Shas­tri Boodan

Free­lance Con­trib­u­tor

Ner­mal “Mas­sive” Go­sine is set to launch the 23rd edi­tion of his Rov­ing Chut­ney Ca­lyp­so Com­e­dy Tent on Fri­day, con­tin­u­ing a long-stand­ing tra­di­tion of bring­ing cul­tur­al en­ter­tain­ment to com­mu­ni­ties across Trinidad and To­ba­go.

Go­sine said the tent re­mains free to the pub­lic and will fea­ture a di­verse line­up of per­form­ers, in­clud­ing Sunil Ram­sun­dar and Rave the Band, along with De­si Girl, Quin­cy Dey and sev­er­al guest artistes. Pa­trons can al­so ex­pect high-en­er­gy tas­sa drum­ming, with a num­ber of tas­sa band clash­es sched­uled through­out the tour.

Eight tas­sa groups are set to clash on Sun­day at the Pony Ex­press Bar on Clarke Road, Pe­nal, while five bands will com­pete on the open­ing night in San­gre Grande.

Go­sine re­called that the con­cept was first launched on Jan­u­ary 23, 2003, at Scream­ers Night Club in south Trinidad. He said the tent has al­ways been dri­ven by a uni­fy­ing mes­sage.

“Our theme has al­ways been to let our cul­tures unite us as one na­tion,” Go­sine said. “When you can learn about my cul­ture and I can learn about yours, then we build un­der­stand­ing and re­spect, and that brings us clos­er to­geth­er as a peo­ple.”

De­spite its pop­u­lar­i­ty and longevi­ty, Go­sine not­ed that his or­gan­i­sa­tion has ap­plied for fund­ing through the Min­istry of Cul­ture but has not yet re­ceived a pos­i­tive re­sponse from the rel­e­vant au­thor­i­ties.

The Rov­ing Chut­ney Ca­lyp­so Com­e­dy Tent is sched­uled to ap­pear at the fol­low­ing venues:

Jan­u­ary 30 – Soirée Bar and Lounge by Neves, To­co/San­gre Grande

Feb­ru­ary 1 – Pony Ex­press Bar, Clarke Road, Pe­nal

Feb­ru­ary 6 – Gold Sports Bar, Rivulet Road, Cou­va

Feb­ru­ary 8 – D59 Bar, Bam­boo Boule­vard, Bam­boo No. 3

Feb­ru­ary 13 – Sil­ver Dol­lar Bar, Or­ange Val­ley

Feb­ru­ary 15 – Shark’s Bar, Pe­nal Rock Road