'Thank you for the Music'

The occasion this time around though, is for a show to be held on Saturday October 12, in honour of the late George Ng Wai titled, “Thank You for the Music”.

Ng Wai’s son, Joey stated that Dave Martins, leader of the Tradewinds was responsible for taking 2nd Imij and Imij & Co to the Cayman Islands for more than 20 years. His sister, Sharon said, “The show was planned long before dad died and dad wanted to be in the show but it did not happen.”

The Ng Wai patriarch was at Vitas House where he died, and so, part proceeds of the show scheduled to take place at the TT Sailing Association, Chaguramas, will go to Vitas House, a free hospice for terminally ill cancer patients, and a service of the Trinidad and Tobago Cancer Society.

Also in the cast is the Lord Relator (Willard Harris) who will start the show at 8.30 pm.

The Tradewinds achieved almost instant celebrity when a Dave Martins’ original, “Honeymooning Couple”, one of four songs the band recorded in Toronto in 1966, six months after it was formed, became a runaway hit in the Caribbean. Following on that success, Martins’ song-writing ability (he has written 110 Tradewinds originals) kept the band at the forefront of Caribbean popular music for decades as this unique group became part of Caribbean life.

Formed in Toronto in 1966 with immigrant musicians from the Caribbean (early members were Kelvin Ceballo, Joe Brown, and Glen Sorzano, all of Trinidad, and in later years, Terry Dyal, also a Trinidadian) the band has been based in the Cayman Islands since 1982, continues to record, and still makes occasional appearances playing their music to devoted followers in North America and the Eastern Caribbean.

Some of the other Tradewinds songs over the years include “Caribbean Man”, “Boyhood Days”, “Where Are Your Heroes”, “We Are The Champions”, “Cricket in the Jungle”, “Civilisation”, “Copycats”, “Mr Rooster”, “Wong Ping”, “You Can’t Get”, “Not A Blade of grass”, “Mind Excursion”, “Hello, Hello”, “The Clown”, “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?”, “Hole in My Pocket”, “Don’t Let Me Sleep Too Long”, “Big Bad World”, “Everybody Come Clap Your Hands”, “He Ain’t No Angel”, “Go Now”, “Goodnight, Baby”, “I Wonder”, “Gee, Baby, Gee”, “Having a Party”, “The Dum Dum Ditty”, “I Won’t Be Me Anymore”, “If There’s Anything Else You Want”, “Sophisticated Boom Boom”, “He Will Break Your Heart”, “It Was a Lie”, “Dance Marie”, “It’s Mighty Nice”, “Memory Lane Without You”, “My Baby Loves You”, “Super Duper Man”, “Love Me With a Wallop”, “Come Back Baby”, “”The Grass Is Always Greener or Not at All”, “Nobody Buy You”, “Here I Am”, “Trophy Run”, “Braggin’” and the 1997 release “Gie Dem Shiv” which is a tribute to Guyanese-born West Indian cricket star Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Although his writing is most known for its variety, imagination, and humour, Martins is also able to stir up tenderness and deep emotion in such creations as “Come Back Again”, “A Little while From Now”, “Don’t Cry, Mama” and “Come Dance With Me”.

The band as it is now, comprises Dave Martins (Guyana) – guitar/vocals; Clive Rosteing (Trinidad) – drums/vocals; Jeff Japal (Grenada) – keyboards; Harry Cupid (Barbados) – percussion/vocals; and Richard Terry – bass, from the Caymans.