N Touch

Pires gives Gunners FA Cup

CARDIFF: Robert Pires’ first half strike made sure Arsenal became the first football team in 21 years to win back to back FA Cups as the Gunners beat Southampton 1-0 yesterday to win their ninth title in a record 16th appearance. Yet it still can’t make up for losing the league title to Manchester United. Despite the loss of several big names such as Patrick Vieira and Sol Campbell, Arsene Wenger’s men created enough chances to have won by three or more goals before a shaky last few minutes.

Veteran England goalkeeper David Seaman, captain in Vieira’s absence, ensured Arsenal’s victory when he pushed a shot from Brett Ormerod over the top seven minutes from the end and Ashley Cole cleared a header from James Beattie off the line in the fifth minute of injury time. But Arsenal should have been three goals ahead by then. Thierry Henry went close at least three times and Saints defenders twice cleared off the line as the Gunners sliced through the Southampton midfield with typical panache. If only the Gunners could have shown that form in the last few months of the league campaign as Manchester United swept past them with a run of 15 wins in 18 matches.

“The team was under pressure today because we were scared to finish without a trophy,” Wenger said. “The last few weeks have been difficult I suppose. We got the trophy we wanted today. Henry, who signed a new three-year extension to his Arsenal contract on the eve of the final, said the victory partly made up for losing the league title. Southampton manager Gordon Strachan said his team had chances to have beaten Arsenal. The final was the first in the competition’s long history to be played “indoors,” officials deciding to close the Millennium Stadium roof because of heavy rain.            

TT’s bid for FTAA getting serious attention

TRINIDAD AND Tobago’s bid to become the headquarters for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is getting serious mention in international circles.

Foreign Affairs Minister Knowslon Gift recounted what was stated at a meeting in Miami on April 23 at which there were “real heavyweights”. “They said, ‘Snicker as you like, our major competitor is Trinidad and Tobago. They have already 14 solid votes…’ The Chairman of the meeting went to say, ‘We know how to deal with that, find out the names of the wives of the Ministers, their children, their birthdays and shower them with presents.’ They further went on to say, ‘We know that they all want their children to go to school in Miami, give them scholarships.’ So you see the kind of competition we are up against.” Gift said within the next few weeks he expected other supporters on board to give Trinidad and Tobago the required 18 or 19 votes for victory. Gift said Trinidad and Tobago had 15 sure votes from Caricom, while the US has one — itself.

He said this country intended to mount an aggressive campaign at the OAS meeting in Chile in the next three weeks. Gift, who recently attended a meeting of Foreign Ministers, was asked whether Caricom was bracing itself for a backlash as a result of its opposition to the US on Iraq and its growing relationship with Cuba, especially since there was concern over the recent executions in Cuba. Gift said sovereign and independent states did not always agree on everything and that was expected. On the issue of Cuba, he said a newly appointed Ambassador from the European Union called on him recently and within 30 seconds of sitting down, stated that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago must abolish the death penalty. But Gift noted the death penalty was on the law books in the same way that in Cuba it was also on the law books. “I am not sure that other governments ought to have the right to say how the death penalty in other countries should operate,” he said.

Manning, dismissing reports that the US would seek to pressure Trinidad and Tobago for opposing it on any matter,  said Trinidad and Tobago was gaining greater significance to the US in the energy balance and therefore was being seen as important to the security of the US. Told that the Iraq invasion was a classic example of what happens when a country finds itself in that position, Manning said jocularly: “If the US decides to invade Trinidad and Tobago, it would have to give serious contemplation to what would happen if they lose.” Gift said Trinidad and Tobago, as part of Caricom, felt the UN General Assembly should play a central role in rebuilding Iraq. He also added that the St Lucia Foreign Minister was a virtual shoo-in for the next Chairman of the UN General Assembly.

President wants Govt to teach Hindi

President George Maxwell Richards wants the Government to administer the teaching of Hindi in schools, he told the Hindi Nidhi (Hindi Foundation) annual awards ceremony and dinner at the Centre of Excellence, Macoya, on Friday night. The event honoured four eminent persons — retired appeal court judge Justice Jean Permanand, urologist Dr Lall Sawh, businessman/ impresario Ajeet Praim-singh and Mastana Bahar producer Khayal Mohammed.

