Christmas Day is quickly approaching and amongst all the hustle and bustle West Indians always look forward to the musical offerings for the season. Nicholas St. Bernard; a music enthusiast, fellow West Indian and EM supporter shared this special piece with us, which we just couldn't resist reproducing (with his approval of course). From Entertainment Macco to all of our supporters and followers, a heartfelt thank you and for the continued support and encouragement. Merry Christmas to you and yours and a bright and prosperous New Year.
Here in T&;T, growing up, I've come to know our local Christmas music that is, Parang, local Christmas songs, Christmas calypso, Christmas Soca, Latin Parang and ParangSoca, which one can hear on the radio, or play at home, if one has the music, (on records and/or cds, for example) during the festive season...
Some "old school" examples of the above genres, which are MY personal favourites...
PARANG:
Din-Din-Din - Las Estrellas
La Paramin - Los Alcaran Parang Group
LOCAL (SOUL) CHRISTMAS SONGS:
Sha La La Christmas Song - Lennox Gray
The Cherry Tree Carol - Hazel Ramberansingh
CHRISTMAS CALYPSO:
Christmas On Sesame Street - Lord Relator
Drink-A-Rum - Lord Kitchener (I'm talking here of his 1976 remake, OF COURSE, where he's backed by Pelham Goddard and the crew! Pelham plays a mean synthesizer on this one!)
Go Tell It On The Mountain - David Rudder
CHRISTMAS SOCA:
Tell Santa Claus - Charlie's Roots
("tell Santa Claus, to bring a guitar and a synthesizer for me," yea, that's the one I grew up with! Only heard about the "trumpet and concertina" thing on the ORIGINAL by Nap Hepburn, sometime after that...Goin' with Charlie's Roots' on that one, that ONLY 90.5 FM plays today!)
LATIN PARANG:
Latin Parang - Colleen Grant
(Classic!!!)
PARANGSOCA:
Muchacha - Crazy
Hooray Hoorah - Singing Francine
Now my good friend, The Entertainment Macco asked the question, on what their readers thought of the musical contributions for the (2010 Christmas) season...
Who ruled the airwaves and the dancehalls with their Christmas offerings through the years?
Here in T&;T, growing up, I've come to know our local Christmas music that is, Parang, local Christmas songs, Christmas calypso, Christmas Soca, Latin Parang and ParangSoca, which one can hear on the radio, or play at home, if one has the music, (on records and/or cds, for example) during the festive season...
Some "old school" examples of the above genres, which are MY personal favourites...
PARANG:
Din-Din-Din - Las Estrellas
La Paramin - Los Alcaran Parang Group
LOCAL (SOUL) CHRISTMAS SONGS:
Sha La La Christmas Song - Lennox Gray
The Cherry Tree Carol - Hazel Ramberansingh
CHRISTMAS CALYPSO:
Christmas On Sesame Street - Lord Relator
Drink-A-Rum - Lord Kitchener (I'm talking here of his 1976 remake, OF COURSE, where he's backed by Pelham Goddard and the crew! Pelham plays a mean synthesizer on this one!)
Go Tell It On The Mountain - David Rudder
CHRISTMAS SOCA:
Tell Santa Claus - Charlie's Roots
("tell Santa Claus, to bring a guitar and a synthesizer for me," yea, that's the one I grew up with! Only heard about the "trumpet and concertina" thing on the ORIGINAL by Nap Hepburn, sometime after that...Goin' with Charlie's Roots' on that one, that ONLY 90.5 FM plays today!)
LATIN PARANG:
Latin Parang - Colleen Grant
(Classic!!!)
PARANGSOCA:
Muchacha - Crazy
Hooray Hoorah - Singing Francine
Now my good friend, The Entertainment Macco asked the question, on what their readers thought of the musical contributions for the (2010 Christmas) season...
Who ruled the airwaves and the dancehalls with their Christmas offerings through the years?
Well there was Crazy, Francine Edwards, Scrunter, Marcia Miranda, Baron & Kenny J., with their ParangSoca selections (I DON'T say soca Parang, okay?...)
I'd like to state here, however, for the past 5 Christmas seasons, SOME of the best Christmas offerings have come from the Ma$tamind camp!!! MY opinion of course! Check this out...
2006: Black Cake And Sorrel - Da $pirit$
This is a certified Trini Christmas classic, as let's say, Lennox Gray's "Around My Christmas Tree," &; Hazel Ramberansingh's "The Cherry Tree Carol." Man EVERY Christmas season since then, this jam enjoys a lot of airplay, whether on the radio, on the street, EVERYWHERE!!! Some radio broadcasters even use the piece as background music, when taking calls on air from listeners.
By the way, it's just one brother, namely Shawn "Da Ma$tamind" Noel, in his guise as Da $pirit$, who plays ALL the instruments on this jam! Yea, he's a multi-instrumentalist like Stevie Wonder, Prince Rogers Nelson, R. Kelly &; Timbaland...Oh, and I hear he makes an "award-winning" macaroni pie too!...
!
