Focus on the music

Gillian Moor is quite the enigma. She seems to do everything with an ease that belies the powerful messages her songs have evoked, both spiritually and emotionally. Her music has been described as a folk-blues with an acoustic calypso feel. Her songs deal with themes that include spiritual empowerment, love and social justice. Yet she sings with a raw passion; wearing her sensuality like a comfortable invisible cloak... it comes seeping through in her speech and songs.

Choosing her words carefully, she gracefully declined this reporter’s request for a look into her personal life. (Her website though, has more than enough peeks to satisfy the curious. Married to film maker Robert Yao Ramesar and with two daughters, she has been showcased many times for her unique singing style, which has won critical acclaim both here and abroad.) “Let’s focus on the music,” she said, laughing and nodding. It was only fair, because those who know (and follow) Moor’s music will certainly understand why, for this eclectic-styled songstress is performing in the first all female calypso tent in TT (The Divas Calypso Cabaret International at the Hilton Trinidad. See Page 12); a definite first in her musical career. And she has no qualms about sharing the stage with such women as 2003 Road March champion Faye-Ann Lyons, two-time NWAC Calypso queen Dianne Hendrickson (Lady Wonder), four-time NWAC Queen Shirlaine Thomas and 2003 NWAC Calypso Queen Marva Mc Kenzie. “I know I’m not known as a calypsonian, but the songs that I’m doing are quite political; plus calypso has always been a form of protest music,” said a serious Moor. “A person may say that I don’t really sing calypso, although my music has been very difficult to describe or categorise. I’ve been compared to Alanis Morissette, Tracy Chapman, Joni Mitchell... even Bjork, yet when I go outside of Trinidad to perform, my music is referred to as calypso. I myself don’t try to categorise my music, but I’ve always had the calypso influence, growing up listening to Sparrow, Kitchener, Terror, Spoiler... but I think a big focus of my music has always been my lyrics.”

Moor is remembered firstly for co-founding the 1993 rapso group Homefront, (with Ozzy Merrique). From rapso, she developed her own unique style, combining blues and folk with a Trini flavour that is unabashedly hers. Playing the guitar (“only three years now,” she quipped) and accompanying herself, she has shared the stage with Orange Sky, Jointpop, Mungal Patassar (and the group Pantar) and even collaborated with the late Andre Tanker, to name a few. She experimented with electronic music and travelled to London and Europe performing. “I had such a good reception there and I realised there is so much potential for a woman to make a living in music out there. I can see why some people would walk away from the TT experience. But I’m happy to be in the tent... it’s home that has inspired the music and I would like to give it here as well. But that’s not going to stop me from taking it as far as it can go. I definitely feel like I’m moving from strength to strength.” And yes, she has CD’s too, including Moon Madness, her most recognised to date. She is working on a new CD in France; the demos have already been done, much like her compositions for the tent. “I didn’t compose anything new, but I had these songs that would just fit,” she smiled. “The first (message) is about the crime situation and the police, called “Big Snake.” The second is about the current situation in the Middle East (Iraq), called “What you Eh Say.” So far I’ve been getting a good response.

Like I said before, I’m not scared, but you always feel that excitement before a performance. You want to give your best. So I’ll be accompanying myself on guitar as usual, no band. That’s the great thing about this tent; it’s a cabaret, featuring many different kinds of styles, many different women and acts. We’ve got limbo, drumology... many facets of our culture. For that reason alone, I don’t feel out of place. Every other woman there has a unique voice and style and her own message will come through, so I don’t think of myself as an aberration at all. I’ll simply share my point of view with the audience and say all that’s needed to be said... hopefully it will give them something to think about.”
You can catch Gillian Moor and the other Divas at the Hilton Trinidad.