Brass 2 The World has been working, since its debut, to return live music to the streets of Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival, but during the lockdown it banded together for another reason, to help one of its lead vocalists, Heaven “Snakey” Charles, rebuild his family’s home after it was gutted by fire.
The band’s leader Burt Marcellin said, “In the lockdown we wanted to do a recording for the season. We were saying, ‘We know they are not going to have no parties and stuff and let us not concentrate on a power song. Let us do a song of hope for people who probably lose their businesses or loved ones or things like that.'”
The band then came up with its 2022 release, Tutafani, which in Swahili roughly translates to, We can Make it. All of the band’s 11 musicians contributed to the song's development with it being written by Snakey.
“However, after we finished putting down the tracks. Snakey said he wanted to put in a piece at the start of the song.”
Marcellin said Snakey put in a line which says, “Out of the ashes, there will be victory.”
Snakey received a call, approximately 15 minutes after recording that line in January, saying his family’s home at Orange Field Road, Carapichaima was on fire.
[caption id="attachment_944807" align="alignnone" width="720"] Fire engulfs the family home of musician Heaven "Snakey" Charles at Orange Field Road, Carapichaima.[/caption]
“It is a home where he grew up. So he rushed out of there to see what was going on. The house was burnt,” Marcellin said.
Since then – every Saturday – the band has been hosting small fundraisers, along with his family, to help them rebuild their home.
There is a mini mart in Charlieville, Chaguanas, where barbecues are sold on Saturdays by the family.
“We all try contributing through friends, through sponsors and stuff like that.”
The band has also contributed material to the rebuilding of the home.
Snakey’s apartment built on the family property at Orange Field Road in Carapichaima was not touched by the fire. But the family home in which he grew up, and where his father and sisters still live, was destroyed by the fire.
“For now, the barbecue thing is going and the purchasing of material, step by step. As the Carnival is finished, we will sit down again and see what the next step is. How we can lift it to go to the next level,” Marcellin said.
Brass 2 the World said it is also in further discussion with the family to see what more it can do.
But more than assisting its lead vocalist, the band is also preparing itself to do more projects as the entertainment world reopens and the pandemic wanes.
Marcellin said the band plans to host events throughout the year which would lead to funds for the family.
One of its upcoming projects is a Las Vegas-styled show.
Marcellin also does set design and has a company called Marcellin's Creations. Using this, he has put a team together and created a show which “should be produced and streamlined somewhere around mid-year, this year,” he said.
That has been the band’s main focus f
