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.

Machel Montano can now add doctorate to his long list of awards.
The soca king, who has been performing for 37 years, received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday.
Montano said he felt great, honoured and humbled to be a recipient of the Honorary degree. 
In the presence of his close friend Anthony Chow Lin On, girlfriend Renee Butcher, Manager Che Kothari and mother Elizabeth, who graduated from the University of the West Indies last month with a Masters in Cultural Studies, Montano performed an acoustic version of 'We Not Giving Up' and 'Too Young to Soca'.
Also receiving similar honours from UTT was cultural activist, poet and playwright Pearl Eintou Springer. She received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts.
Source: The Loop

Beverley Ramsey–Moore has been voted as the new president of Pan Trinbago.
Mrs Ramsey-Moore, current manager of Petrotrin Kat-zen-jammers Steel Orchestra, received 116 votes to beat out the other 7 candidates at the organisation’s internal elections on Sunday.
She replaces embattled incumbent Keith Diaz and has become the first woman to be in charge of the national pan body.
Ramsey-Moore contested the Pan Trinbago elections under the Team-Rebuild banner.
Mrs Ramsey Moore said her first order of business will be to review Pan Trinbago’s constitution with a particular focus on separating the powers of the executive and administrative arms of the organisation.
Former Port of Spain mayor Keron Valentine finished second with 54 votes.
Other candidates included Darren Sheppard, Keith Byer, Thecla Forde-Rodriguez, Vernon Morancie and businessmen Lawford Duprey and Robert Amar.
Source:  102FM

Less than a week af­ter say­ing a fi­nal farewell to Win­ston “Mighty Shad­ow” Bai­ley, the ca­lyp­so fra­ter­ni­ty is mourn­ing the death of an­oth­er vet­er­an ca­lyp­son­ian in Win­ston ‘The Orig­i­nal De Fos­to Him­self’ Scar­bor­ough.
Scar­bor­ough, one of this coun­try’s most pro­lif­ic ca­lyp­so com­posers and en­ter­tain­ers, suf­fered a heart at­tack this morn­ing. He was 64. He had been bat­tling heart dis­ease and was hos­pi­talised sev­er­al times in re­cent months due to the con­di­tion.
De Fos­to’s last pub­lic ap­pear­ance was at the fu­ner­al of fel­low ca­lyp­son­ian Win­ston “Mighty Shad­ow” Bai­ley on Tues­day at the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah and had even joined oth­er mem­bers of the fra­ter­ni­ty in a mu­si­cal trib­ute at the end of the ser­vice.
De Fos­to was aban­doned as a ba­by and grew up in the Tacarigua Or­phan­age. It was there, very ear­ly on, that his mu­si­cal tal­ents were dis­cov­ered and nur­tured. Even­tu­al­ly, he learned to read and score mu­sic.
He made his pro­fes­sion­al singing début in 1976 with Chicks Come Out to Play and over the years had com­posed and per­formed many pop­u­lar ca­lyp­soes, in­clud­ing ones spe­cial­ly writ­ten for the steel­band. Four Lara Four, co-writ­ten with the late Mer­chant, was played by the 1995 Na­tion­al Panora­ma win­ner, Amo­co Rene­gades.
Oth­er Panora­ma hits writ­ten by De Fos­to in­clude Firestorm and Pan Lamen­ta­tion, which helped Trinidad All Stars win the ti­tles in 2002 and 2007, re­spec­tive­ly and Pan­do­ra and War which helped Ex­o­dus Steel Or­ches­tra score back-to-back vic­to­ries in 2003 and 2004.
De­Fos­to nev­er won the Na­tion­al Ca­lyp­so Monarch but came close on more than one oc­ca­sion. In 2000, he placed sec­ond with Pan Forever­more and One More Kitch­en­er and in 2007 with Po­lice Mon­ey. De Fos­to al­so placed third in 2010 with In A Palace State of Mind. Source:  Stabrock News

