Jayvonn Murray, the best singer, leads Morvant Anglican to schools' parang victory

Winner of the best primary schools' male lead parang singer Jayvonn Murray had only been singing parang for two months before the Junior Parang Competition.

With this short amount of time, he was able to get this achievement and lead his school Morvant Epiphany Anglican to first place among primary schools in the competition hosted by the National Parang Association of TT at St Mary's College, Port of Spain on November 19.

“I was happy that all the hard work that the whole group put in was finally able to pay off and that we can enjoy our reward,” Jayvonn said.

He added, “I was proud of myself because I also worked really hard for this and I was happy that it also paid off.”

He said it was a bit scary having to stand on stage, leading an entire choir, but he pushed through and was able to win.

Jayvonn, nine, would go above and beyond with his training. He said aside from training with the group after school, at Cicada Street, Morvant, for a few hours every day, he’d also use his weekends to train alone. He said he would train with his teacher and leader of the group, Camille John, both with the choir and solo.

Jayvonn performed the first verse and chorus of El Canto de Jose for Newsday Kids at the school's library. His voice echoed beautifully throughout the library while he sang in Spanish with no hiccups. He was prompted when needed by John since he usually performs with the choir. But he knew how to keep the melody even without the choir or instruments.

Thanks to John, Jayvonn can now tell everyone that he can sing both parang and calypso. John is a former parang singer and uses her experience and position as a teacher to encourage many students to participate in these competitions.

“This parang feels like something different and I like the change for once,” said Jayvonn.

He said he has been singing calypso since he was in first year after an announcement was made about a calypso competition.

“I wanted to take part, so I went home and told my parents. My father wrote me a song and I won.”

The standard three student said his father Stephan Murray is not a songwriter, but whenever he’s asked, he will start writing a song almost immediately. Jayvonn said he usually encourages his mother Joseanne Murray to sing with him at their home in Morvant since she has been in many calypso competitions while in secondary school.

When Jayvonn is finished singing for the day at school, he goes home to play with his pet dogs Ginger and Rugby.

“Ginger is two years old in human years and Rugby is one year old in dog years and they make me happy because after a long day of school, I get to go outside and play with them. They bring joy.”

Jayvonn isn’t sure of what he wants to be when he grows up, but he sees himself sticking with singing for a little longer.

He also encouraged other children who may want to start singing like he did.

“Do what you love, work hard and it will pay off.”