Soca music is a genre of music defined by Lord Shorty, its inventor, as the "Soul of Calypso", which has influences of African and East Indian rhythms. It was originally spelt "sokah" by its inventor but through an error in a local newspaper when reporting on the new music it was erroneously spelt "soca"; Lord Shorty confirmed the error but chose to leave it that way to avoid confusion. It is a genre of music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the early 1970s and developed into a range of styles during the 1980s and after. Soca was initially developed by Lord Shorty in an effort to revive traditional calypso, the popularity of which had been flagging amongst younger generations in Trinidad due to the rise in popularity of reggae from Jamaica and soul and funk from the US. Soca is an offshoot of kaiso/calypso, with influences from East Indian rhythms and hooks.
The music of Trinidad and Tobago is best known for its calypso music, soca music, chutney music, and steelpan. Calypso's internationally noted performances in the 1950s from native artists such as Lord Melody, Lord Kitchener and Mighty Sparrow. The art form was most popularised at that time by Harry Belafonte. Along with folk songs and African- and Indian-based classical forms, cross-cultural interactions have produced other indigenous forms of music including soca, rapso, parang, chutney, and other derivative and fusion styles. There are also local communities which practice and experiment with international classical and pop music, often fusing them with local steelpan instruments.
The steelpan is a musical instrument originating from Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists.
The Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is an annual event held on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday in Trinidad and Tobago. This event is well known for participants' colorful costumes and exuberant celebrations. There are numerous cultural events such as "band launch fetes" running in the lead up to the street parade on Carnival Monday and Tuesday. It is said that if the islanders are not celebrating it, then they are preparing for it, while reminiscing about the past year's festival. Traditionally, the festival is associated with calypso music, with its origins formulated in the midst of hardship for enslaved West and Central Africans; however, recently Soca music has replaced calypso as the most celebrated type of music. Costumes, stick-fighting and limbo competitions are also important components of the festival.
Naparima College is a public secondary school for boys in Trinidad and Tobago. Located in San Fernando, the school was founded in 1894 but received official recognition in 1900. It was established by Dr. Kenneth J. Grant, a Canadian Presbyterian missionary working among the Indian population in Trinidad. The school was one of the first to educate Indo-Trinidadians and played an important and crucial role in the development of an Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian professional class. Naparima is derived from the Arawak word (A) naparima, meaning ‘large water’, or from Nabarima, Warao for ‘Father of the waves’.
Diego Martin is a town and is the urban commercial center and capital of the Diego Martin region in Trinidad and Tobago. Its location in the region is just on the south eastern border, west of the capital city of Port of Spain and east of the town of Carenage. Diego Martin town in the Northern Range was once filled with a number of small valleys but is now a densely populated area. It was named after a Spanish explorer Don Diego Martín. The area was settled by French planters and their slaves in the 1780s. It consists of a cluster of communities including Congo Village, Diamond Vale, Green Hill, Patna Village, Petit Valley, Blue Range, La Puerta Avenue, Four Roads, Rich Plain, River Estate, Blue Basin, Water Wheel, West Moorings, Bagatelle and Sierra Leone.
Presentation College San Fernando is a selective, government-assisted Roman Catholic Boys’ Secondary School located in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago. It claims to be the first Catholic secondary school in South Trinidad, having been established around 1930 in the basement of San Fernando Presbytery. It relocated to the Colony Buildings at La Pique in 1931. Originally named St. Benedict's College, the name was changed in 1948 when management of the school was assumed by the Presentation Brothers.
Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. It is known for its fossil-fuel wealth. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated 130 kilometres south of Grenada and 11 kilometres off the coast of northeastern Venezuela. It shares maritime boundaries with Barbados to the northeast, Grenada to the northwest and Venezuela to the south and west. Trinidad and Tobago is generally considered to be part of the West Indies. According to some geographic definitions, Trinidad and Tobago are also part of the Windward Islands and Lesser Antilles, while other definitions regard Trinidad and Tobago as a separate island group.
St. Mary's College is a government-assisted selective Catholic secondary school situated on Frederick Street in the heart of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The school was established in 1863 with only a handful of students, presently, enrollment averages 1200 students inclusive of Forms 1 to Upper 6. The school's motto is "Virtus et Scientia".
Hazel Ward Redman was a Trinidad and Tobago television personality.
The Southern Caribbean is a group of islands that neighbor mainland South America in the West Indies. Saint Lucia lies to the north of the region, Barbados in the east, Trinidad and Tobago at its southernmost point, and Aruba at the most westerly section.
Education in Trinidad and Tobago is free and compulsory between ages 5 and 16. Trinidad and Tobago is considered one of the most educated countries in the World with a literacy rate exceeding 98%. This exceptionally high literacy rate can be attributed, in part, to free tuition from Kindergarten (Pre-School) to University.
Lisa Wickham is a media producer-director-TV personality in Trinidad and Tobago. She began her television career at the age of six on the weekly Rikki Tikki Children's Show, a live programme on the only national TV station in Trinidad and Tobago at the time, Trinidad and Tobago Television (TTT). Lisa literally grew up on national television, eventually hosting shows such as the daily morning prime-time news and talk show T&T This Morning, the daily mid-morning talk show Community Dateline and the iconic teen talent show Party Time. In 2005, the government of Trinidad and Tobago closed TTT and in 2006 re-opened the station under the name Caribbean New Media Group (CNMG). CNMG was then closed in 2018.
Wayne Courtney Davis II is an American athlete, now representing Trinidad and Tobago, who specializes in the 110 metre hurdles. He currently holds the world youth record, world junior record and the US high school record in the 39" 110 m hurdles with a time of 13.08 seconds. He is a graduate of Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Women in Trinidad and Tobago are women who were born in, who live in, or are from Trinidad and Tobago. Depending from which island the women came, they may also be called Trinidadian women or Tobagonian women respectively. Women in Trinidad and Tobago excel in various industries and occupations, including micro-enterprise owners, "lawyers, judges, politicians, civil servants, journalists, and calypsonians." Women still dominate the fields of "domestic service, sales, and some light manufacturing."
Trinidad and Tobago competed in the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada from July 10 to 26, 2015.
Trinidad and Tobago competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, from August 5 to 21, 2016. This was the nation's seventeenth appearance at the Summer Olympics, although it previously competed in four other editions as a British colony, and as part of the West Indies Federation.
Patricia Alison "Pat" BishopTC was a Trinidadian educator, music director, artist and cultural icon. She was one of the first women to arrange for steelbands and was the recipient of the Trinity Cross, the highest of the National Awards of Trinidad and Tobago.
The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in Trinidad and Tobago:
