Michelle Loubon

So­ca parang con­nois­seurs might be a tad dis­ap­point­ed Ken­wrick Joseph (Ken­ny J) is not re­leas­ing a new so­ca parang sin­gle for this Christ­mas. In­stead he will be per­form­ing hits like Alexan­der, Hush Yuh Mouth and Stay In­side A Lit­tle Longer from his so­ca parang reper­toire for his ador­ing fans.

For C2k13, Joseph has re­leased a so­ca Jam Up To Meh. It will co­in­cide with his 25th an­niver­sary in the en­ter­tain­ment in­dus­try. South-based arranger Ju­nior Ibo Joseph arranged the in­fec­tious mu­sic.

In­ter­viewed re­cent­ly, Joseph said, "I will not be singing a new so­ca parang for Christ­mas. I did a so­ca song Jam Meh Up. It's a song I?start­ed last year. It will be in time for my 25th an­niver­sary. "I haven't done a so­ca for a long time. I?en­hanced it with a video. It was di­rect­ed by Ban­dit (Os­car Jack­son). I?went along with Ban­dit's di­rec­tion. I?act­ed in the best way I?could. It's a dif­fer­ent Ken­ny J. ?I?hope peo­ple who see it would like it."

There are snap­shots of tra­di­tion­al Car­ni­val char­ac­ters Moko Jumbies, car wash and women gy­rat­ing on the video. It was launched at Gayelle and dis­trib­uted to most of the TV sta­tions. "So far, I?am get­ting great re­views for it. I?have been in so­ca parang. I have been in the so­ca are­na. I?am not giv­ing up on so­ca. I?want to be like the Tam­bus and the Machels. It would be nice to bunch with those guys. "I?feel to be a so­ca per­former, en­ter­tain­er and writer. That's a vibe com­ing out. I?am hop­ing for the best for my 25th an­niver­sary."?

Keen­ly aware his fans would be an­tic­i­pat­ing so­ca parang, Joseph said,?"I?don't have a new so­ca parang every year. I?have songs like The Cork out there. Christ­mas is not like Car­ni­val. You don't have to pro­duce a new song every year. A hia­tus gives the song enough chance to breathe. Let them grow on the peo­ple. Christ­mas is a sea­son where we want to hear songs for parang­ing. We don't want songs for the first time."

He cit­ed the ex­am­ple of Paint­brush. He said, "When I?launched the Paint­brush, it caught on the fol­low­ing year. The sec­ond year was when peo­ple heard about it. Baron's Span­ish Woman was not a hit the first year. Crazy's Tito Lara is quite pop­u­lar now. Peo­ple are ask­ing for it on 100.1 FM. Many songs would die. So you have to give peo­ple the chance to hear it." Mean­while, Joseph will be per­form­ing his so­ca parang songs from To­co to Los Iros. "I am go­ing with the songs they love. If the songs are good, they are go­ing to live."

About Ken­ny J

He lives at Siparia, home­town of so­ca su­per­star Machel Mon­tano, and the late parang queen Daisy Voisin. Christ­mas is al­so a bit­ter­sweet ex­pe­ri­ence since his wife Joan passed on De­cem­ber 26.

"Christ­mas was her thing. I?miss the sup­port I?got. I?have my daugh­ter Je­selle and son Ker­ry at home."

Joseph, a for­mer po­lice of­fi­cer, won the Po­lice Ca­lyp­so Monarch in 1987. He of­fi­cial­ly en­tered the ca­lyp­so are­na in 1988. Among his gems are Aids is Ah Killer (Slow Down) (1989); Ad­dict­ed To Sweet So­ca/Leave She Alone (1990); Jail Eh Nice (1993); and Ra­dio Sta­tion (2002).

While he en­tered the Di­manche Gras fi­nals on four oc­ca­sions, his high­est plac­ing was sec­ond in 1990. Pat­ting him­self on the back, Joseph said, "I have amassed sev­er­al Top 20 awards. "I?won Best So­ca Parang/Sun­shine awards with Alexan­der. I?got a COTT award/Hush Your Mouth."

He is al­so work­ing on Love Bal­lads (Vol­ume 2). He per­formed bal­lads along­side Michael Bolton. "I?per­formed at a lot of shows in Trinidad for Moth­er's Day and Valen­tine's." In his spare time, he cul­ti­vates cit­rus at Buenos Ayres. He is an avid sports­man who found time to erect an en­ter­tain­ment cen­tre at Her­nan­dez Trace, Siparia. "I love crick­et. But I won't look good on stage with a buss eye," he joked. He has per­formed through­out Eu­rope and North Amer­i­ca.

Con­tact Ken­ny J at 682-1888 or e-mailKen­nyJ­so­ca@ya­hoo.com