Trinidadian singer and actor Kendall Joseph is one of the new hosts of Reading Rainbow Live, which takes the show online to reach children at home during the covid19 pandemic.
Joseph said he hopes his presence will show others like him that they can have big dreams.
The show is a reboot of the original Reading Rainbow, a children's literacy programme designed to develop a love of reading, aimed at children ages four-eight.
Originally the show was hosted by LeVar Burton (Roots, Star Trek: The Next Generation). Joseph will form part of a rotating cast of actors from various backgrounds
who will host each episode.
“The premise is that four or five friends meet in their clubhouse when they have free time, they read, relax together, and build stuff together, and they talk about books. Each episode is based on a book. The first book we used was Be A Maker by Katey Howes, and we created something together, or at least filmed it to look like that," Joseph said in a telephone interview with Newsday.
"There’s also dancing, and we have a composer that writes music for each episode. The first episode had three new songs, including the new theme song, and the two songs were based on building something, and they felt like music-video style, with dancing, movement, etc.”
Joseph grew up in Coalmine, Sangre Grande, and said he came to music late in life. He attended the Sangre Grande Hindu Primary School before going to St Mary’s College, Port of Spain.
“I taught myself how to sing after I left St Mary’s College, and then I was connected to (musical director and vocal coach) June Nathaniel and began doing voice lessons with her. Through her I met with soprano Natalia Dopwell, and through her I started doing stuff with the Classical Music Development Foundation of TT (CMDFTT, now Picoplat Music Development Foundation), where I did my first opera as Papageno in The Magic Flute.
"I was about 20 at the time and I got a taste of performing and singing, and I realised that if I wanted to do more, I needed to get training at the next level.”
With Picoplat, he performed in operas such as Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus and Franz Lehar’s The Merry Widow.
[caption id="attachment_945192" align="alignnone" width="768"] Kendall Joseph, top left, with the Reading Rainbow Live cast. Photo courtesy: Kendall Joseph[/caption]
Joseph said growing up in the small village of Coalmine, he didn’t have opportunities to perform or learn about music.
“It was only really after secondary school when I could choose for myself, because of going to St Mary’s as well and being exposed to the opportunities that are in the west, around Port of Spain and stuff like that: that’s when I was able to learn about classical music and that type of thing. That’s when I was able to go out on my own and learn it or reach out to people who could teach about it.”
Joseph applied to the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh (SUNY Plattsburgh), where he studied music for four years.
“As an international student,
