Douglas’ Shadow Parang a hit

Anslem Douglas’ humorous Shadow Parang was a hit with the audience.
Anslem Douglas’ humorous Shadow Parang was a hit with the audience.

GRAMMY Award-winning artiste Anslem Douglas rocked the audience with Shadow Parang at the after-work parang jam at Kaiso Blues Café (KBC) last Friday evening.

The song is about the late calypsonian Shadow (Winston Bailey), calling Douglas to give him a parang soca song that Shadow wanted Douglas to sing. When Douglas started to sing the refrain, the crowd erupted with laughter as Douglas mimicked Shadow’s famous "war cries," and went on for the full eight bars.

Speaking afterwards, Douglas said he wrote and released the song four years ago, but it never got the air play he felt it deserved, and nor did his other parang soca number, Christmas Coming, also released that year. He said it was only when a radio DJ discovered Shadow Parang by accident last July that it started getting air play, albeit still not enough – hence the reason the audience at KBC thought it was a new song.

Douglas opened the live entertainment on Friday with Too Sweet, followed by One Dance, and dedicated Ooh Aah to former beauty queen Janelle "Penny" Commissiong, who was in the audience, before performing Shadow Parang.

He then closed his stint with Irie Tonight and When Ah Dead Bury Meh Clothes, which the patrons so loved that they only reluctantly allowed him to leave the stage to make way for Snakey (Heaven Charles).

Snakey had the crowd in stitches.

As Snakey got into his act, the audience was again in stitches at his snake-like antics as he sang Stand By Me and Lady Soul. In the spirit of the season, Snakey continued with Is Christmas Time and left the audience holding their stomachs with his delivery of The Pothound, a song about his dog Blakie, who kept bursting his garbage bags.

Impulse (Wayne Modest) followed but failed to impress with what most in the audience felt was an inappropriate choice of songs, which included Maco He Maco She, Crazy Computer, No Fork, Four Cup Thing and Two Notes. However, Carol Jacob brought the jam session back to order with her 1987 hit song Pressure, before singing her brand new parang soca song Lil Bit Ah Dis Lil Bit Ah Dat and her 2019 offering Is Just Another Day.

Sandra Hamilton then surprised the audience as she took the microphone to sing her 1981 hit Parang Jam.

Pannist and singer Kern Summerville continued in the same vein with Leh We Dance and My Wish, sung by Peter Levels, after which Leon Coldero entertained with Soca Parang Nice, a new song, Tell Me When Yuh Coming, and Me Gusta Mas Rum.

Janelle Penny Commissiong in the audience.

It was at this time that he divulged that on Carnival Thursday next year, his Nufflive Entertainment and fellow US-based promotion outfit Distrikt One, in collaboration with OBM Concepts in Trinidad, will be presenting Flingback –When Fete Was Fete, at Queen’s Hall in St Ann’s. This event will see the reunion of four big music bands that dominated the Carnival circuit in the past. They are David Rudder with Pelham Goddard and Roots, Colin Lucas and Leon Coldero with Sound Revolution, Ronnie McIntosh with Shandileer and Shurwayne Winchester with Traffik. The fifth band also on the playbill is Dil-E-Nadan featuring Raymond Ramnarine and Derrick Seales, and artistes on the top playlists of the season will be included.

The crowd got excited at the news, so when Coldero next sang Put Yuh Hand in the Air and Shake It, they happily did as the song ordered.

Gary Cordner and Gerry Prudent closed off the live entertainment, the latter with Drink a Rum and Get Up And Dance.

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"Douglas’ Shadow Parang a hit"

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