SHAS­TRI BOODAN

A call has been made for tas­sa to be part of To­ba­go Car­ni­val cel­e­bra­tions in 2023.

The call came from Wen­dell Ever­s­ley, Vice Pres­i­dent of the Tas­sa As­so­ci­a­tion of T&T. at the time, Ever­s­ley was ad­dress­ing the 2022 Na­tion­al Tas­sara­ma Prize-Giv­ing Func­tion at the au­di­to­ri­um of the Cou­va/Point Lisas Cham­ber of Com­merce (CPLCC) ad­min­is­tra­tive com­plex, at Cam­den Road in Cou­va, on Tues­day night.

Ever­s­ley said he was dis­ap­point­ed that tas­sa was left out when the To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly (THA) staged To­ba­go Car­ni­val in Oc­to­ber. He said he was in To­ba­go for the re­cent cel­e­bra­tions on­ly to see tas­sa be­ing ex­clud­ed.

“I see what took place on the Sat­ur­day for the J'ou­vert,” Ever­s­ley said.  “I see what took place on the Sun­day for the Pa­rade of the Bands and I felt hurt, when I know that the tas­sa wasn’t in­clud­ed as part and par­cel of it."

Wendell Eversley, Vice President of the Tassa Association of Trinidad and Tobago, at the 2022 National Tassarama Prize-Giving Function, on Tuesday 22 November 2022. [Image by SHASTRI BOODAN]

Everse­ly said he would be plead­ing with the THA Chief Sec­re­tary, as well as the Sec­re­tary for Cul­ture and Tourism in To­ba­go, to en­sure that tas­sa finds its right­ful place in the To­ba­go cel­e­bra­tions

The Tas­sa As­so­ci­a­tion Vice Pres­i­dent re­mind­ed the gath­er­ing of the role played by tas­sa in bing­ing vic­to­ry to the Rene­gades Steel Or­ches­tra at Panora­ma.  Everse­ly said he ex­pe­ri­enced eu­pho­ria when Rene­gades fused the steel­pan with the tas­sa rhythms to take vic­to­ry.

Manager of FCB’s Couva branch, Neena Gadraj (left), Operations Officer Gail Balkaram, and Tassa Association President Vijay Ramlal-Rai, present the second prize for the 2022 National Tassarama to the Chatak Shooting Stars Tassa Band – Akash Daniel (fourth from left), Fayad Mohammed and Nicholas Mohammed. [Image by SHASTRI BOODAN]

"The rhythm of the tas­sa and the blend with the steel­pan was some­thing amaz­ing,” he re­called.

Everse­ly said the Tas­sa is yet to get its just recog­ni­tion, de­spite the role it has played in the de­vel­op­ment of T&T cul­ture. 

“I see all gov­ern­ments in T&T—from Er­ic Williams to this present PM—use the tas­sa in­stru­ment at all their func­tions,” he not­ed, “but when it's time for re­spect for the tas­sa, all I see is a lot of dis­re­spect.  We have to go beg­ging to the Min­istry of Cul­ture.” 

Manager of FCB Couva Neena Gadraj (left), and Operations Officer at FCB Gail Balkaram, present the third prize in the 2022 National Tassarama to members of the FCB Dragon Boys – Nankissoor Rampartap (third from left), Adesh Rampartap and Ramlal Rampartap. [Image by SHASTRI BOODAN]

Vi­jay Ram­lal-Rai, the head of the As­so­ci­a­tion, said the tas­sa is used ex­ten­sive­ly through­out the year on every oc­ca­sion.  He said in 2023, the Ju­nior Tas­sara­ma Com­pe­ti­tion would take place dur­ing Car­ni­val.  He said the Tas­sa As­so­ci­a­tion has made sev­er­al calls to have tas­sa de­clared the sec­ond na­tion­al in­stru­ment be­cause it was de­vel­oped lo­cal­ly.

Mean­while, Pres­i­dent of the CPLCC, Mukesh Ram­s­ingh, said he would like to see an in­ter­na­tion­al tas­sa com­pe­ti­tion take place. He said tas­sa may be a hob­by for some of its play­ers, but it is al­so an in­come gen­er­a­tor that can be ex­pand­ed up­on.

Ram­s­ingh said fur­ther de­vel­op­ment of the tas­sa art­form would on­ly serve to en­rich play­ers and Trinidad and To­ba­go.

Sajeeda Mungalsingh (left), presents the fourth prize in the 2022 National Tassarama to members of the Tri Star Tassa Band – Christian Hackett, Govinda Bhaggan, Ameer Balkaran and Shivanand Balroop. [Image by SHASTRI BOODAN]

The Re­sults

1st       –          Char­lie Boys Tas­sa Band

2nd      –          Chatak Shoot­ing Stars Tas­sa Band

3rd       –          FCB Drag­on Boys Tas­sa Band

4th       –          Tri Star Tas­sa Band

5th       –          Fe­lic­i­ty Back Road Tas­sa Band

Peo­ple’s Choice          –          Chatak Shoot­ing Stars Tas­sa Band

Sajeeda Mungalsingh (left), presents the fifth prize in the 2022 National Tassarama to members of the Felicity Back Road Boys Tassa Band – Asif Ali, Ameer Ali, Sarvan Ramoutar and Saif Ali. [Image by SHASTRI BOODAN]

Spe­cial Prizes

Best Cut­ter                              –          Laki­ram Bha­gan

Best Bass                                –          Her­mant Nanan

Best Jhaal                               –          Nicholas Mo­hammed

Best Fo­lay                               –          Ra­jen­dra Ram­lo­gan

Best Sound­ing Bass               –          Shane Bho­la

Best Sound­ing Tas­sa Drum   –          San­jay Soo­chit

Best Cul­tur­al De­pic­tion           –          FCB Drag­on Boys

Most Out­stand­ing Play­er        –          Shiv­ana Sookoo

Most En­ter­tain­ing Play­er        –          Nankissoor Ram­par­tap

Most Promis­ing Tas­sa Band  –          Stal­lion Young Stars

Most Dra­mat­ic Band               –          FCB Drag­on Boys

Most Dis­ci­plined Band            –          Val­ley Line Tas­sa Band