vivian Richards; and Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Barbados, Dame Billie Miller.
The Georgetown, Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat said the honorees joined a cadre of distinguished persons who are honored for making outstanding contributions to the development of the Community.
The award is given to “Caribbean nationals whose legacy in the economic, political, social and cultural metamorphoses of Caribbean society is phenomenal,” said the Secretariat in a statement.
“I’m deeply humbled,” said Rudder after receiving the award. “Thank you, Caribbean Community.”
Later, he told the Canadian-based Caribbean Camera from his home in Ajax, Ontario, Canada that he was very surprised by the award.
“It felt like a dream,” Caribbean Camera quoted Rudder as saying. “It also felt great. You know, you always want to know how much of an impact your work, your art, is having beyond your normal sphere of living. This gives me a sense of how far I’ve progressed in life.”
Rudder, who was born on May 6, 1953, is renowned by his rallying cry for Caribbean fans to support the West Indies cricket team, with “Rally ‘Round the West Indies,” which has become the team’s anthem.
He is said to be “one of the most successful calypsonians of all time,” according to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia.
It said Rudder performed as lead singer for the brass band Charlie’s Roots, and that, nine years later, he “stepped outside the band, entering the calypso tent as a solo calypsonian in 1986, which was followed by an unprecedented rise to fame.”
“Almost overnight, he became a national hero of the order of Marley in Jamaica, Fela in Nigeria and Springsteen in New Jersey,” wrote Daisann McClane, American journalist and Worldbeat correspondent for Rolling Stone Magazine.
Wikipedia said Rudder’s music quickly became the subject of music critics around the world: “From New York to London to Tokyo, where the Japanese have released a CD of Rudder’s greatest hits complete with lyrics translated into Japanese, Rudder has been described as modern calypso’s most innovative songwriter.”
The CARICOM Secretariat said the OCC was first conferred in 1992. The first awardees were Dr. William Demas, former CARICOM Secretary-General; Sir Shridath Ramphal, former chief negotiator of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM), and former Commonwealth Secretary-General, chairman of the West Indian Commission and former Chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI); and Derek Walcott, distinguished and internationally-acclaimed poet and playwright, and 1992 Nobel Prize recipient for literature.
Over the years, the Secretariat said the list has expanded to encompass a range of other persons, including former Heads of Government, sports personalities, regional creatives, representatives of the legal fraternity, members of academia, economists and members of the medical profession.
Rudder told Caribbean Camera that he was awed to be in such “august company,” stating that the award “means a lot to me.”
“I sometimes feel that the arts do not get the respect it deserves,” he said. “I feel that this allows me to feel that it [my award] represents all those who have something to say. So, I accept it on their behalf.
“You know, I reached a point where I was getting a bit jaded and not as eager to produce at the same level to which I’m accustomed,” Rudder added. “But this award tells me that I should go on.” (Source: Caribbean Life, July 27, 2022)

The Mighty Sparrow, the undisputed Calypso King of the World, was baptized on Saturday at Far Rockaway Beach in Queens.
According to the Searchlight newspaper in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sparrow, 87, whose real name is Slinger Francisco, was “taken into the water of Holy Baptism by Vincentian Seventh Day Adventist Pastor Claudius Morgan.” Morgan, a former calypsonian, carried the sobriquet “Samaritan Singer.”
The paper said that Sparrow, who now resides in Queens, was “dressed in all white” for his water baptism.
“He is now known as Brother Francisco (and is) a member of the Linden Seventh Day Adventist Church in New York,” the Searchlight said.
While celebrating his 87th birthday in July, the legendary Mighty Sparrow told the Trinidad Express newspaper that the felt “wonderful.”
The publication said that Sparrow, who was born on Jul. 9, 1935, was expected to spend his special day listening to a radio i95.5 FM tribute, dubbed “Sparrow Day.”
The Express said the musical buffet, hosted by presenters John Gill and John Wayne, featured “a slew of (Sparrow) classics,” like “Jean and Dinah”, “Sa Sa Yea,” “Both Of Them,” “Drunk and Disorderly,” “Survival, Capitalism Gone Mad” and “Education.”
Sparrow, who grew up in Port-of-Spain, the Trinidad capital, was born in the fishing village of Grand Roy, Grenada.
He moved to Trinidad and Tobago as a one-year-old with his mother. His father had relocated there in 1937.
Sparrow, who is also a songwriter and guitarist, is regarded as one of the most renowned and most successful calypsonians.
He has won Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival Road March competition eight times, Calypso King/Monarch eight times, and has twice won the Calypso King of Kings title.
