Tunapuna RC's Leigha Thomas: the best primary schools parrandera

Leigha Thomas has been singing parang for the past five months but developed her love for singing since she was in standard one.

She's now in standard three and practises singing three days a week for around three hours.

She said she practised with 14 other girls, her teacher Miss Moreno Brache-Joseph, of the St Charles (Tunapuna) Girls' RC School, and Lana Richardson, a band leader and parang mentor.

The group also practised with Jessica Andrews who played the maracas, Bill Anthony Wong who played the box bass and John Edwards who played the cuatro.

After all this practice and training, the school placed fifth out of 11 other primary schools at the National Parang Association of TT's Junior Parang Competition. However, Leigha won the best female lead singer.

She said, "The competition was lovely, I really enjoyed it and even if I didn't come first, it was very fun. Competitions aren't about winning."

Leigha added that the competition was fun for her because she got to be on a stage in front of everyone showing off her talent.

"Performing on stage with the microphone and being the lead as a nine-year-old was very entertaining."

She said when she won, seven of her closest friends were with her.

"It all felt sudden and I didn't expect to win a trophy."

Now after five short months, Leigha has this accomplishment under her belt.

Leigha's favourite soca parang song is Neighbour, Neighbour by Rikki Jai. Her favourite song outside of parang to sing is Goodness of God.

She said her inspiration to learn about and sing parang came from her love for Spanish and because Miss Brache-Joseph was looking for volunteers for the competition.

Leigha added that she also grew up listening to parang. "Every time it comes down to Christmas, my dad always puts on the radio and I always hear parang music."

She said from the minute she won the trophy she and her parents have been talking about it. She said she has also received many hugs and kisses from them.

Leigha said she tries to encourage her mother Karina Brereton-Thomas to practise with her since she has experience in performing. She said her mum didn't sing but was in dance competitions.

"My dad has a very important job, so we barely get to spend time together, so on the weekends I encourage him to play games and watch TV with me. A little father and daughter time."

Aside from singing, Leigha's hobbies include colouring and painting butterflies and girls because she enjoys it.

She said the amount of time to colour or paint depends on her mood. She said her pieces can either take very long or can be done in five minutes.

"I have also been in one colouring competition and I came in first place winning a tablet."

She said at the time she was six years old. Leigha also told Newsday Kids about her favourite subjects – mathematics and creative writing.

"Mathematics includes using your mind and memory and it is very fun to learn new things in math."

She said she likes creative writing because she gets to write stories and using her imagination.

Leigha said she the last story she wrote was about her and a friend stealing cherries. She added a twist which included them getting caught by the owner of the tree, Miss Alexander.

This young parrandera hopes to become a professional singer and fashion designer when she grows up.

She said her mum has been encouraging her to do both with no limitations.