Ken “Professor” Philmore - steelpan arranger, composer and ace pannist – died at the Intensive Care Unit of the San Fernando General Hospital on Sunday.
Philmore, 58, succumbed to severe internal injuries suffered in a crash on the Republic Day holiday.
He sustained broken ribs and his lungs had collapsed, police said.
Philmore was driving his Toyotal Hilux van north along the Solomon Hochoy Highway when he picked up a skid near Claxton Bay at around 8.45am.
The vehicle flipped several times and Philmore was thrown out of the cabin.
His wife, Sophia Philmore, had called on the nation to pray for her husband.
San Fernando Mayor Junia Regrello confirmed that Philmore died at around 9.30am.
Regrello said, “He was in the ICU. He suffered some internal injuries. Yes, his lungs had collapsed twice in that time and I understand he suffered a heart attack as well. His passing is a really, really big loss to the pan fraternity.”
Regrello said Philmore played with many south steelbands and made his mark in the artform.
“He represented San Fernando with pride. He was like a brother to me He had so much to offer. This is really, really sad. I want to express condolences to his family and say thank you for his contributions to the city of San Fernando,” he said.
Philmore began his steelpan career with Hatters and then moved to Fonclaire, where he settled in 1981. He also began a successful career in composing.
In 1988, he appeared with international artistes Tina Tuner and Lionel Hamptom in New York. He was honoured by Pan Trinbago as one of the most promising arrangers.
Philmore was described locally and internationally as a pannist of today and tomorrow.
Source:  Daily Express, Oct 2, 2018

Olatunji Yearwood will take on the X Factor's dreaded Six Chair Challenge tonight.
Loop understands Ola will be singing in the first position.
The former Groovy Soca Monarch who wowed the four judges with his 2018 song 'Bodyline' won't be singing soca in this elimination challenge. He will be singing Lou Bega's Mambo Number Five according to a promotional clip on Youtube.
In this challenge, the contestants compete before a live audience and the judges. The hopefuls are split into four different categories and mentors are assigned to each group. 
The mentors will decide if each act deserve one of six coveted seats but they could be replaced with a subsequent performer.
For the 2018 edition, a new element has been added to the challenge called the Golden X where each judge will have the right to offer an act a 'safe seat', or the Golden X, which will guarantee them a place for Judges' Houses.
The Six Chair Challenge will be the last round before the live shows. 
X Factor will air on the UK's ITV channel at 3.35 pm T&T time.
Source: The Loop, Sept. 2018

FOR the love music!
Growing up in Success Laventille, WPC Kensa Thomas-James saw the struggles of her parents to provide for the family and vowed to use all that she knew, music, to elevate herself.
Fast forward to August 31, when Thomas-James was one of the women chosen from the Police Service band to serenade President Paula-Mae Weekes as she entered the Police Administration Building for the Independence Day celebrations.


The 32-year-old said she joined the service just to be part of the police band.
Playing the trombone is no easy task, said Thomas-James, and her title of being the only professional woman trombonist in the English-speaking Caribbean came through dedication and sacrifice.
Apart from having to feel and hear the musical notes rather than play them, the one time she sought assistance in learning the instrument she was denied after a man said, “women want to do too much”.
“My parents sacrificed and bought me a second-hand trombone, a gold painted Bundy that used to fall apart.
“But I saw how they were sacrificing for me, they could not afford to pay for two children to get music lessons. I saw what music could have done for me so I took it seriously.


“When they brought it home I had no idea what to do or where to start, but very soon I realised that music and this trombone was my only way out. I started to pay attention to music videos and tutorials and got a hang of it. I later joined the TT Cadets and spent two years in the band. Then I joined a youth band called Vizion,” she said.
Growing up watching her family and relatives play instruments and hearing of how her grandfather played his standing bass while chipping through the city, before laptop armed DJs boarded music trucks, made Thomas-James love music more.
In 2007, she auditioned and was successful in becoming a member of Divine Echoes.
From there she studied and earned her Bachelor’s degree in music from the University of the West Indies, St Augustine campus, where she graduated with honours in 2010.


She went on to arrange music for the band, as well as becoming the brass section leader and part time conductor.
“When I went for the audition I knew if I played well enough, I would get them bazodee and they would have to hire me. So said so done. I couldn’t read or write music then and I played Rene’s Song by Arturo Sandoval. There was a guy there, Mr Villafana, who told the others that if I could play that on trombone then I could learn to play anything and told them to give me a chance.”
After getting such a chance she bettered herself by copying the music sheets, taking them home with her to practice.
She watched and listened to videos and took tutorials wherever they came, because she knew from childhood that music was the key to improving life for herself and her family. The mother of one said she has motivated and mentored others to pursue their passion for music.
Asked about her first real paid gig, Thomas-James said, “Oh my God I was so happy. That went to the purchase of my car. It wasn’t about the money you know but to see my dream come through, you know. I knew that this was my way to give back to my parents and say they don’t have to worry about me any more. Trombone is my life, it pays for my clothes, my home.”


