innis.francis@yahoo.com
Entertainer and radio host, Damion Melville, has released two songs for the Christmas and Carnival seasons. Party on De Wall and Two Months, both written by Impulse (Wayne Modeste) can be heard on the KaiSolsa Riddim on YouTube and other platforms.
Melville said Party on de Wall looks at how public health protocols for social distancing affect how people celebrate and is an early SOS for the vaccinated, as well as anti-vax people. Bring your drinks and meet up by the wall will be the best practice given the state of the pandemic, he said. Two Months is a humorous soca song that looks at the possibility of Carnival 2022 and paints a picture of “granny and grandpa” exercising around the Savannah, in preparation for the festival.
“I give Impluse the idea for Party on de Wall. It was just a thought I had because of how things going. It was really exciting to work with Impulse and the way his brain works. All of this is new to me, I did songs before, but I just did them and that was that. With these songs, it is interview after interview. I was inspired by the virus. I am not playing with COVID, so I saw that as a safe way to have fun and yet practice social distancing. I hope it catches on,” he said.
Melville, who is from Point Fortin, got his start on stage as a member of the Warden Road Folk Performers, in the Prime Minister’s Best Village Trophy competition. He won the Best Actor award in 2005 and since then has been a tutor for the Junior Best Village competition.
In 1997, Melville was a Scouting for Talent finalist and placed third with a monologue, Pan Man. His first stint on radio was on a programme called Bus’ Bag with Andre Williams on Radio 105 FM. He is now at WACK 90.1 FM where he has been building a fan base, for the past 15 years. Melville has also been the resident MC at the Kaiso Showcase Calypso Tent in San Fernando, for the past 11 years.
Although best known as a radio host and MC, Melville is also a calypsonian.
He won the Point Fortin Composite School’s Calypso competition with his composition, Coke Is It, in 1987, and later placed third at Government Vocational Centre’s competition. He placed first at WACK 90.1 FM’s calypso competitions, from 2007 to 2009 and has a few soca parang offerings.