Brenda Butler makes debut appearance at Trinidad and Tobago Pan African Festival

Soul singer Brenda Butler may not be a fan of the spotlight, but today she will shine as she performs for the first time at the 2024 Pan African Festival TT.

Her show, Jazz at Sunset, begins at 6 pm at the Lidj Yasu Omowale Emancipation Village, Queen's Park Savannah, hosted by the Emancipation Support Committee.

She is being accompanied by jazz composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Rodney Alexander and a band comprised of Dean Williams on guitar, Emile fortune on keyboard and Kevin O’Keiffe on drums.

She said she is excited to work with four masters of their art and to make her debut performance at the festival.

"I feel honoured and privileged, to be honest. This is a big deal in my mind. I'm just a small fry; I don't really consider myself on of the premiere artists in TT. I love singing, I love performing, I love music and I love going to shows," she told WMN.

In addition to jazz, she will be performing some back-in-times, neo-soul and “up the Caribbean” songs. She will also include some cover songs for the younger people in the crowd.

"Last year I went and saw Kay Allen. She did the same show last year, Jazz at Sunset, with Rodney, and this year I'm going to be the one on the stage. So I was absolutely blown away to get the call and partnering with such amazing musicians took me away."

Butler said it feels poignant to perform the first year the government changed the name of the holiday from Emancipation Day to African Emancipation Day. She feels like she is representing her African people in front of the country and being a small part of the country’s history.

She said she loves being black and has learned a lot about her history from visiting the Emancipation Village. She thinks it is unfortunate that in the wider world she sees so much discrimination against black people.

“Are we really going to have to live the rest of our lives fighting just to be ‘normal’ and accepted? Why does it have to be harder for black people to make something of themselves?

“Why can’t black people wear their hair however they want and be allowed to go to a graduation or at work? It’s only now that some places are being more accepting. That need for justice and acceptance is what I feel connected to.”

She said in TT, many people are of mixed race and she find that to be a beautiful thing. She said we should all love, appreciate and celebrate that and each other.

Butler, 58, said she loved singing from a young age but was not always good at it. She auditioned for a number of choirs and was rejected, until she attended an open call when she was a form three student at St Joseph’s Convent San Fernando.

She was accepted and eventually sang in the Presentation College/St Joseph’s Convent choir and got a solo part at a performance.

“I think what I love is connecting with people. I realised that is my talent, to be able to stand on a stage and I can connect with individuals. There will be something that I will sing, or we will meet eyes and I can connect with you. And I love that.

“Am my pitch perfect? Is every note going to be on pitch? Absolutely not, although I wouldn't sound bad. But people enjoy it and I enjoy being a part of people's enjoyment. I almost feel like people get to live a little vicariously through me, and I take them through the journey when I'm performing and that's what I really love.”

The San Fernando resident continued to sing in various choirs and productions until she went to Florida to attend Nova Southeastern University and graduated with a degree in psychology in 1995.

While there, she sang in a church choir and with a group called Color Blind. When she returned to TT in 1996, she mostly sang in church but friends recommended her and other people contacted her to perform at the occasional event.

In 2009 she went to the Texas, US on vacation and “ended up” being a singer in a back-up choir at the Dove Music Awards, where she sang with gospel stars like Mary Mary, the late Edwin Hawkins and Kirk Franklin.

This was a highlight of her life as she is a non-denominational Christian who loves God, believes He gave her a talent and provides her with opportunities to showcase that talent.

“Though, sometimes, I may have insecurities or fears, I feel what trumps that is that God gave me this talent and I have to be able to use it to impact or to touch people. So I can't be selfish and all up in myself. The overarching thing is that I really feel like God has given me a talent, and I am compelled to share it and I want to. It’s all entwined in my personality.”

She said she sees herself as a “soul” singer as she loves singing soul music and connecting with people. But she was marked as a jazz singer when, in 2009, she took part in an event called Songbirds Live and was subsequently invited to perform at Jazz Artists on the Greens in 2010. The next year she was booked at Women in Jazz at Fiesta Plaza, Movie Towne, Port of Spain so many people categorised her as a jazz artist.

“I love jazz. I love the nuances and the inflections of the music. But for me, that’s not all I am. I’m a soul singer.”

Butler, the operations coordinator for George Pont Business and Financial Services Ltd, said when she was a teenager she wrote a song called The Real Me and it was recorded by a record label for her personal use, but she was not a songwriter, nor did she want to perform original music. Some people offered to write for her over the years but she never took them up on it, mostly due to her insecurities.

“I like how it is now. I sit in my corner and people find me. I know I’m a very good singer but there are many people who can sing better than me. This is not my bread and butter. I am not looking to be a full-time artiste or make a name for myself.”

Although she has no intention of expanding her career, she is considering honing her skills and working on being more technically proficient as she wants to give people a continually improving version of herself.

She encourages people to go out and enjoy what the village has to offer – to learn some of the country’s history, see a show, support the vendors, and to have a nice family time and show off their African wear.