Entrepreneurs score

AFTER watching Trinidad and Tobago’s Warriors football squad beat Bahrain in November 2005 and qualify for Germany, recording artiste and song writer “Fakekou,” wanted to do his bit to help the football squad.

“Fakekou” or Sterling Callender has since composed and launched his CD, Kick De Ball which is his tribute to the Warriors. The song, he hopes, will inspire the team to World Cup glory and get through a tough first round group with England, Sweden and Paraguay.

The second track on his CD is entitled De Way We Roll. He also launched a DVD with the same title.

“It took me three days to compose and master the song and a week to record it at B Studios in London, England,” he said.

He is just one of the hive of entrepreneurs who are trying to capitalise on the TT’s World Cup. The Warriors’ ascendance to the world stage has spawned a thriving niche for entrepreneurs and raised their business hopes.

“Fakekou” has been living in London, England, for the last seven years and travels between TT and Britain promoting TT artistes.

He describes Kick De Ball as a mixture of Rapso, Soca and Hip Hop rhythms.

“There’s also steelpan music in it which was provided by the south based steelband called Southern Marines Steel Orchestra,” he said.

Seon Isaacs of Notorious Promotions, San Fernando, is helping him promote the “Kick De Ball” CD and DVD.

Originally from Marabella, “Fakekou” believes that the team can qualify for the second round of the Germany World Cup.

“We can make it to the second round because we have the ability to make it, we have a good coach and a young, hungry team who wants to do well in the tournament.”

Another entrepreneur, Devon Weekes, is putting his skills on the line for the team.

An avid fan of football, Weekes’ passion for the game comes with his own brand of football souvenirs.

Weekes, a former student of Queens Royal College, started his collection of TT football T-shirts and bumber stickers after helping a friend with writing poetry. He said he picked up pen and paper and tried writing a verse in support of the Soca Warriors, then with the help of his brothers, was able to complete about four other verses. The result was a poem entitled, Germany Here We Come, which he later copyrighted.

It was after the completion of this first project, his eldest brother advised him to take the support for the TT team further. The 26-year old chemical technician said he realised that many of the Soca Warriors T-shirts had lacked lyrics and needed to be more creative.

It caused him to tap into the artistic skills to produce a design unique for the T-shirts.

The design he finally hit on included a football and two of TT’s popular instruments, the steelpan and the tassa drum flanked by two mask faces, painted in the national colours. At the back of the t-shirts, Weekes printed excerpts from his poem. He has also produced bumper stickers entitled, Victory, Courage and Passion and is now looking for a location to market his products.

Calypsonian Mighty Wanderer has also jumped on the World Cup wagon, producing and releasing a soca/calypso CD entitled, Soca Warriors. However, Peter Herbert, is appealing to the radio stations for airplay because he thinks that his song just isn’t getting the exposure that it deserves.

“My song has received one set of airplay in four days,” he said, “which is no airplay for a new CD on the market.”

Soca Warriors was recorded at JJ Productions Studio in San Fernando, with musical arrangements by Junior “Ibo” Joseph.

He described the Soca Warriors CD as being an infectious song designed to inspire the “Warriors” to score goals in the World Cup and carry the country into the second round.

“We’re underdogs in the tournament but I’m not looking at that because we can change that,” he stressed.