2007: Ponche De Creme - Da $pirit$
2008: Ham and Pastelle - Da $pirit$
2009: One For Tito - Crazy
2010: Sweetbread - Da $pirit$
That's 4 PARANG instrumentals and 1 PARANGSOCA vocal track (the Crazy track) above...Shawn "Da Ma$tamind" Noel is NOT the current PARANGSOCA champ...NO! Shawn is the current PARANG MA$TA (!!!), and he has held that title for the past 5 years, iz just NOBODY sayin' so, or recognize that!!! MY opinion of course...Yea, I know he produces BOTH PARANG & PARANGSOCA, which is under the umbrella of PARANG, so let's once again refer to him as the undefeated ALL-ROUND PARANG MA$TA, 2006 to 2010!!!
I'd like to state here, however, for the past 5 Christmas seasons, SOME of the best Christmas offerings have come from the Ma$tamind camp!!! MY opinion of course! Check this out...
2006: Black Cake And Sorrel - Da $pirit$
This is a certified Trini Christmas classic, as let's say, Lennox Gray's "Around My Christmas Tree," &; Hazel Ramberansingh's "The Cherry Tree Carol." Man EVERY Christmas season since then, this jam enjoys a lot of airplay, whether on the radio, on the street, EVERYWHERE!!! Some radio broadcasters even use the piece as background music, when taking calls on air from listeners.
By the way, it's just one brother, namely Shawn "Da Ma$tamind" Noel, in his guise as Da $pirit$, who plays ALL the instruments on this jam! Yea, he's a multi-instrumentalist like Stevie Wonder, Prince Rogers Nelson, R. Kelly &; Timbaland...Oh, and I hear he makes an "award-winning" macaroni pie too!...
!2007: Ponche De Creme - Da $pirit$
2008: Ham and Pastelle - Da $pirit$
2009: One For Tito - Crazy
2010: Sweetbread - Da $pirit$
That's 4 PARANG instrumentals and 1 PARANGSOCA vocal track (the Crazy track) above...Shawn "Da Ma$tamind" Noel is NOT the current PARANGSOCA champ...NO! Shawn is the current PARANG MA$TA (!!!), and he has held that title for the past 5 years, iz just NOBODY sayin' so, or recognize that!!! MY opinion of course...Yea, I know he produces BOTH PARANG & PARANGSOCA, which is under the umbrella of PARANG, so let's once again refer to him as the undefeated ALL-ROUND PARANG MA$TA, 2006 to 2010!!!
The 27 year-old brother got PARANG in his blood! As for reigning PARANGSOCA champ, no doubt, it's Marcia Miranda! She's also consistent like Shawn...Man when you see they havin' shows in the Christmas season, featuring PARANG or PARANGSOCA icons, Shawn "Da Ma$tamind" Noel should be one of the performers on it! Only thing he wouldn't be able to multi-task, playing all the instruments, as on his top instrumental recordings. Saw Harold Faltermeyer do that on "Solid Gold" with a number of keyboards, back in the day, as he played "Axel F," which was the theme from the "Beverly Hills Cop" motion-picture...Harold could have done that though, as the music in "Axel F" was just synthesizers...
Never mind, Shawn could get a few of his musician friends to take the stage with him, and I can just hear people in the audience..."iz he who play that!"...Yea, one day...
Now EVERYBODY knows about Timbaland, the producer, and as an artiste, when he drops an album featuring some of the top vocalists around. How come after all this time, it's only when Shawn SINGS ("De Tail Gone," "Rum & Roti" etc.) that his name is mentioned?!
I think every now and again, when playing any of the above Parang instrumentals by Da $pirit$ on radio, broadcasters should inform listeners that's it's actually one brother, that is Shawn "Da Ma$tamind" Noel playing all the instruments on the track. MOST everybody knows, and talks about producers Quincy Jones &; Timbaland, and our own Pelham Goddard's work on quite a number of winning Road March tunes, and his recognizable keyboard playing through the years on various artistes' tracks. Ma$tamind has to be recognized in a big way like those guys above! It's called being a household name!
As I go, one day soon, I want to hear the youth say "Ma$tamind produce THIS" or "Ma$tamind produce THAT" not only with his Christmas productions, but anything he put his hands on...
blaze de fire, show me yuh lighter, tonite ....!...
Now EVERYBODY knows about Timbaland, the producer, and as an artiste, when he drops an album featuring some of the top vocalists around. How come after all this time, it's only when Shawn SINGS ("De Tail Gone," "Rum & Roti" etc.) that his name is mentioned?!
 | |
| Shawn "Ma$tamind" Noel |
I think every now and again, when playing any of the above Parang instrumentals by Da $pirit$ on radio, broadcasters should inform listeners that's it's actually one brother, that is Shawn "Da Ma$tamind" Noel playing all the instruments on the track. MOST everybody knows, and talks about producers Quincy Jones &; Timbaland, and our own Pelham Goddard's work on quite a number of winning Road March tunes, and his recognizable keyboard playing through the years on various artistes' tracks. Ma$tamind has to be recognized in a big way like those guys above! It's called being a household name!
As I go, one day soon, I want to hear the youth say "Ma$tamind produce THIS" or "Ma$tamind produce THAT" not only with his Christmas productions, but anything he put his hands on...
blaze de fire, show me yuh lighter, tonite ....!...
Category:
Mastamind Productions,
Nicholas St. Bernard,
Shawn Noel
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1 Response
Very Insightful..... I really like this....