My music is my ordination from God

Sandra announced the initiative during an interview last week at her home at Carlsen Field in which she also discussed, her spirituality, crime and her being honoured by the Emancipation Support Committee (ESC).

Tomorrow, as part of the Emancipation Day celebrations the ESC will be holding a concert in her honour. She said she “will be elated” and it is another body of people who are saying thanks to her and recognising her contributions.

She thanked the entire ESC and whoever endorsed the idea.

“I am forever grateful.” She said there is not enough recognition of calypso stalwarts. She recalled at the recent funeral for Devon Matthews someone asked her about all the arrangements for Matthews compared to the arrangements for calypsonian Samuel “Brigo” Abraham. Sandra said she took offence at the statement and pointed out that it was the media who formed themselves into a body and ensured Matthews received the send off that he did and it was not the Government.

She said, for Brigo, calypsonians did not take up that mantle for his funeral. She predicted if certain calypsonians like Sparrow, Black Stalin and Calypso Rose got sick or died that the Government would get involved.

Sandra said she is up to date with social media and she uses WhatsApp and manages her Facebook fan page.

She said her fans are from all over the Caribbean, throughout America and from London.

She said in her 34-year career she has been able to travel and “spread her wings” to many places including England, Canada, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, the US Virgin Islands, a visit to Ghana courtesy of the National Joint Action Committee and a visit to South Africa courtesy the People’s National Movement government.

Sandra said she is treated better in these countries than in Trinidad though she does not let it bother her.

She said a number of female calypsonians in the country and the region were singing calypso because of her. She explained as she mentors young female calypsonians, she urges them not to be like her but be themselves.

She said seeing female calypsonians like Karen Asche, Alana Sinnette and Makeda Darius she can pat herself on the back and say “job well done.” She also pointed out that Crystal Cummins-Beckles is called the Singing Sandra of Barbados and Singing Althea, who she considers one of her daughters as she worked with her personally, is considered the Singing Sandra of Antigua.

Sandra said she is working with the Grenada government to increase the number of female calypsonians.

She explained they do not have many in Grenada while in Trinidad we are “safe” in terms of female calypsonians.

She said her father was from Grenada and she views the initiative as her giving back. She said the initiative is on stream and a date has been set for her departure. Grenada provided her with a “Masters of Calypso Award.” SATURATED WITH INNOCENT BLOOD Sandra released her song Cleansing Fire earlier this year and participated in the preliminaries of the Calypso Monarch but was not selected for the Calypso Fiesta semi-final.

She said she was not working on any music presently and until December she is focusing on spiritual things.

“Carnival 2018 ain’t nowhere close here right now. God first.” She said she does not make Carnival and calypso and competition “a big thing.” “I am out there to do what God has ordained me to do. I look at it as an ordination, not just a job. And I does tell God to use me.” She said every time she is on stage she asks God to let her touch someone whether it is to help someone laugh or help change something in their life.

“The task is mine; the glory belongs to God.” In 1999 she won the National Calypso Monarch crown with the songs Voices from the Ghetto and Song for Healing and again in 2003 with For Whom the Bells Toll and Ancient Rhythm.

In Voices from the Ghetto Sandra lamented crime and poverty through the metaphor of voices crying out. Asked if the “voices” were crying even louder now she responded, “Where do you live? You don’t think it’s worse now? It’s worse now. I do not see it getting better no time soon.” She said “fish does not rotten from the head” and while blame is cast on the young men who are killing each other, she questioned where the guns and drugs are coming from.

She said it hurts her when people stigmatise young people. She stressed there were young people who were trying to make a difference in their communities and make a positive contribution but they were discriminated against by other young people. She said people are not looking at where the downward spiral started and she believes it is when they took prayers out of school. She pointed out that now churches were being desecrated and Fr Clyde Harvey, who has contributed so much to the youth in the country, was robbed this year.

She said some parents are “children themselves” and since they have not finished growing and learning, they have nothing to teach their children.

She said teachers want to teach but they are afraid of the students whose father is a “bad man” or are threatened by students. She recalled in her day she could not even “steups” in front of teacher.

She said half of the young boys in crime are involved because their fathers or uncles were involved first and they have to carry on the “legacy.” “No value for life. No respect for God.” On the young women, she said some of them were losing morals and dressing where they do not leave anything to the imagination.

She said they may tell her this was for “her time” but she would wonder aloud if they will reach her age and where she is.

She revealed she had to leave school to make money to pay for her education and she had to put in hard work, perseverance, fortitude and endurance.

She said the nation is very spiritual and that is what is “saving us”.

She pointed out there were many churches, mosques and mandirs in the country and we are a praying people. Sandra recalled when Tropical Storm Bret was coming to this country people created an ID card with a picture of Jesus to make the joke “God is a Trini”. However she asked if God is a Trini, based on how we are treating God what will happen when he is “fed up?” “If he get fed up, we in serious trouble.” She said the country needed Bret and that magnitude of water to wash away all of the innocent blood spilled.

“Trinidad saturated with the blood of the innocent.” She recalled the murder of 13-year-old Videsh Subar.

“What this child do?” she asked rhetorically.

She said some people made comments about race but she did not see a little Indian child, just a child. She said her children married Indian women and she has Indian relatives.

She said while she is of African descent, she is a Trinidadian.

Sandra explained she is Baptist and Orisha and she asks God to fill her mouth with good things so she can help people.

“If we could unite as a people spiritually we could save the nation.” Asked about her health, Sandra said she is “good after God.” In early 2015 she was in the Intensive Care Unit after hernia surgery. She said after that experience, her course is set by God.

“If I complain I will be wicked and ungrateful. God is good to me.

I wake up in the morning, even if it is with a pain, I am still breathing. I am grateful and thankful.”