Nass­er Khan

Im­mense­ly tal­ent­ed, 12-year-old Form One stu­dent of Queen's Roy­al Col­lege, young Aaron Dun­can en­tered the ca­lyp­so are­na at the ten­der age of five, win­ning the 2009 NJAC's An­nu­al Eman­ci­pa­tion Ca­lyp­so Com­pe­ti­tion. In 2010 he won Tu­co's Na­tion­al Ju­nior Ca­lyp­so Monarch, cre­at­ing his­to­ry as the youngest ever to win that pres­ti­gious ti­tle at on­ly six years old. This opened many av­enues for the young champ and ex­posed him to the me­dia and many celebri­ties.

In 2011 Dun­can teamed up with so­ca king Machel Mon­tano to shoot a com­mer­cial which earned him the ti­tle "Mi­ni Machel," as there were so many sim­i­lar­i­ties with Dun­can's ca­reer and that of Mon­tano, who had com­pet­ed at the Di­manche Gras show in 1986 with his hit Too Young to So­ca.

Dun­can con­tin­ued his win­ning streak, cap­tur­ing the Na­tion­al Ju­nior Ca­lyp­so Monarch ti­tle back to back in 2011 and 2012, and earn­ing the ti­tle for three con­sec­u­tive years–2010, 2011 and 2012. In 2010 and 2012, he was award­ed one of the Top 20 Stars of To­mor­row for ex­cel­lence and out­stand­ing achieve­ments by the Na­tion­al Youth and Ac­tion Com­mit­tee. The award was ti­tled, An In­spi­ra­tion to our na­tion's youth.

Dun­can al­so won the Na­tion­al Ju­nior So­ca Monarch in 2012 and per­formed at the So­ca Monarch show along­side Patrice Roberts. He al­so did his own so­lo per­for­mance with his 2012 so­ca, Car­ni­val Ah Home.

Every year, Dun­can trav­els, per­forms and rep­re­sents Trinidad in­ter­na­tion­al­ly in Lon­don, Toron­to, New York, St Lu­cia, St Vin­cent and Bar­ba­dos. He per­formed for US Pres­i­dent of State Baden Pow­ell, was part of the Go­ing for Gold al­bum along­side Mon­tano, and was ho­n­oured in the City of Boston. In 2012 he won The Ex­press Youth of the Year.

In 2013 his first at­tempt in the Chut­ney are­na proved suc­cess­ful, as he won the Na­tion­al Ju­nior Chut­ney So­ca Monarch. In 2015 Dun­can won the Na­tion­al Ju­nior Ca­lyp­so Monarch ti­tle for the fourth time. He al­so re­gained his Na­tion­al Ju­nior Chut­ney ti­tle for the third con­sec­u­tive year and re­gained NJAC's Ju­nior Ca­lyp­so Monarch ti­tle for the sixth con­sec­u­tive time. He was al­so nom­i­nat­ed and won the Na­tion­al Youth Awards 2015 for Arts and Cul­ture.

Last Wednes­day, Dun­can copped yet an­oth­er singing ti­tle when he was crowned win­ner of the Sec­ondary School edi­tion of the Na­tion­al Car­ni­val Schools In­tel­lec­tu­al Chut­ney So­ca Monarch Com­pe­ti­tion.

His newest songs, Can You Feel It, has been blast­ing on the air­waves, and Ek Jee­wan Ka­hani (A Life Sto­ry). He has been a star at­trac­tion at a num­ber of con­certs and fetes this sea­son. He re­cent­ly cap­tured the 2016 Na­tion­al Schools' So­ca Monarch com­pe­ti­tion, se­nior cat­e­go­ry.

Dun­can re­mains ground­ed de­spite his suc­cess and con­tin­ues his mu­si­cal pas­sion and aca­d­e­m­ic pur­suits with equal vigour.

Q: Tell us about your ear­ly years and your fam­i­ly...where you were born, where you grew up, schools at­tend­ed/at­tend­ing in­clud­ing pri­ma­ry, etc?

A: I was born in Pe­tit Val­ley to Sylvester and Ly­dia Dun­can. I've lived here all my life with my both par­ents, my sis­ter and my grand­moth­er. I at­tend­ed St Clair Creche, New­town Boys' Pri­ma­ry then trans­ferred to Trin­i­ty Ju­nior School, and I re­cent­ly start­ed at Queen's Roy­al Col­lege.

What led to your be­com­ing a ca­lyp­so/so­ca and chut­ney so­ca singer?

At three years old I used to back up my sis­ter when she would sing. My moth­er recog­nised my tal­ents and de­cid­ed to en­ter me in an Eman­ci­pa­tion ca­lyp­so com­pe­ti­tion at the age of five. Af­ter win­ning, she then tried me in the Ju­nior Ca­lyp­so Monarch at the age of six and I was suc­cess­ful, be­com­ing the youngest ever to gain that crown. My pas­sion de­vel­oped for the art form and so we de­cid­ed to ven­ture in­to the oth­er types of mu­sic like groovy so­ca and chut­ney so­ca.

What would you like to be when you grow up?

I would like to be a suc­cess­ful in­ter­na­tion­al artiste and a pro­duc­er of mu­sic.

Who wrote your 2016 com­po­si­tions?

I wrote my 2016 so­ca along­side Dale Ryan, Em­man­u­al Rud­der and Kit Is­rael.

How do you jug­gle singing and your school work, es­pe­cial­ly around Car­ni­val time?

To me, it's all about time man­age­ment and get­ting the work that I've missed.

What are your favourite sub­jects in school?

My favourite sub­ject in school is math­e­mat­ics.

Is there or has there been any­one else in your fam­i­ly in­volved in Car­ni­val?

My mom and sis­ter were once singers in the ca­lyp­so and so­ca are­na.

If you could be the open­ing act for any in­ter­na­tion­al star on tour who would that be?

Machel Mon­tano.

Which of your work do you rate as the most sat­is­fy­ing and mem­o­rable?

Machel Mon­day.

What goals and or am­bi­tions do you still have?

I want to be­come a world renowned artiste and pro­duc­er.

Of all your prizes and awards which do you rate as ex­treme­ly spe­cial?

Youth of the Year 2012.

What ad­vice would you give to the young peo­ple of T&T?

Nev­er give up on your dreams and strive for great­ness.

If you could pick any singer and/or band to per­form just for you who would you choose...lo­cal or for­eign?

Machel Mon­tano.

How ner­vous are you be­fore you go on stage? Any rou­tines?

I am nev­er ner­vous on a stage. The more crowd I see, the bet­ter!

Any up­com­ing shows and plans?

Bae­Watch, CMB, Taste Of Car­ni­val, etc.

What can we ex­pect from Aaron Dun­can in 2017?

Next year, I am go­ing to fur­ther ex­plore the so­ca are­na.

De­scribe your­self in two words, one be­gin­ning with A, the oth­er with D, your ini­tials?

A-Am­bi­tious, D-Dom­i­nant.

If you have any sug­ges­tions of peo­ple who should be fea­tured in this se­ries, please email Nass­er Khan at nkhantt@gmail.com