'Advocator' churns out beautiful music

Sherwin "Advocator" Figaro may not have any formal training in music, but that doesn't stop him from creating beautiful music of different genres.

"My involvement in music stems from my experiences in school and church groups," which led to the composition of gospel songs, calypso, campaign songs and now parang, he told Newsday.

For the past three years he has recorded a soca parang song every year, with the latest being Parang Time, which highlights the significant role parang plays in the cultural landscape.

"From October the Christmas vibe begins and it is a very important time in the life of the parranderos, who usher in the Christmas season," he explained about the focus of the song, which was composed by him and produced by Steve Neaves at Zu Zung Geng Studios. In 2018 he recorded Ave Maria, and Samba Rita in 2017, both produced by Jason Dasent.

Figaro, now retired from WASA, said he was heavily involved in the authority's calypso competitions when he worked there. And although he never took the winning title, he is confident his compositions were on par with those of his competitors and even some of the compositions on the national landscape.

He recalled in the late 80s when he was involved in the trade union movement, he entered the competition and sang about workers' issues. It was then he assumed the sobriquet Advocator. But with all his hard-hitting compositions, he never won the title.

"There was one year I got close – but I forgot my lines. That was around when Panday (Basdeo) was in office and there was serious industrial action in WASA. My song was about that, because there was a host of intrigue, machinations and bacchanal. "But when I got to the last verse, to bring it home, my mind just went blank," he chuckled.

He said he has always been good with lyrics, but the ability to entertain was never one of his strong points. "I think if I had been able to put a little more into my performances I would have won, because I had good songs." His plan was to use the WASA competitions as a springboard into the national arena.

He recalled he had even dabbled in campaign songs for PSA president Watson Duke. "At that time I was a member of the PSA's WASA section, so I would appoint myself to compose the songs." But his entry into the world of lyrical composition really began with gospel songs.

"I'd written a lot of gospel songs many years ago but never recorded any." He passed them on to a fellow musician to put a modern spin on them. but that never materialised and eventually the other musician died. One day he intends to revisit that plan. Figaro said he owns a number of musical instruments but never found the time to learn to play them.

"I fiddle around with them, but I'm not really skilled in that area. I love to sing and I have an ear for music, so you find that when I write a song I am able to put a melody to it. But I will learn to play those instruments, because I think not being able to puts me at a disadvantage musically."

He said he is "cleaning up" a pan song and is hoping to release it for Carnival 2020. He also has a social commentary song in the works, as well as a few other things. "Every day I see things I can write about." Eventually, he hopes to write for other vocalists because, "I can't sing it all."

But for now he is focusing on getting some airplay for his soca parang music. "I would love to hear my music playing on the radio. I mean, if they don't play it I can always listen to it on rotation when I'm in my car," he laughed. "But it would be really something for other people to hear it too."