Chantuelle supreme Ella Andall will be honoured with a tribute concert on September 16 at the Central Bank Auditorium. The concert, Chantuelle Vibes, is being put on by Allison “Empress Aje” Bernard in tribute to Andall, who she credits with encouraging her to sing calypso.
Bernard said the concert is her way of giving thanks to Andall for blazing the trail for her and others to sing Orisha-influenced calypso.
“She told me about her challenges and what she had to go through singing her type of music in the calypso, even bringing what we call Orisha type music in the calypso tent. She has said in many interviews that it wasn’t embraced at first, they used to say what she bringing this devil music here for. She went through some trying times to break that barrier and that really connected with me because I do similar-type music.
“That also touched me because I look at her not just as a calypsonian, but as someone who cleared the path for chantuelles and artists like myself who are also Orisha devotees and who put that type of chants in our music. She cleared the path and took licks to break that barrier for people. I’m not saying it’s fully accepted and that’s OK, but she cleared a lot of the road that we could sing it now.”
[caption id="attachment_1035034" align="alignnone" width="1024"] The Lydians Singers -[/caption]
Bernard said she was first introduced to Andall by her late spiritual mother, and sang backup for her, at which time Andall recommended she go into calypso.
“I didn't want to go at first, because I remember looking at Calypso Semi-finals at Skinner Park, and unfortunately I saw what happened to Denyse Plummer. I’ll never forget that, so when she telling me to go in calypso, I said, 'me, for them to pelt me with toilet paper, what if I don’t sound good?' I really didn’t want to go into calypso.”
Bernard entered and won BPTT’s Sing de Ting calypso competition in 2009, and decided to make the leap with encouragement from BPTT’s then CEO Robert Riley and Andall.
“Ella was the one I went to for advice, I would visit her home, and if I have a new song or I write a calypso, I would write for her to hear it, I would sing it, and she would tell me how she think I should sing that line, where the emphasis should be placed, etc. She was the main person who encouraged me to be in the artform today.”
Bernard said many times in Trinidad, people don’t acknowledge their community and the people who laid a foundation for them in their careers.
“There must be succession, we know no artist will reign forever, your purpose is to do your work on this earth and clearing the path for others to follow, but we must also learn to have a spirit of gratitude in TT. When you’re thinking about community building, you’re thinking collectively, you’re not going to individualise or you shouldn’t individualise, so in the same way all these people who would have contributed to our development in our country, regardless of what area, it doesn't hurt to say thanks. In the music industry we have a forum where we coul
