Roy Cape of good hope

His name synonymous with good local calypso music, Roy Cape and his All Stars have been the conscience of an era, with the likes of Frankie Francis, Fitz Vaughn Bryan, Joey and Boyie Lewis, Sparrow’s Troubadours, Sel Duncan, and Clarence Curvan. Most of these are gone now __ their memories almost buried by an avalanche of computer- generated sounds and digital mixing __ yet Roy Cape and his All Stars have pointed the way to survival with their amazing capacity to accompany any of today’s calypsonians and genres.

While Roy has already won his place in our hearts, his influence can only grow as goes from performer to mentor to inspire a whole barrage of righteous youth. His foundation aims to use music education to bring hope and healing to communities especially in at-risk areas, opening the door to careers in the entertainment and music industry Roy told Newsday, “I have been writing to the Japanese, Germany, British Embassies and UNESCO about the programme. Even some of my friends are helping to donate instruments.

I have also met with the Foundation for the Enhancement and Enrichment of Life (FEEL) and I started to get instruments to them in Sangre Grande, San Fernando, YTC, and the St James Police Youth Club.” His first project will be in Morvant, but will ultimately reach as far as Toco, covering 15 communities in all. For now, he will give children four trumpets, three trombones, four saxophones, four flutes and four clarinets, and in future also supply recorders, guitars, keyboards, violins, electric basses, and cellos. “The intention is to have an orchestra in every community, with their tutors and instruments,” he said. Cape will also work with the NGO Women in Action for the Needy and Destitute (WAND) whose founder Jan Bocas Ryan is coincidentally the wife of Prof Selwyn Ryan whose seminal work, “No time to quit: Engaging youth at risk” urged that music be used to uplift, rather than the social degradation of alcoholism, domestic violence and hyper sexuality promoted by some contemporary party genres.

Further, beyond the pros and cons of the musical “content” received by listeners, we say huge benefits accrue to an individual who is learning music. It’s axiomatic that the discipline, creativity and joy of learning music brings a youngster a better self-esteem, teamwork and life “balance”.

The UK-based Royal Conservatory’s article, “Benefits of Music Education” said music education helps youngsters reach their “full intellectual, social and creative potential”.

It boosts their language skills, emotional resilience, empathy, attention span and self-confidence, the study said. The article cited Albert Einstein as crediting his famous Theory of Relativity to his intuition developed by his childhood violin lessons, saying, “My new discovery is the result of musical perception”.

Music training develops the brain’s frontal cortex, in charge of abstract thought, planning and complex behaviour, so boosting a child’s capacity to perform tasks of sustained attention and careful listening and reading, the article said.

So, we trust that Roy Cape’s thrust into music education will craft good youngsters and overall help mould a better society. From humble beginnings at the Tacarigua Orphanage, to ace performer and now to mentor, Roy Cape is an inspiration and a beacon of hope to today’s youth.

Indeed, he would be well deserving of the title, Roy Cape of good hope.