The President urged the Government to take over the running of a Hindi teaching pilot project currently underway in 25 primary and secondary schools. Recalling his own support of Hindi Nidhi formerly as principal of University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine, President Richards hoped that the Foundations’s call would now lead the UWI Language Learning Centre to respond to demands for the teaching of Hindi and of other non-European languages.

Dubbing Hindi as a “medium of remembrance” for many of our population, he said its study allowed people to tap into a rich heritage of Indian thought including culture which went beyond dance and music, into areas like architecture, painting, sculpture and textiles. He said the modern burgeoning of science and technology in India was based on a tradition of enquiry dating back 3,000 years BC and which involved the invention of the mathematical concepts of zero and pi. “This interest has now culminated in space exploration and the use of solar and nuclear energy.” He said the ancient Hindu scriptural Vedas had mentioned the link between agriculture and civilisation, which in India had now progressed through to modern biotechnology.

President Richards said that over the decades, Hindi Nidhi’s search for roots via language had drawn unjustified criticism that such an endeavour could create divisiveness in this country, and that India was too far away from us for cultural and commercial exchanges. But quoting former President of the Senate Michael J Williams, President Richards said citizens of Trinidad and Tobago had the right to search for their ancestral roots without being accused of disloyalty to this country.

Hindu women voice crime concern

The Hindu Women’s Organisation of Trinidad and Tobago has voiced its concern over what they term “the escalating and unabated” wave of violence in the nation and are calling for more Police Posts in critical areas and a “clean up” of the Police Service to restore safety to all citizens.

In a release, the organisation said their reason for speaking out stemmed from a “constant fear” that all citizens were now living under and that the lives of children were now under severe threat. “Under such conditions there is bound to be a decline in foreign investors and with the migration of several business families, the economic and social fabric of the nation is being serverely eroded,” the organisation said.

The organisation felt that no excuse coming from senior officials on easing the stress and everyday trauma that innocent civilians are subjected to can be sufficient. “It is our opinion that neither the National Security Minister nor the Commission of Police has been effectively able to stem this unprecedented surge of crimes,” the release said. The organisation believed that lack of facilities, infrastructure, finances and transportation have made it difficult for the authorities to face increasing crime effectively. The release stated: “The Police Service must be cleaned up and charges of bribery and corruption in the force must be dealt with immediately and with severity.

CRUEL MIND GAMES

RUTHLESS criminals are now targetting innocent young children for kidnapping, hoping that the parents in great fear and concern for their children’s safety would be frightened into quickly paying whatever ransoms are demanded for their release. They play cruel mind games with the parents and families of the victims, knowing that they would be traumatised and virtually ready to do anything within their ability to secure the early release of the children.

We cannot believe or accept that the police are as helpless as they appear to be in dealing with the issue of kidnapping, unless of course some of the members of the service are — as some people insist — involved in the dastardly acts. We believe that the police must stop making excuses and use every resource in the book, including proper intelligence gathering to deal in the strictest possible way and as urgently as possible with those who are terrorising the lives of our citizens. We simply cannot continue living our lives, constantly looking over our shoulders and locking up our young children in protective cages. That is no way to live and as taxpayers we must insist that our government and our police service secure for us the security to which we are entitled.

This is after all a small country with a relatively small population and it cannot be beyond the capability of our security forces to try to root out this evil which seems to grow more fearsome by the day, with young six year olds now being grabbed at school and held until families can find the money to pay for their safe release. In the few cases where arrests and charges have been laid, those charged are quickly out on bail and apparently free to repeat the crimes. Those charged with kidnapping, in our view, should be denied bail until the courts decide whether they are innocent or guilty. We simply cannot take the chance that there could be repeaters. This is why every attempt must be made to have the laws changed to allow for greater penalties for persons convicted of kidnapping, as well as the automatic refusal of bail for alleged kidnappers. The issue is too grave to be a political battle between the government and the opposition, regardless of whether the row is over constitutional reform, the restructuring of Caroni or action against racial discrimination. Kidnappers are not discriminating, neither on grounds of wealth, race or age. From the oldest to the youngest is now fair game. By playing around with the legislation, we are virtually surrendering to the criminals.

