Alicia Jaggasar embarks on solo career

VISHANNA PHAGOO

Parang queen Alicia Jaggasar is spreading her wings. The lead singer of Los Alumnos de San Juan is launching her solo career and her album at her Dare to be Me concert, carded for July 3, at Queen's Hall, St Ann's. But, she assures her fans that she is not leaving the band.

"Once I have life, Los Alumnos de San Juan will also have life."

The show will include ten original songs to be featured in the album produced by her new brand, La Casa de Fusion. She told WMN her goal is to be hired as a solo artiste and be able to expose people to her extensive musical abilities.

"I want to do some touring because my dream is really to be out there and sing with people like Juan Luis Guerra," a Dominican musician who has been labelled one of the best-selling Latin music artistes since he sold over 30 million records worldwide.

The success of Jaggasar's planned solo career is especially important because she hopes it will bring in a steady income.

"I didn't have a choice, I'm the type of person that likes to sing with a band, and to make this decision, it was a difficult one for me. But this time I had to put myself and my family first."

Jaggasar lives with her two children, Michael, 19, and Maria, 22, in Santa Cruz, and after her husband Wayne Jagdeo died from lung cancer in 2021, she said it's been challenging financially. But, she said, giving back is an important to who she is and she will continue giving free musical training to students. Before the pandemic derailed her schedules in 2020, Jaggasar said she had been training students for 20 years prior. She had even taken on the role of a music teacher for Newtown Boys' RC Primary School, Port of Spain, and also did work with other schools in the area like, Newtown Girls' RC Primary School and Sacred Heart Girls' RC Primary School. She said she enjoyed training students who were taking part in calypso competitions. She offered writing advice and also helped them produce their songs.

Jaggasar said one of her biggest accomplishments is the impact she has had on the lives of the boys she trained at YTC, with whom she has been volunteering her time for three years.

"Los Alumnos de San Juan isn't the only victories that bring me joy, as helping these students win junior parang competition adds to that."

When asked how she feels about these experiences, she said, "I feel like an old woman sometimes."

Some of her former students would stop her on the streets asking her if she remembers them and she said sometimes she is amazed at how they've grown.

Jaggasar also does charity work with The Rose Foundation and Ambassador for Peace.
The Rose Foundation engages in programmes that are aligned with the achievements of the sustainable development goals, while Ambassador for Peace an international and inter-religious network of individuals and organisations working towards achieving world peace.

Jaggasar has been singing for as long as she can remember, so it's only natural that she would gravitate towards this what she knows best in her career development. She recalled her first ever performance when she sang the alphabet for her pre-school's talent show, and after entering primary school she ventured into calypso. She went on to participate in a calypso contest and won while a student of Mount Hope Junior Secondary School. With her confidence rising, she took part in more competitions which led her to join Los Alumnos de San Juan. She has been with the band for 35 years. She said before it gained its popularity, the band mainly performed at senior citizens' and children's homes and dubbed, "the birth of Los Alumnos," by her.

Jaggasar said being in the band for such a long time comes with countless memories with the victories prevailing over the others. But, she told WMN, there was one disappointing memory that will always stand out – the first competition in which the band entered but didn't do as well as expected.

"We did not do the necessary research and we probably came ninth in that competition because the song we performed didn't follow the traditional parang, but we thought we had the best song only to come almost last."

After that she started working with Spanish professors and parang icons to make sure they were heading down the right path, even with her writing process being a bit unorthodox.

"The band members were always worried about when they'll get the song. I only get the songs by the grace of God and sometimes that's two weeks before the competition," she said with a laugh.

This would frequently result in the band having to practise until 5 am on the day of the competition, but the members worked hard and persevered.

And now that most of the covid19 restrictions have been lifted, Jaggasar is pleased that she can return to doing what she loves most – rehearsing with the band and training her students at Newtown Boys for their upcoming graduation. She is especially looking forward to the Christmas and Carnival seasons.

For more information on Dare to be Me follow Alicia Jaggasar on Facebook.