In reflecting on his life and career, during his 87th birthday celebration in July, Sparrow told the Trinidad Express: “Everybody gone (passed on) and left me. Winsford Devine (celebrated songwriter who wrote some of his megahits).
“I was just looking at a video with Kitch (short for Kitchener, whose real name was Aldwyn Roberts) and I. We were dancing and carrying on on stage,” Sparrow said. “Now he’s gone.
“I was looking at another video, ‘We Are The World’. It has a host of performers like Shadow (Winston Bailey). Now he’s gone,” Sparrow added. “Guitarist George Victory, and artistes like De Fosto, Rootsman, Brigo and Penguin passed on.
“Sugar Aloes and Cro Cro are in the video. They are still here,” Sparrow continued. “It was a beautiful experience to work with all of them.”
In July 2010, the United States Congress listed Sparrow in its Congressional Record.
As the Caribbean community in New York, on Jul. 9, 2010 celebrated Sparrow’s 75th birthday, Caribbean American Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke said that she ensured that Sparrow was listed in the Record.
“It is important that the entire nation know what the Mighty Sparrow has done for us,” Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, told an honor ceremony at Brooklyn Borough Hall, downtown Brooklyn, organized the entertainment company, Dee Vee International Productions, owned by Grenadian-born, Brooklyn resident Derek Ventour.
“So, we have entered him in the Congressional Record,” added Clarke, representative for the then 11th Congressional District in Brooklyn. She now represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn.
Reading from the Record, Clarke said then that Sparrow had entertained audiences “from the Caribbean to Asia and all points in between,” in a career spanning over 50 years.
The Congressional Record states that “The Birdie,” as Sparrow is also called, had found success early with his hit, “Jean and Dinah,” at the age of 20.
“Not satisfied with early success, he followed up with a rapid succession of hits, including ‘Carnival Boycott,’ ‘P.A.Y.E.,’ ‘Russian Satellite,’ ‘Theresa,’ ‘Good Citizen,’ ‘Salt Fish’ and ‘Penny Commission,’ just to name a few,” it says.
The Record says that Sparrow’s songs cover a “broad range of socially conscious topics, including education, tyranny in Africa, animal cruelty and the welfare of his home of Trinidad and Tobago.”
The Mighty Sparrow’s accomplishments include multiple Trinidad and Tobago Road March Competition titles; multiple Calypso Monarch titles; an honorary doctorate from the University of the West Indies; and general contributions to music and society, with then New York City Mayor Ed Koch, proclaiming Mar. 18, 1986 “The Mighty Sparrow Day,” the Congressional Record notes.
In presenting a citation, then New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Sparrow “touched the lives of countless listeners.”
Former Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said, in jest, that he became a “Trini,” short for Trinidadian, from Tunapuna, because of the Mighty Sparrow, stating that Sparrow’s “Congo Man” was one of his favorite songs.
“It is wonderful that you can understand his music and his words,” said Markowitz, declaring Jul. 10, 2010 “The Mighty Sparrow Celebration Day,” before presenting a citation to Sparrow’s daughter, Nicole Robinson.
Former New York State Assemblyman Nick Perry – the Jamaican-born, ex-representative for the 58th Assembly District in Brooklyn, currently United States Ambassador to Jamaica – said Sparrow’s history, as the Calypso King of the World, is “unchallenged and undisputed.”
Perry, who also presented a citation, during the celebration, described Sparrow’s achievements as “extraordinary” and “unique.”
In saluting the calypso maestro, erstwhile Grenada Prime Minister Tillman Thomas said very few artistes from anywhere can boast of an on-going career that has spanned in excess of five decades.
“Indeed, you have made significant contributions to Caribbean and world culture, politics and story-telling, through your tremendous wit, extensive breadth of topics covered and unsurpassed propensity to build on, innovate and capture new rhythms across genres,” said Thomas at the time in a statement.
With his baptism Saturday as a Seventh Day Adventist, it is uncertain if the legendary Mighty Sparrow will ever again sing calypsos to his legions of fans worldwide. (Source: Caribbean Life, Sept 8, 2022)

Winston David “Dave” Elcock, one of the most beloved radio personalities that Trinidad and Tobago ever produced, died on Aug. 25, of natural causes in Brooklyn, his son Marc David Elcock confirmed.
Funeral Service was held on Sept. 3 at R. Steven Legall Funeral Home on Avenue N in Brooklyn.
Elcock’s body was cremated 10 days later at Greenwood Cemetery in Newark, NJ.
Marc told Caribbean Life on Thursday that his dad’s ashes are currently in the family’s possession and that the family is yet to determine a final resting place.
