Sto­ry and pho­tos

Rishi Ra­goonath

Ca­lyp­so Queen Ter­ri Lyons de­liv­ered a per­for­mance des­tined to be re­mem­bered—pow­er­ful, heart­felt, and brim­ming with the raw emo­tion that has de­fined her artistry. Tak­ing the lead role in the lo­cal­ly pro­duced film Queen of So­ca, Lyons cap­ti­vat­ed au­di­ences with her grace, au­then­tic­i­ty and com­mand­ing pres­ence on screen.

Pro­duced by Kevin Adams, the film tells the in­spir­ing sto­ry of Olivia, a young woman raised in a hum­ble, faith-filled home by her de­vot­ed moth­er. Olivia dares to dream be­yond her cir­cum­stances, chas­ing her pas­sion for so­ca mu­sic. Queen of So­ca is more than a film—it’s a cel­e­bra­tion of per­se­ver­ance, cul­ture and the un­break­able spir­it of a woman de­ter­mined to rise.

The pre­mière, held last Wednes­day at Movi­eTowne, Port-of-Spain, drew an over­whelm­ing crowd of fans and mem­bers of the lo­cal en­ter­tain­ment in­dus­try.

A ra­di­ant Lyons ex­pressed her grat­i­tude, say­ing, “I ap­pre­ci­ate the turnout; we had two screens full tonight for a lo­cal film. I just want this to con­tin­ue—not just for the film, but for mu­sic, arts and fash­ion.”

Lyons al­so ac­knowl­edged her cast­mates, play­ful­ly re­call­ing Pene­lope Spencer, who en­dured nine slaps to get a scene just right. She ex­tend­ed heart­felt thanks to those who came out in sup­port, in­clud­ing Kes, Patrice Roberts, Dwayne Bra­vo, Na­dia Bat­son, the Black­man fam­i­ly, Pred­dy, Aaron Dun­can, Er­phaan Alves, Swap­py and her proud fa­ther, Su­perBlue.

Pro­duc­er Kevin Adams de­scribed the pre­mière as a proud mo­ment for lo­cal cin­e­ma.

“Peo­ple came from San Fer­nan­do and To­co. I booked one screen, and it sold out, so we had to book a sec­ond,” he said. Re­flect­ing on the film’s jour­ney, Adams added, “It doesn’t have to be as dif­fi­cult as it was. Fund­ing was a con­stant chal­lenge; we had to pause and find ad­di­tion­al re­sources mul­ti­ple times.” Pro­duc­tion be­gan in 2019, faced in­ter­rup­tions dur­ing the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic, and was fi­nal­ly com­plet­ed in 2025. “We had oth­er so­ca artistes au­di­tion for the lead, but Ter­ri was the per­son,” he af­firmed.

Of­fer­ing of­fi­cial recog­ni­tion, Michelle Ben­jamin, Min­is­ter of Cul­ture and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment, praised the cast and crew.

“I warm­ly con­grat­u­late Ms Ter­ri Lyons and the en­tire pro­duc­tion team of Queen of So­ca. This out­stand­ing film puls­es with the rhythm, emo­tion, and ex­cel­lence of our peo­ple,” she said. “It af­firms our com­mit­ment to the arts, the­atre, film, and the wider cre­ative econ­o­my. We are build­ing a strong lo­cal film in­dus­try where tal­ent is nur­tured and pro­duc­tions reach glob­al au­di­ences.”

Among the at­ten­dees was singer Jadel, who laud­ed the film’s au­then­tic­i­ty and en­ter­tain­ment val­ue.

“It was amaz­ing. I am so im­pressed by Ter­ri’s skills. Every­thing was top-notch—the com­e­dy, the vibes, every­thing. I could re­late to the movie be­cause my mom is a pas­tor’s wife, just like Ter­ri’s char­ac­ter. I felt every scene.”

With Queen of So­ca, Ter­ri Lyons not on­ly proves her strength as a per­former but al­so re­in­forces the vi­tal­i­ty of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s cre­ative in­dus­try—a com­mu­ni­ty rich in tal­ent, heart, and de­ter­mi­na­tion. The film is a vi­brant re­minder that dreams, when pur­sued with courage and con­vic­tion, can rise to the rhythm of great­ness.