Erphaan Alves spreads Carnival cheer at Belmont Government Primary School

Pupils of the Belmont Government Primary School were treated to an afternoon of fun and music as soca artiste and songwriter Erphaan Alves visited them as part of his Carnival School tour.

Beginning promptly at 1 pm, pupils from infants to standard five were brought to the ground floor of the building where their principal, Keisha King, announced that a soca artiste paid them surprise visit.

Alves, who was accompanied by Smalta’s mascot Jolt, attracted uproarious applause and cheers from teachers and pupils alike.

Children were allowed to sing, answer quizzes and even race Jolt to win tickets to the Ultimate Kids Experience concert on January 28.

Speaking with Newsday after the event Alves said he was happy to visit the school and share his passion for music with the pupils.

He said the Ultimate Kids Experience concert which he is also involved in organising, will teach children more about Carnival culture while having a good time.

“I just decided to come on board and be a part of it, I love children and it’s something I always wanted to be a part of something that teaches children about art and culture.

“We’re doing two events, one at Twin Walls, San Fernando on January 28 and one at CIC grounds on February 5. It’s not just a kid’s show, they are going to be exposed to a lot of Carnival characters, part of the roll-out includes a competition where the kids can sing any soca or calypso song and whoever gets the most likes can win a prize and some complimentaries.

“Outside of that, they can learn to stilt walk like moko jumbies, so blessings for Junior Bisnath from San Fernando who will be facilitating that. It will be the first time kids will get the opportunity to learn to walk on stilts at a Carnival event. So the whole idea is just to facilitate kids being exposed to different aspects of the artform.”

Commenting on the event principal King said, “At Belmont Government Primary School we try our best to expose our students to all sorts of experiences which includes the culture of Trinidad and Tobago.

“It was a pleasure having Erphaan Alves at our school to expose our children to soca and he is also a role model as he went through the school system as he successfully completed primary, secondary and tertiary education.”

Alves was kept busy up until leaving the compound as he took photos with pupils and signed autographs.

Alves said he intended to have a children’s concert in Tobago next year.

Newsday also spoke to director of the Ultimate Kids Experience event, Vornique Benjamin, who said she was excited to collaborate with Smalta for the school tour.

Benjamin said the partnership began when she saw firsthand the effectiveness of Smalta’s Small Talk with Smalta advertisement campaign on social media.

“Recently Smalta launched a Small Talk with Smalta campaign and everytime I went on Instagram I saw Small Talk with Smalta, so it was the easiest thing for me to reach out to Smalta and tell them I liked the idea of their campaign and explained to them we wanted to collaborate. I sent them a proposal and they liked the idea so they came on board.”