The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
CARIBBEAN CARNIVAL
Harbor Park to transform into island atmosphere Sunday with soca music theme
MIDDLETOWN » Michael Charles has a vision. He believes that, some day, the city could become a star on the map of the world’s largest carnivals, just like Trinidad and Tobago.
For the sixth year, this president of the Trinbago American Cultural Explorers is bringing a Caribbean carnival to Middletown’s Harbor Park.
“Calypso music and soca music is the driving force of carnivals all over the world,” Charles said. “It started in Trinidad, which is a mecca of carnival, and then the next big carnival is Toronto, Canada, during the first week in August. [Middletown is now] on the carnival circuit. Once we get the sponsorship, we can do a big parade — that’s the goal. A huge parade from Washington Street down Main Street to Harbor Park.”
For that, he’d need to raise $17,000 just to block off the streets alone, Charles said.
So for now, he’s going to create the one-day party of the year — on a smaller scale.
For Sunday’s event, which runs from 1 to 9 p.m. at the gazebo at Harbor Park, he’s bringing in well-known names in soca music, like Asten Isaac, who has made his living professionally as a singer-songwriter for the past three years.
Isaac has been writing music for 14 years — but he doesn’t consider himself especially skilled, he said.
“Some people call it a talent, some people call it a gift. Some people call it an ability. I just call it …. me,” Isaac said. “It’s my nature to be expressive through song. It’s my nature to be expressive through writing, and through speech.”
Isaac has a unique way of describing what he does on stage through this music.
“I love energy. My music is about energy management, so I will be in a crowd or in front of a stage, collecting energy, and then redistributing that energy to individuals who may need it, and that energy can come in different forms: it can be sad music, happy music, festive, emotive,” he said. “I find out how you feel and then I share with you a particular feeling and then we find a way to make you happy.”
Isaac said he thinks of his ability to bring musical joy to people as a “balancing of the equation.”
“I find a feeling in someone, I see the need in someone else and then I have that take place for both individuals,” Isaac said. “Soca music is very festive, very happy, very jolly. It’s a reckless abandonment — you have no care in the world.”
Jack of All Trades Riddim Sextion manager Besa Glasgow said West Indian rhythm sections “originated in the islands of Trinidad and Tobago and consist of different percussion instruments following the rhythm of either a steel pan that’s being played or a DJ.”
JAT, which has played in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia and other large venues, tends to play along with the DJ, she said.
Bandleader Akil Ashey said JAT’s instruments include congas, a drum kit, bongos, tambourines, scratches, cow bells and an iron [a made-up instrument built from the wheel portion of car brakes that sounds like a bell when played].
All seven band members have a West Indian background and live in Brooklyn, Glasgow said.
“The drums and the people and the vibe gives us energy, so when you see people enjoying your music so much you just want to keep playing,” Ashey said. “But then sometimes you reach the point where you’re like, ‘You know what? That’s it right now. The time is up,’ he said. “You can’t overdo it.”
That enthusiasm and seemingly undying energy is typical of the culture, Glasgow said.
“If you know anything about West Indians, especially Trinidadians, they love to party,” she said. “We have been at parties when JAT is playing, but you see people from every and anywhere that will just come and pick up that iron and want to play with them.”
“Some people just come to take pictures to show their family: ‘I was part of a rhythm section,’” Ashey said.
Also performing will be Kutter’s Rhythm Section from Brooklyn and General Grant, the raga soca king of Trinidad and Tobago, Charles said.
Every year of the festival, Charles, who considers himself a cultural ambassador, hopes to introduce more people to the music, tastes and sounds of Trinidad and Tobago.
“Culture is the driving force of life,” he said. “Other than work, enjoyment is the key to life and Trinidad is known as the cultural capital of the world,” he said. “It’s the smallest island in the Caribbean — we only have 1.3 million people — and we invented the steel drum. We also invented limbo, Calypso and soca, which is Calypso with a soul beat,” he said, with a much slower tempo.
In 1998, Charles started the Trinbago American Cultural Explorers as one of many local organizations instrumental in promoting Caribbean culture through music and art, while hosting a Tuesday afternoon program on Trinity College’s WRTC radio station for soca and Calypso music, he said.
That same year, Trinity hosted the World Conference on Carnival under the direction of Dr. Milla Riggio and Charles contributed his talents to costume making.
In 1999, he hosted the first J’ouvert (large street party) event in Hartford followed by a carnival parade later that year from Windsor Street in downtown Hartford to Keney Park, he said.
Also appearing Sunday will be Guyanese vocalist Terry Gajraj of Wethersfield, who sings a blend of music from India and the Caribbean called chutney soca — and has for 25 years, most of his life. His schedule is nonstop. “My performances are very interactive. I like to get a crowd into it. We do an Indian dance called Screw the Lightbulb because is all about twirling your hands in the air,” Gajraj said. “If you want a taste of the Caribbean, this is the place. It’s like going on vacation in the Caribbean. You’re going to enjoy it. It’s going to be a very festive atmosphere.”
People are encouraged to park in the Melilli Plaza parking lot off Court or Washington streets and walk through the tunnel to Harbor Park. Donations will be taken.
“If you like the Caribbean, if you’ve ever been to the Caribbean — that’s why we’re doing it on the water, so you’ll feel like you’re in the Caribbean,” Charles said. “Dress like you’re going to the tropics, because it’s going to be hot that day.”
For information, call Mike at 860-818-0678 or Kenneth at 860-614-2869.