Dr Roy plays the Right Tune

And his pioneering brass band has carved an unrivalled niche on the country’s cultural landscape.

Now, Dr Roy Cape wants to give back.

“After many years of being a bandleader and playing music all over the world, I have decided to make the transition from the stage and to shift gear into another aspect of music activity,” Cape said last Thursday as he launched The Right Tunes Initiative at the East Port-of-Spain Regional Complex, East Dry River, Port-of-Spain.

A six-month pilot project, which seeks to use music as a means of reducing crime and delinquency among the youth in Laventille and its environs, the legendary musician said he was excited about the initiative - a collaboration between his newly-formed Roy Cape Foundation and the Ministry of National Security.

Cape also presented the ministry with a set of percussive and brass instruments during the event.

Cape, who was born in Laventille, said he was especially glad that the initiative was launched at the East Port-of-Spain Regional Complex, the stomping ground of the iconic Desperadoes Steel Orchestra.

He described The Right Tunes as “historic,” saying the people Laventille have long experienced the transformative power of music.

“Whenever Desperadoes won a Panorama title, everybody on the ‘Hill’ grew two feet taller and that is why I feel so passionate about the reason why we are here today (Thursday) on this spot in the heart of Laventille where some of the greatest steelband musicians once stood,” he told guests, who included National Security Minister Edmund Dillon, Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams and Brigadier General Rodney Smart, head of the TT Defence Force.

“As a matter of fact, I think this is a fitting venue on which to launch a programme of this nature and to be speaking about the importance of music education.” Cape said the initiative was not simply an artistic activity but also a training ground for developing other skills: teamwork, co-operation, patience.

“Music increases the capacity of your memory, sharpens your concentration, teaches you discipline and helps build yourself - confidence and self-esteem,” he said.

A highly-respected man in the entertainment fraternity, Cape had first approached National Security Minister Edmund Dillon about wanting to give back during an instalment of the Laventille Nights community series, hosted by i95.5FM and the Ministry of National Security, some months ago.

The series brought together residents of the troubled area and others who had distinguished themselves in various fields.

Cape said the Foundation was born with this intention in mind. And he has vowed to use his God-given talents to effect much-needed change in the community “My love for music will never die and that is what I together with a few of my family and friends have formed ourselves into the Roy Cape Foundation with the objective of developing and supporting music education projects throughout Trinidad and Tobago - to use music to enrich the lives of at-risk youth in particular,” he said.

The pint-sized musician, who was bestowed with an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the St Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies in October 2011, revealed the Foundation was currently building its organisational capacity by establishing relationships with international agencies and strengthening ties with other local, like-minded organisations.

“At the appropriate time you will hear from us,” he told the audience.

Cape, or Pappy, as he is sometimes fondly referred, has been a musician for more than five decades.

He attended Laventille RC School and often locked horns with his Grenadian-born mother who scoffed at his early interest in playing pan. “She wanted no part of that,” he recalled. She got him into Rosary Boys’ RC School, believing that the change in atmosphere would curb his appetite for the steel pan. Her plan backfired, though, as Cape still had to pass several panyards, including Renegades, en route to his home But Cape admitted he also was a trouble-maker in his youth, which, ironically, worked in his favour.

“I was behaving out of hand and I ran away from home and when my mother got hold of me.....

they gave me a choice - to go Grenada by my grandmother or the orphanage in Trinidad and I choose the Belmont orphanage in Trinidad,” he said.

It was at the Belmont Orphanage that Cape learnt to play several instruments, including the saxophone, for which he is revered.

The musician laughed when he reflected on his rebellious years and how the orphanage completely transformed his life. He told the audience: “In the early days (at the orphanage) it was very difficult to understand and I was angry with everybody but the more I spent time in the institution, I realised that we were being developed for when we leave the institution.

“So, I requested to be in the band. I was also a tailor, I was a barber, I acted, I sing because I realised that as much as I can do, I will have the backing of the authority of the institution,” he added. During his years at the orphanage, which lasted from 1954 to 1958, Cape returned to Laventille.

He first played with Frankie Francis, whom he regarded as a national treasure, and later, Clarence Curvan, who was, at one time, TT ’s youngest bandleader.

Cape also performed with ace trumpeter Ron Berridge, who worked on three consecutive albums for late calypsonian Kitchener (Aldwyn Roberts) during the late 1960s.

“In those days you would never get one arranger arranging for Sparrow and Kitchener.

The dreadlocked saxophonist also was a founding member of the now disbanded Sparrow Troubadours before he opted to develop his career in North America.

He initially regarded the experience in New York City as perhaps the most horrifying of his life.

Said Cape: “My experience there was not all that pleasant because I had to go out and work eight to four, Monday to Friday, and take three trains, which I never had to do in Trinidad.” However, Cape said on closer reflection, the experience “allowed me to be a man.” Proud of the contribution he has made to local culture, Cape said while he was not a wealthy man, “the feeling I get from people makes me feel rich.” He regarded Destra, another product of Laventille, as one of his outstanding prot?g?s.

Cape recalled that he was introduced to Destra in 2000 but felt that the band, Roy Cape All Stars, was not in need of a female vocalist at that time.