Marc said his father became known throughout Trinidad and Tobago as “Big Brother Dave”.
“He was dubbed the Dean of Broadcasters for his versatility and dominance of the early morning airwaves,” the obituary says.
Elcock was born on Sept. 20, 1943 on Duncan Street in Port-of-Spain, the Trinidad capital.
He was one of four children born to Jonathan and Sybil Elcock. His siblings were Lloyd Elcock, Victoria Vidale (deceased) and Gloria Rodriguez (deceased).
Elcock received his primary education at two schools, first St. Agnes E.C., and then St. Crispin’s E.C.
He then attended Queen’s Royal College (Q.R.C.) for his secondary education.
In 1962, he joined the staff of 610 Radio, which, at the time, was called Radio Guardian, as a trainee announcer.
“Over the next 10 years, [he] began to establish his name in the field of broadcasting,” the obituary says, stating that Elcock first launched “The David Elcock Show”, which ran for 10 years until 1972, when Elcock made a slight career change by joining the advertising firm of Christiansen and Belgrave, working there for three years.
During that time, however, Elcock continued doing the Sunday Hit Parade, “which had become very popular under his watch,” the obituary says.
In 1976, Elcock returned to 610 Radio, “and Elcock in the Morning was born, a show which would top all the annual radio surveys for almost 15 years,” according to the obituary.
“He created a number of characters, which became household names in Trinidad and Tobago, and the population looked forward on a daily basis to hearing from ‘Leggo Beas’, ‘Granny’, ‘Mr. Bitter’ and ‘Jose Joropo’, among others,” it says.
In addition to being recognized as one of the twin-island republic’s leading broadcasters, Elcock emerged as one of the “most in-demand Masters of Ceremonies of his era,” the obituary says.
“This afforded him the opportunity to welcome onstage international entertainers like Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick, Barry White, King Curtis, Ray Charles and Redd Foxx,” it says.
During his time at 610 Radio, the obituary says Elcock pursued a course in Television Performance at New York University.
“This prompted him to try his hand as a television host,” the obituary says, adding that, in the 1970s, Elcock’s night-time music and talk TV show, “T&T Tonight”, aired for two seasons on Trinidad and Tobago Television (TTT).
On it, the obituary says Dave featured entertainment by and chats with leading local artistes, as well as with visiting entertainers, sports personalities and even government officials.
In 1988, Elcock married Juliet Mangal, with the union producing two children, Marc and Amanda.
Sadly, Juliet passed away in December 2019.
Elcock also had a son, Jason, from a previous marriage to singer Mavis John.
In November 1990, when Neil Giuseppi was appointed managing director of the Trinidad Broadcasting Company, one of his first acts was to launch Radio Tempo (105.1 FM), the first all-local music station in Trinidad and Tobago.
The obituary says Giuseppi was able to persuade Elcock to leave 610 Radio, where he was “an institution for so many years,” to join the Tempo team.
“On Jan. 1, 1991, Radio Tempo hit the airwaves and Dave Elcock’s voice was the first ever heard on the station,” the obituary says.
“For the next few years, he became the voice of Radio Tempo, as he had been for so many years at 610 Radio,” it adds.
After Giuseppi left the Trinidad Broadcasting Company in 1994 and established his own company, Communications Specialists Limited, Louis Lee Sing, chief executive of the International Communications Network, (610 Radio and TTT), approached Giuseppi a year later.
According to the obituary, Lee Sing “wanted to bring back ‘Scouting for Talent’, which had been off the air for several years.
“He asked Neil (Giuseppi) if he would be prepared to produce it,” the obituary says. “He agreed and, a few months later, the new ‘Scouting for Talent’ hit the airwaves.
“In putting the show together, David Elcock was approached to serve as presenter, and he readily accepted,” it adds. “He hosted the show in his very professional style for the first three years that it ran until he migrated to the United States.”
Though semi-retired, the obituary says Elcock, a Born-Again Christian, took his talent to Internet medium, on Radio KYSO in the United States.
“That station seeks to attract music lovers worldwide with Trinidad and Tobago’s unique gifts to the world, calypso and steel band,” it says.
In 1990, during the National Awards, Elcock received the Humming Bird Medal (Silver) for Public Service.
In 2019, he was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Trinidad and Tobago United Community Association in New York for his “valuable and outstanding service to country and community.”
“David Elcock has always owed his success in radio to some of his predecessors who, in an interview with the Trinidad Guardian in 2009, he called the ‘deities’ of Trinidad and Tobago broadcasters, legends like Ed Fung, Frank Hughes, Leo de Leon, Bobby Thomas, Sir Trevor McDonald, Sam Ghany, Bob Gittens, Errol Chevalier, Clyde Alleyne, Desmond Bourne and Carl Redhead,” the obituary says.
