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Thursday, July 10, 2025

Tourism Minister: ‘Explainer was more than a calypsonian’

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1006 days ago
20221008
Winston 'Explainer' Henry.

Winston 'Explainer' Henry.

Min­is­ter of Tourism, Cul­ture and the Arts, Sen­a­tor Ran­dall Mitchell, has de­scribed the late Win­ston Hen­ry, lov­ing­ly known as the ca­lyp­son­ian Ex­plain­er, as a “vi­sion­ary” artiste, who made a tremen­dous con­tri­bu­tion to this coun­try’s cul­tur­al lega­cy.

In of­fer­ing con­do­lences on Ex­plain­er’s pass­ing, Min­is­ter Mitchell not­ed that many of to­day’s so­ca stars would have been men­tored by the vet­er­an ca­lyp­son­ian.

“Over the years, he has men­tored and com­posed for many Ca­lyp­so­ni­ans and al­so no­tably col­lab­o­rat­ed with a num­ber of So­ca artistes in­clud­ing Bun­ji Galin, the late Blaxx, MX Prime and Farmer Nap­py,” the Min­is­ter ob­served in an of­fi­cial state­ment is­sued to­day.

“Known for his hit ‘Lor­raine’, Ex­plain­er be­gan his Ca­lyp­so ca­reer in 1969 and has tak­en the ca­lyp­so art­form across the world, per­form­ing in North and South Amer­i­ca, Eu­rope and through­out the Caribbean,” the state­ment point­ed out.

Calypsonians, Willard 'Relator' Harris and Winston 'Explainer' Henry show off their awards after the National Awards Ceremony which was hosted on Republic Day at NAPA, Port of Spain. Relator was awarded the Humming Bird Medal Silver and Explainer the Humming Bird Medal Gold. [Image by DARREN RAMPERSAD]

Calypsonians, Willard 'Relator' Harris and Winston 'Explainer' Henry show off their awards after the National Awards Ceremony which was hosted on Republic Day at NAPA, Port of Spain. Relator was awarded the Humming Bird Medal Silver and Explainer the Humming Bird Medal Gold. [Image by DARREN RAMPERSAD]

In 2018, Win­ston ‘Ex­plain­er’ Hen­ry was award­ed the Hum­ming­bird-Gold for his con­tri­bu­tions to the Ca­lyp­so art form.

The Tourism Min­is­ter says he was a “vi­sion­ary” artiste:

“Ex­plain­er was more than a ca­lyp­son­ian; he was an ex­tra­or­di­nary men­tor and teacher with a pas­sion for en­sur­ing that our cul­tur­al lega­cy lives on through the younger gen­er­a­tions. Ex­plain­er was a vi­sion­ary and has un­doubt­ed­ly left an in­deli­ble foot­print on the cul­tur­al land­scape for oth­ers to fol­low. He will cer­tain­ly be missed.” 

Min­is­ter Mitchell added: “The Min­istry of Tourism, Cul­ture and the Arts sym­pa­thizes with the fam­i­ly, friends and loved ones of Mr. Win­ston ‘Ex­plain­er’ Hen­ry dur­ing this time of grief.”

Arts & CulturecalypsoniansMinistry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts


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