Roy Cape gives back to Diego Martin community with music

Musician Roy Cape is giving back to the community of Diego Martin where he lived for 31 years, as the Roy Cape Foundation Music Schools in the Community programme will run for 12 weeks, beginning on April 12. It will culminate in a concert recital on July 8.

Speaking at the launch of the programme on Wednesday, at the Diego Martin Community Centre, Cape said musical knowledge was passed on to him and so it was only right for him to pass it on.

“It's not about me, it’s about the children. I lived in this area 31 years and I always had a strong feeling to coming back to Diego Martin. I am happy to come here. I hope people will turn out in their numbers because this is for your children’s and your children’s children’s futures.”

He shared his story of being given the choice at age ten of moving to Grenada with his grandmother or to the orphanage and choosing to go to the Belmont Orphanage, now St Dominic’s Home.

“I was saved from having to go to YTC or St Michael’s Home, I was given that opportunity, and I feel today if I can help some of the misguided youth to get onto something that can improve their lives in the future, I’m happy. Being a friend of the Black Stalin, he was always concerned about the people and I feel the same way about the young people. I was also young, and it took a harder time then than what is happening now. We hope to carry the programme to other places in TT.”

The programme is being carried out by the foundation in collaboration with the Music Literacy Trust.

Trust secretary Ian Clarke said the programme will run for 72 contact hours over the course of 12 weeks, with two-hour classes three days a week. Participants, who range in age from 13-71, will be trained in trumpet, trombone, alto and tenor saxophone, flute, clarinet, and bass, snare, and marching band drums. The tutors will be Ishmael Camejo, Errol Daniel, John Walcott, and Josiah Roberts.

Trust director Jenny Lee said the aim of the trust is to assist people who are interested in learning music, which it has been doing since its inception in 2004.

“You only have to look at the winner’s circle for Panorama, people like Seion Gomez, Amit Samaroo, Kyle Benjamin, we have assisted those people and many more who have expressed interest in learning music. Our goal is to make sure that the steel pannists of TT are able to read, write, compose their own music, so that there is a legacy of our music for future generations. We have also recorded the music of Jit Samaroo, the Pouchet Brothers (founders of All Stars) and Ray Holman, so we are building a history of the music of the people of TT.”

Lee said she had the utmost respect for and deep faith in Cape, who has trained many talented people.

“The opportunities being presented are for the young people in the community to be able to pass through the hands of the great ones, supported by teachers, parents, educators, and the government, so we can continue this work that very few other people are doing. We are committed to a cause of developing better citizens for our country and passing on the positive effects of learning music is something we are committed to; all we need is your support. The talent of our people never ceases to amaze me and it starts here with this seed that will blossom in the lives of our young people.”

Lee urged parents and guardians to send their children to the programme as it was sure to make a difference in their family and community.

She said the participants will be trained in the classical instruments because those are what the Trust has available, but they would be willing to train people in steelpan if they received funding to buy the pans.

Cape said Lee has always been willing to assist him in giving out instruments to young people. He said they met while working with Leroy "Black Stalin" Calliste, who passed away last December.

Diego Martin MP Symon De Nobriga said the programme allowed government to embrace young creatives and artists, as too often there was no place for them to express, grow, and learn the real skills of music literacy.

“While you’re learning these very important skills, you will also be sponges to soak up the information being shared with you. I often feel there is a disconnect between young people and the greats that walked before you to where you are now, that you don’t feel that connection, and you’re in this space alone, no-one has done this before you, but it’s been done. This journey has been walked so many times.

“Even if you don’t choose to make music your career, it was important you have the space to learn, to grow, to explore passion, to explore imagination. There is also a definite link between music literacy and what happens in the academic side of your school.”

De Nobriga said he was happy the programme had been embraced by Diego Martin North Secondary. He called on participants to open themselves to the opportunity to sit at the feet of the masters, and to fly the flag of TT proudly, as creativity was what made them inherently Trinidadian.