Marc told Caribbean Life that his father’s radio programs were “an integral part of the morning routine in many a household of Trinidad & Tobago.
“He was a pioneer, a trailblazer, a passionate man of the media industry, with a healthy dose of humility and gratitude for all of his life’s blessings,” said Marc, who works as an administrator for lawyers at an unidentified music company in Manhattan. “He was my biggest inspiration when I decided to pursue my own career in media here in New York, and I would ask for his insight countless times.
“As a father, he was caring, loving and supported me in all aspects of my life, even when I didn’t believe in myself,” Marc added. “And it is his unshakable positive outlook and faith that I will use as a template for my life going forward. I will miss him dearly.”
Elcock is survived by his children – Jason, Marc and Amanda; grandchildren – Rachel, Jonathan, Joshua and Avirae; and his brother, Lloyd Elcock, Esq. (Source: Caribbean Life, Sept 16, 2022)

A chance knock on the front door of Trinidad-born Nestor Jasper’s Canarsie home in Brooklyn almost two years ago, is the tale of a retiree cashing-in on a little piece of Hollywood.
The former diesel mechanic who worked at National Grid, on Long Island for 21 years, can now call himself a movie star extra since he and his house have been featured in elements of three seasons of the hit series “The Godfather of Harlem,” starring award-winning actor Forest Whitaker.
Jasper told Caribbean Life on Sept. 14 outside his 95th Street resident during the filming of the 10-episode season 3, critically acclaimed drama, that he had signed a contract for the crew to use the façade of his house that is the best resemblance of a structure in the sixties where late civil rights leader Malcolm X, once lived.
“The Godfather of Harlem” series, produced by ABC Signature, a part of Disney Television Studios, and premiered on Epix in 2019, tells a story inspired by infamous crime boss Bumpy Johnson (Whitaker), who in the early 1960s returned from eleven years in prison to find the neighborhood he once ruled in shambles.
The series features segments of the life of late Malcolm X, and according to Jasper, the façade of the house was re-painted to an aged brown color, to replicate the home of the civil rights leader.
He added that, the crew eventually moved into the living area of the house where some of the scenes were filmed. His backyard and surrounding areas were used as a corridor to facilitate the filming.
Jasper, who has lived in the small flat with his wife and two grown children, his daughter a physical therapist and his son an entrepreneur, for more than 15 years, did not seem too starstruck about the whole idea that a Hollywood series was using his home as a movie location. As a matter of fact, he was more pleased that his house was the recipient of movie dollars.


After the first filming that began some 18 months ago, he said the process was smooth. The crew would call two weeks in advance to alert him that they would be returning to film another episode, which he readily accommodated. He noted that last week was the fourth time that the street was abuzz with dozens of movie crews, cameras, big trucks, and curious residents.
Jasper who migrated some 40 years ago, from the oil-rich village of Palo Seco in Saint Patrick, of the twin-island said lead actor, Forest Whitaker who was seen acting out his role as crime boss Bumpy Johnson graciously posed for a picture with him (Jasper).
Whitaker, an incredibly, talented actor who have been featured in scores of movies, said in an Internet news outlet. “I’m thrilled to be returning to my show, working alongside our truly incredible cast, crew, and writers, as we tell this unique and powerful story. I can’t wait to get back to set, he said and thank Michael Wright, Epix, ABC Signature, and dedicated fans for their support.
According to ‘Deadline News” online, “’Godfather of Harlem’ is that rare show that is both addictively entertaining, and deeply relevant,” said Michael Wright, president of Epix. “Forest Whitaker, Chris Brancato and Paul Eckstein have crafted a series that deserves all the acclaim it has received, and it grows more compelling every season.”
Season 3 will find Bumpy Johnson continuing to battle for control of Harlem, with other aspirants to the throne, namely the Cuban Mafia from neighboring Spanish Harlem. Taking on the Cuban mob will put Bumpy, his loved ones, and his community in the crosshairs of not only the rival Italians, but ruthless Latin assassins and, ultimately, the CIA.
Godfather of Harlem is a collision of the criminal underworld and the civil rights movement during one of the most tumultuous times in American history, according to the internet news outlet.
Catch Forest Whitaker in “Godfather of Harlem” acting outside Nestor Jasper’s home. The series is streaming on Epix via Amazon Prime Video Channels. (Source: Caribbean Life, Sept 19, 2022)