As T&T marks its 63rd year of in­de­pen­dence, the rhythms of ca­lyp­so and so­ca will take cen­tre stage in a spe­cial trib­ute con­cert ho­n­our­ing two of the art­form’s tow­er­ing fig­ures—Em­rold Phillip, bet­ter known as the Peo­ple’s Ca­lyp­son­ian Bro Valenti­no, and the late Ce­cil Hume, the trail­blaz­ing Mae­stro.

The event, staged by CRS Pro­duc­tions un­der the di­rec­tion of Ca­lyp­son­ian Kinte, will be held on Sat­ur­day—In­de­pen­dence Eve—at the Pleas­antville Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre from 8 pm. Tick­ets are $200, avail­able at Seon’s on Roy­al Road and Ather­ley’s op­po­site Skin­ner Park in San Fer­nan­do.

For Kinte, a pro­tégé of Mae­stro, the con­cert is both a labour of love and an im­por­tant re­minder of the lega­cies that con­tin­ue to shape our na­tion­al iden­ti­ty.

“Mae­stro was one of the vi­sion­ar­ies who helped give birth to so­ca in the 1970s along­side Ras Shorty I,” Kinte ex­plained. “And Valenti­no, through his mu­sic and ac­tivism dur­ing the 1970 Black Pow­er Rev­o­lu­tion, gave voice to the strug­gles and as­pi­ra­tions of or­di­nary peo­ple. To cel­e­brate them at In­de­pen­dence is to cel­e­brate our­selves.”

The evening will show­case a blend of nos­tal­gia and live per­for­mance. Ca­lyp­so­ni­ans will breathe new life in­to clas­sic songs from Valenti­no and Mae­stro, with a spe­cial guest ap­pear­ance by Valenti­no him­self. The line­up re­flects a rich cross-sec­tion of the kaiso tra­di­tion: two-time Ca­lyp­so Monarch King Lu­ta, tent favourites Car­di­nal, MBA, and Hamidul­lah, as well as stal­warts La­dy Lystra, Roxy Singh, Bro Mac, The Mes­sen­ger, Shel­don Nugget, and Kinte.

While Mae­stro’s ca­reer was trag­i­cal­ly cut short by his un­time­ly death in 1980, his role as a pi­o­neer re­mains etched in his­to­ry. From “Sav­age” to “Fiery,” his ex­per­i­ments with rhythm and style helped carve out so­ca, the genre that would car­ry Caribbean sound on­to glob­al stages.

Bro Valenti­no, mean­while, earned the ti­tle “Peo­ple’s Ca­lyp­son­ian” for his so­cial­ly con­scious lyrics and un­wa­ver­ing ad­vo­ca­cy for the dis­en­fran­chised. Songs like Life Is a Stage and Stay Up Zim­bab­we turned the tent in­to a fo­rum for po­lit­i­cal and cul­tur­al awak­en­ing. His pres­ence at Sat­ur­day’s trib­ute of­fers a rare op­por­tu­ni­ty for younger au­di­ences to wit­ness a liv­ing leg­end in ac­tion.

The tim­ing of the event—on the eve of In­de­pen­dence—adds an­oth­er lay­er of sig­nif­i­cance. Ca­lyp­so, af­ter all, has long been a mir­ror of the na­tion, cap­tur­ing the joys, strug­gles, and re­silience of its peo­ple.

“This is more than a con­cert,” Kinte said. “It’s about ho­n­our­ing the mu­sic that has car­ried us through six decades of in­de­pen­dence.”

For more in­for­ma­tion, pa­trons can con­tact Kinte di­rect­ly at 343-5182 or 492-1066.