JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Monday, July 7, 2025

Parang perseveres despite pandemic

by

Jesse Ramdeo
1656 days ago
20201224

One parang queen says while the art form would have been im­pact­ed by COVID 19, she was pleased to see the ef­forts tak­en to keep the cus­tom­ary mu­sic alive dur­ing the Christ­mas pe­ri­od.

Ac­cord­ing to the lead singer of Los Alum­nos de San Juan, Ali­cia Jages­sar, in a year punc­tu­at­ed by a pan­dem­ic, even “par­ran­deros” were forced in­to ac­tion to pre­serve the pop­u­lar tra­di­tion.

“One of the beau­ti­ful things about parang this year that I saw was the pas­sion par­ran­deros had to en­sure their mu­sic and their band were heard, they did a lot of home videos in their own spaces, they had their vir­tu­al shows, they were so cre­ative in it.”

But it was a dou­ble blow to Jages­sar’s Christ­mas spir­it af­ter Wayne Jagdeo, one the band’s found­ing mem­bers took on a new bat­tle, “he was di­ag­nosed with lung can­cer, he has not been per­form­ing in the shows we ac­tu­al­ly had, he has had every­thing that goes along with the dis­ease its been very hard for me emo­tion­al­ly.”

On Wednes­day, the band staged a vir­tu­al trib­ute con­cert for Jagdeo and has al­so start­ed a Fund me TnT page to raise the mon­ey need­ed to cov­er his med­ical ex­pens­es.

Jages­sar said, “He was a teacher so you can imag­ine how many stu­dents passed through him, he was a CIC boy and Fa­ti­ma boy, so there are a lot of peo­ple out there who don’t know he is un­well and we just want to make sure he knows that we love him.”

Per­sons wish­ing to as­sist Jagdeo can make con­tri­bu­tions to Re­pub­lic Bank AC# 340000991601.

Mean­while, pri­or to the pan­dem­ic, Jages­sar has al­so been work­ing to safe­guard the tra­di­tion­al el­e­ments of the mu­sic and is ex­cit­ed about what the fu­ture holds.

“I’m see­ing it just blos­som­ing in­to a mu­si­cal ex­pres­sion that it will no longer be con­sid­ered the bot­tom of the totem pole in terms of a mu­si­cal ex­pres­sion.”

Jages­sar said there were many el­e­ments to tra­di­tion­al parang­ing which were im­por­tant es­pe­cial­ly on Christ­mas Day.

She ex­plained, “There is a se­quence, you can­not just end up in some­body’s home. When you reach in front the gate you have to sing a ser­e­nade ask­ing them to let you in and re­al tra­di­tion­al par­ran­deros will not open their doors if you don’t sing the cor­rect thing. You must give that gift, the an­nounce­ment, it is very im­por­tant when parang­ing.”

“Can­tan­do Glo­ria” is one of the most pop­u­lar songs by the award-win­ning band, and with a thrust to pre­serve the art form, Jages­sar was more than will­ing to share a few tips and lessons on the tra­di­tion­al mu­sic to this re­porter.

How­ev­er, af­ter at­tempt­ing to make my parang de­but, I was told some more prac­tice was need­ed.


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored

Today's
Guardian

Publications

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

Jaggasar returns as National Parang president

8 hours ago
Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Jamaican Maroons celebrate, question land rights

8 hours ago
Sherron Harford

Sherron Harford

Sherron Harford

Sherron Harford

Sherron Harford’s holistic mission

to transform the lives of girls

Yesterday
Despite finding out just three days earlier—on December 23—that I had breast cancer, I still got dressed and showed up on December 26, Boxing Day, for a birthday party. I didn’t go to escape the truth. I went to remind myself I was still here, still living, still me.

Despite finding out just three days earlier—on December 23—that I had breast cancer, I still got dressed and showed up on December 26, Boxing Day, for a birthday party. I didn’t go to escape the truth. I went to remind myself I was still here, still living, still me.

Despite finding out just three days earlier—on December 23—that I had breast cancer, I still got dressed and showed up on December 26, Boxing Day, for a birthday party. I didn’t go to escape the truth. I went to remind myself I was still here, still living, still me.

Despite finding out just three days earlier—on December 23—that I had breast cancer, I still got dressed and showed up on December 26, Boxing Day, for a birthday party. I didn’t go to escape the truth. I went to remind myself I was still here, still living, still me.

Nicole Drayton’s breast cancer journey–Fear, faith, and fighting back

Yesterday