Michelle Loubon

So­ca parang pi­o­neer Ed­win Ay­oung says T&T is for­tu­nate to be the on­ly coun­try in the Caribbean with its own Christ­mas mu­sic. Known to the en­ter­tain­ment in­dus­try as Crazy, he can al­so stake claim to be­ing the cre­ator of the first Parang So­ca tune–Parang So­ca–in 1978. The in­dige­nous mu­sic is a blend of ca­lyp­so and Span­ish-styled rhythms.

It was fol­lowed by hits like Maria, Put Je­sus In Your Christ­mas, Yvonne, Muchacha and Mer­ry Christ­mas and He's Alive. This week, Ay­oung said: "T&T is the on­ly coun­try in the Caribbean that has its own mu­sic. We are so for­tu­nate. Oth­er coun­tries have to de­pend on car­ols like Hark the Her­ald An­gels Sing, Joy to the World. "We can en­joy danc­ing and singing to parang so­ca songs."

While Ay­oung is known for his zany lyrics, wild hair and en­er­getic per­for­mances of smut­ty tunes like Cock Can't Stand Up and the clas­sic Nani Wine, he has vowed nev­er to sing a dirty parang so­ca song.

"Christ­mas is about Je­sus. I am a Je­sus man. I have to give God the glo­ry, praise and ho­n­our with my songs," he gushed. Like the Bib­li­cal King David who penned the Psalms, Ay­oung said the parang so­ca genre of mu­sic was cre­at­ed to ho­n­our Je­sus. "I sing put Je­sus in your Christ­mas while all the paint­ing, house clean­ing and shop­ping is go­ing on. We need to re­mem­ber the sig­nif­i­cance of the Christ sto­ry." Ay­oung said it was one of his favourite sto­ries–the birth of the ba­by Je­sus in a manger who came to re­deem mankind from their sins.

Apart from his work, the parang so­ca trail­blaz­er en­joys the slew of so­ca parang songs from ca­lyp­son­ian Scrunter, like Ah Want Ah Piece of Pork. He al­so en­joys songstress Mar­cia Mi­ran­da's 2008 pop­u­lar tune–Tief­ing Parang Band–which was arranged by Mt Lam­bert-based arranger ex­tra­or­di­naire Dr Le­ston Paul.

'He's Alive'

While cel­e­brants dance the night away to the fa­mil­iar strains of Muchacha and Yvonne, Ay­oung said one of his favourite so­ca parang songs is He's Alive–ded­i­cat­ed to the res­ur­rect­ed Christ. "I heard it late one night on the ra­dio. I don't hear it on the air­waves dur­ing the day. "But, He's Alive is a great song." With­out warn­ing, he crooned, "When I woke up this morn­ing/I knew right away He's alive be­cause He saved me from me from all my tur­moil and strife. He's Alive."

Quizzed on his Christ­mas wish for T&T, Ay­oung said: "I wish T&T would en­joy a safe and crime-free 2009. We need to be our broth­er's keep­er." On a per­son­al note, he said: "I spent the day in Brazil, a beau­ti­ful vil­lage on the out­skirts of Ari­ma. "I en­joyed de­li­cious Christ­mas food. I even had cur­ried duck from my good friend Con­stance Cok­er. "I had a re­al Tri­ni Christ­mas...parang, pastelles and so­ca parang. I played with lit­tle Asia Marie. I sang sug­ar, sug­ar, sug­ar for her."

'It Hard for '09'

For C2K9, Crazy is more than ready for the sea­son, for the Road March and Panora­ma, with a zany, dou­ble en­ten­dre sin­gle ti­tled It Hard. He will be singing at The Re­vue ca­lyp­so tent which is sched­uled to pre­miere its C2K9 pro­gramme on Jan­u­ary 23, at Ari­ma Velo­drome. For a crack to de­throne Sug­ar Aloes as reign­ing Na­tion­al Ca­lyp­so Monarch, Crazy has a poignant so­cial com­men­tary named Ahead of Time.