Times are getting harder and people often have to deal with irrational and ignorant individuals. And while you may feel the urge to use violence or “tell them something,” the better course is to pray.
That is the advice of calypsonian Tammico “SpiceY” Moore in her 2023 calypso and newest release, Just Pray. It starts:
Cost of living getting harder
And it could make you ah sinner
To live life today is real pressure,
You could make ah jail if yuh don’t know de father (is too much)
De crime rate done high, politicians too lie
Dem children don’t hear, dey parents don’t care
And lawwwd when is time for the grocery
De kinda things ah is want to say, oh Lord have mercy!
Pray, yuh ha to pray, pray not to sin today.
Moore told WMN the song was born out of a social media post by a woman named Lisa, who was in a grocery complaining about food prices.
[caption id="attachment_1007655" align="alignnone" width="683"] Tammico "SpiceY" Moore has a bachelor's degree in performing arts with a specialisation in music from UTT, her master in arts and carnival studies from UTT in 2018, and she plans to start working on her PhD in philosophy soon. - Angelo Marcelle[/caption]
“She said, ‘Heads go have to roll and blood go have to splatter. Look at the price of flour! People can’t even afford Ping Pong.’ Lisa went on and on, and she was real violent in her expressions, because the cost of living is so high.
“I was sympathising with Lisa, because I feel the same way too.
"But then. I am a calypsonian. so I could express that in a song. I could talk for Lisa. So I do this song for Lisa and people like Lisa who feeling the strain of the cost of living.
“You is have to pray. That type of stress could make you sin. It’s better you pray.”
Composed by Moore and produced by Dread Wizard Productions, the song also highlights the topic of bad customer service in many food and retail outlets in TT.
She said people are already stressed about having to spend the little money they have, but the attitudes and “sour face” of the employees at these outlets made it worse.
“Is my money spending and paying your salary. Appreciate that!
[caption id="attachment_1007659" align="alignnone" width="666"] Calypsonian Tammico “SpiceY” Moore performs at Kaiso Blues Cafe, Port of Spain, in 2019. Photo by Andrea De Silva. -[/caption]
"But they don’t see that, and I don’t think we in TT see customer service as important as how Americans see it.”
Moore released the song on March 2, deliberately doing so after the Carnival season. She said when Carnival resumed this year, she was supposed to perform Just Pray at Kaiso House. But the new management made changes with which she did not agree so she left. She entered the Calypso Monarch competition with the song, but did not record it.
“It was the first time in 30 years I wasn’t in a calypso tent. I was studying, ‘What yuh does do when yuh not in a calypso tent for the Carnival season?’ Then I thought, if calypso is ours, why we need a season?
“I believe that kaiso is not suppo
