‘I was miserable singing parang’

Okay, Susan Daniel-Maicoo did not meet a mister in Margarita who wanted to take her to dinner. Her husband of 23 years, Rawle Maicoo (acting superintendent at Pheonix Park Gas Processors Ltd) is Trinidadian. The latter is a major factor she must emphasise to “the curious and sometimes inquisitive folk” who remember the 80s parang singer, when she meets them in the supermarket and on the street.

Susan, 42, will always be associated with the song, “Trini Christmas,” written by Ashford Joseph 15 years ago even though she has turned a new leaf in her life. She is now a gospel singer and a full-time teacher at Siparia Union Presbyterian Primary School. “When I tell people that, some look at me strangely. Some say that’s good, keep it up. Then others say you didn’t do anything wrong; they say ‘but it (Trini Christmas) was a decent song’, and I say I’m still in the singing business,” Susan told People. Many would remember the petite girl from Fyzabad, 92 lbs and 4 ft 11 inches, in the parang music video “Trini Christmas” which still airs on local television. Her follow-up singles “We Come Out To Dance” of 1989, and “Where Daisy Gone” of 1991, were enough to label Susan “a parang baby.” However, what viewers didn’t see on television was an unhappy 27-year-old who wanted so badly to get out of the “parang limelight.”

She related: “I am a person I just don’t smile and when we were shooting the videos they would tell me you have to smile, you have to smile... I was very unhappy singing parang. You had to perform at clubs. It was more like having to please an audience and I was not comfortable. I remember the last year that I did parang, I really didn’t want to do it.” After the release of “Where Daisy Gone” she was back at the studio. She recorded a few songs including ‘He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother’ but they were not successful. “My last public performance was at a club in West Mall and I remember having to drink at least two big drinks of brandy to go on stage and I realised this was not for me.” She went on to explain: “You see, when you look at the faces of people they were expecting something... At the time I don’t know how I felt. Sometimes you sing to a crowd and people are drunk and they would make remarks and stuff and I would be really scared. I remember sitting in the back in a room with my husband and when it was time to sing I would go and sing. After singing we would go straight home. I think I just couldn’t handle it. Up to now I just don’t understand it. I was really miserable singing parang.”

Susan admitted to being evasive when her fans approached her. “Before they come up to me I would turn and walk away quickly. I was shy.” It was a totally different atmosphere, though, when she sang before the congregation at mass from as early as age nine. She sang religious songs at church and “more secular songs” at family gatherings and at weddings. “I branched off in 1984 because of my father, Aaron Daniel. He produced the song ‘Let’s put Christ back into Christmas’, with Susan and Sally (her sister who now resides in England)... Parang was selling at the time and we were advised that that was the way to go if you want to make money and be a success. “Now, when I hear the songs I feel proud. I thought it was alright. There wasn’t really anything bad, I didn’t sing any smut. A lot of people meet me and say you’re one of the people who made Christmas Christmas because you sang clean songs,” Susan said. “It’s funny how people recognise me more now because when I look at myself compared to when I did those videos, I see a big difference in age... And I’ve put on size.” She is 12 pounds heavier, she confided.

Her life and that of her family — her parents who are her next door neighbours, her husband and four children Rawle, Jr, 21; Jessica, 19; Aaron, 12 and Joshua, four, — changed when the TBN cable channel became a regular feature in their home. “My father bought a (satellite) dish to look at television and switching through the channels we stayed on TBN. It was like a family change. It wasn’t just me but my mom. Thereafter, I decided I really wanted to live for the Lord. I realised the songs I sang before did not bring glory to the Lord and I made a pledge to the Lord that everything I sing would bring him glory. In 1995, I became a born again Christian.” Her family attends the Victory Tabernacle in Fyzabad. Susan is the worship leader and her husband offers prayers. Rawle, Jr, a fourth-year medical student, plays the guitar and Aaron plays the keyboard. “It’s a family ministry,” she said. “Today, if people ask me to sing for a wedding I would tell them I can’t sing this. To tell you the truth, people want me to sing at their wedding so much that they tell me the songs are okay... I also sing in any church that invites me to sing and I visit all over — Chaguanas, Port-of-Spain, Pt Fortin. I’ve been all over Trinidad singing. “The first time I sang at Victory Tabernacle, that’s when my pastor had asked me to sing a gospel because he knew that I sang parang before, I will always remember that feeling — a feeling of joy and peace going all through my body. Wherever I go to sing that’s how I feel, I’m not scared and I’m not tired singing for the Lord. I don’t care what people say about me, in my mind I’m doing the Lord’s work and people tell me the songs have touched their lives.”

She has a host of songs to choose from including those from her new 11-track gospel album entitled Your Amazing Love produced by Rawle at Mark Romero Studios in Arima, which will be launched at month’s end. Her first CD, Jesus I Need You was launched in 2000. “Last year I started writing. I got up early in the morning. It was like the Lord would wake me and the words would come pouring out. And I can’t write. I can’t even write a poem. I’m not even good at speaking and expressing myself, but the words in the (first) CD were so powerful that all the CDs were sold out.” In the end, Susan is at a time in her life where she feels contented. “Marriage, initially, was bitter sweet. Our relationship has been one of romance,” she said, “I’m doing something worthwhile. My testimony, people really appreciate it. The most important thing in our (my family) lives is living for the Lord. Even though my son and daughter are in university, Jesus comes first.”