On the road to BECOMING A CYNIC - growing up in TRINIDAD I was told that TRINIDAD WAS THE LAND OF THE HUMMING BIRD and I swalloed that HOOK, LINE AND SINKER ... - Forum

... so in 1978 I moved from WASHINGTON DC to SAN FRANCISCO ... still full of my TRINIDAD IDEAS. A few weeks later I went out into the backyard of my NEW SURROUNDINGS and got the SHOCK OF MY LIFE -- a HUMMING BIRD was hanging out next to a tree in THE BACK YARD.

Like every TRINICENTRIC TRINI -- I just figured that somehow he got lost (from TRINIDAD) and flew TOO FAR FROM THE LAND OF STEELBAND AND CALYPSO. But my curiosity sent me to DIG FURTHER. And the next thing I was finding out was that MEXICO was one of the BIGGEST HUMMINGBIRD COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD --at that time.

SOMEBODY FOOL ME with the TRINIDAD IS THE CENTER OF THE HUMMING BIRD UNIVERSE THING. TALK ABOUT DEPRESSION!!!

Two decades later I moved to the OTHER SIDE of THE BAY to a quiet little town called EL CERRITO (The Little Hill) and one day I went out into the back yard to water the lawn and as I was doing so -- a HUMMING BIRD came to the EDGE OF THE SPRAY and started DRINKING THE WATER ... no fear of me whatsoever. It was as if I was serving water TO HIM and NOT THE LAWN. That event became a regular occurrence -- my closest with NATURE. And, of course, it wiped out my early indoctrination about TRINIDAD BEING THE LAND OF THE HUMMING BIRD and so many other MYTHS. Most recent was that we had THE GREATEST PAN SOLOISTS IN THE WORLD.

In 1960 and 1961 I lived in ANTIGUA -- and if you think that TRINIDADIANS are TRINICENTRIC ... dem ANTIGUANS are FIERCELY PATRIOTIC. So they had an early influence on OPENING MY EYES to how citizens of a country see THE REST OF THE WORLD.

In 1968 and 1969 I lived in GUYANA and there was a day in the year when STEELBANDS came on the streets in KITTY and paraded. And I watched the GUYANESE PEOPLE jumping up to THE STEELBAND MUSIC and there was a FUTURISTIC VISION that taunted me. Today I realize that it was intuitive and that I may not live to see it manifest -- but GUYANA is going to PLAY A BIG PART in GLOBALIZING PAN MUSIC over the next TWO DECADES.

UNLESS the TRINIDADIANS in TRINIDAD wake up and realize that they CANNOT GLOBALIZE PAN MUSIC without the HELP OF EXPATS -- TRINIDAD WILL FALL BEHIND IN PAN. I am 100% CERTAIN OF THAT.

In my view, after SUPPORTING PAN MUSIC for over 40 YEARS in the SF BAY AREA -- SYNTHESIZED PAN MUSIC is the WAVE OF THE NEXT TWO DECADES.

Today, THE WORLD says that ECUADOR is THE LAND OF THE HUMMINGBIRD. But I am still FIXATED on my FIRST EXPERIENCE (from decades ago) with MEXICO being THE LAND OF THE HUMMING BIRD. So I will end this posting with my ever-changing lyrics from THE MIGHTY POWER ... WELL YUH THINK YUH COULD GO TO MEXICO AND SAY YUH HAVE HUMMING BIRDS -- YUH MAD OH MEH LARD OH ... ANDY NARELL could PLAY MORE PAN MORE THAN TRINIDAD ... so why TIEF ALL THE MONEY FROM yuh culture (PAN TRINBAGO -- YUH MAKING ME FEEL SAD) .... CALYPSO and STEELBAND could well be the CULTURE OF TRINIDAD -- if we have the talent to GLOBALIZE THE MUSIC!!!

Ah leave out one thing!!! During the last PAN TRINBAGO ELECTION the CURRENT SECRETARY say that I HATE TOBAGONIANS. Let me tell her AND THE BEV that I lived in TOBAGO for two years (1962-1963) and when THE OUR BOYS STEELBAND came from TOBAGO in the late EIGHTIES to SAN FRANCISCO -- I was one of their BIGGEST SUPPORTERS in every way you could imagine.
Yuh think THE SECRETARY could come and tell me about TOBAGO -- yujh mad oh me lard oh ...

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