Thomas-James has played throughout the Caribbean and Africa, playing for David Rudder, Kes The Band, Errol Ince, and Caribbean In Excess. She credits her success to her dedication to her craft. She is at practice from as early as 6.30 am daily, and arrives for her performances ahead of time. The same goes for rehearsals.
“The passion I have and the love I possess for music gets me hired and has me where I am. I didn’t even know I was the only professional trombone player in the Caribbean. I was surprised when I learnt this and I did my research and I realise it is true. To be honest, I feel normal with that title, I just love music and my trombone.”
Source: Newsday, Sept. 2018

PAN PIONEER Elliot “Ellie” Mannette died yesterday at a West Virginia hospital, where he was being treated for kidney failure. He was 91.
A post by his family on Facebook yesterday said: “He was surrounded by people that loved him up until the very end. We would like to thank everyone for all the thoughts and prayers for Ellie. He was truly touched to see how much he is loved around the world. Ellie dedicated his entire life for the development of the steel pan. His biggest goal was to create and leave a legacy for his students to follow and continue his work. Thankfully, this legacy is in good hands and will be continued in his honour. Ellie’s tireless work over the past 75 years has touched the lives of so many people around the world. His family at Mannette Instruments will cherish his memory and continue his hard work.”
Members of the pan fraternity also reacted to Mannette’s death.
Michael Din Chong, manager of Shell Invaders, the band Mannette founded, said: “Our condolences go out to the Mannette family on behalf of the management of Invaders and the players. It is a great loss.
“When we celebrated our 75th anniversary in 2015 he was unable to be with us, so we went to him in West Virginia in 2016 and made a presentation to him for his contribution to the formation of the band, and his subsequent innovations of the steelpan. No doubt he is the greatest contributor to our band.
“We have just decided that we are going to dedicate our Republic Day J’Ouvert in honour of him.”
Master pannist, steelpan tuner and Mannette’s personal friend Emanuel “Cobo Jack” Riley said from New York: “Ellie was the best steelband captain and steelpan maker in the world. He was responsible for all the advancement of the steelband. He was the man that invented everything. I was in Invaders panyard working with him when he discovered the octaves and the fifths.
“He was also a man who, after practice in the panyard, will go home and listen to classical music.
“He was a very decent guy. I really can’t describe the loss that I feel right now because the way I look up to him I just don’t know what to say.”
Richard Forteau, secretary of Pan Trinbago, said:“We at Pan Trinbago send condolences to his family, Invaders and the entire pan fraternity. Indeed we have lost a great one.
“He went to West Virginia and carved a name for himself. His contribution was a great one. He was one of the few surviving members of TASPO (Trinidad All-Steel Percussion Orchestra). Now we only have Sterling Betancourt and Tony Williams.”
Ace pannist and arranger Ken “Professor” Philmore said: “Ellie Mannette was a true, true ambassador of TT.
“I had the opportunity when he was in West Virginia to do a couple workshops with him and Andy Narrell.
“I am very saddened to hear about his death. He was a great inventor. As a matter of fact the ‘thirds’ tenor pan that I play was invented by him. I believe the only two people that play that pan are Narrell and myself.
“My prayers and thoughts go out to Invaders and by extension to the entire pan fraternity. We have truly lost a great pioneer. May he rest in peace.”
Von Martin, CEO and founder of Caribbeana Communications Inc, Washington, DC, said: “I spoke with Ellie just two weeks ago to see what was his opinion of the book Voices of Pan Pioneers of Trinidad & Tobago. He was delighted as there was a whole chapter on his story in the book. He exclaimed, ‘You did a lot of work in it, man.’ I am satisfied that he was satisfied.
“Recently I took the boys and girls of Pan Lara steelband to meet the icon in Morgantown, West Virginia. It was a treat to see Ellie engage with the youths. It was as though he was satisfied that pan is in the right hands. Mannette’s work at West Virginia State University, Mannette Instruments and the scores of steel pan projects were tremendous accomplishments.
“I plan to do a three-hour tribute on my Saturday’s show of pan music in honour of this global icon.”
Source:  Newsday TT