On Thursday, Father Clyde Harvey, manager of the San Fernando Boys Roman Catholic School on Harris Promenade, was constrained to appeal to the kidnappers of a six-year-old pupil of the school, Mark Prescott, to stop using children as pawns. Mark, one of a growing list of children who have been kidnapped within recent months, was snatched from outside his school and spirited away. The updating and changing of laws by themselves will not be sufficient. All over this land people will have to understand the problems and issues that give rise in the first place to such criminality. For example, it has been the experience of countries, such as Colombia, that the drug culture is the foundation upon which acts of kidnapping spring and grow. So the evil has to be tackled on many fronts if we are to avoid the trauma being experienced by families who are being made to suffer the consequences of having a loved one kidnapped.

‘We like it so!’

THE EDITOR: Most people don’t know it but a 10-storey Customs and Excise headquarters building will shortly be erected on Ajax Street. Now Ajax Street faces Dock Road in Port-of-Spain. This will certainly add to the traffic pressure on Wrightson Road as it will coincide with the $1.8 billion dock expansion. That isn’t all! A conference centre and a really modern hotel are also planned for the dock. This will increase even more traffic jams that a smiling government minister said will be solved by building a seafront roadway. Okay! Then where will ships dock?

Interchanges and overhead roads are solutions, but the current government does not want them, God alone knows why, because interchanges and overhead roads are used in all developed countries. Maybe we do not want to become a developed country. The authorities seem to be content with time-wasting traffic gridlocks and flat-line road systems that never need elevating, replacing or expanding — barring a bit of tokenism in Diego, and Sando. Enjoy the flat-line country and its 18th Century roadways! Clearly, we like it so!

JOSEPH KRUPP
St Augustine

A modern American war myth

Jessica Lynch became an icon of the war. An all-American heroine, the story of her capture by the Iraqis and her rescue by US special forces became one of the great patriotic moments of the conflict. It couldn’t have happened at a more crucial moment, when the talk was of coalition forces bogged down, of a victory too slow in coming.

Her rescue will go down as one of the most stunning pieces of news management yet conceived. It provides a remarkable insight into the real influence of Hollywood producers on the Pentagon’s media managers, and has produced a template from which America hopes to present its future wars. But the American media tactics, culminating in the Lynch episode, infuriated the British, who were supposed to be working alongside them in Doha, Qatar. The inside story of the rescue may not have been as heroic as portrayed and of divisions at the heart of the allies’ media operation. “In reality, we had two different styles of news media management,” says Group Captain Al Lockwood, the British army spokesman at Central Command. “I feel fortunate to have been part of the UK one.”

In the early hours of April 2, correspondents in Doha were summoned from their beds to Centcom, the military and media nerve centre for the war. Jim Wilkinson, the White House’s top figure there, had stayed up all night. “We had a situation where there was a lot of hot news,” he recalls. “The president had been briefed, as had the secretary of defence.” The journalists rushed in, thinking Saddam had been captured. The story they were told instead has entered American folklore. Private Lynch, a 19-year-old clerk from Palestine, West Virginia, was a member of the US Army’s 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company that took a wrong turning near Nassiriya and was ambushed. Nine of her US comrades were killed. Iraqi soldiers took Lynch to the local hospital, which was swarming with fedayeen, where she was held for eight days. That much is uncontested. Releasing its five-minute film to the networks, the Pentagon claimed that Lynch had stab and bullet wounds, and that she had been slapped about on her hospital bed and interrogated. It was only thanks to a courageous Iraqi lawyer, Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief, that she was saved. According to the Pentagon, Al-Rehaief risked his life to alert the Americans that Lynch was being held.

Just after midnight, Army Rangers and Navy Seals stormed the Nassiriya hospital. Their “daring” assault on enemy territory was captured by the military’s night-vision camera. They were said to have come under fire, but they made it to Lynch and whisked her away by helicopter. That was the message beamed back to viewers within hours of the rescue. Al-Rehaief was granted asylum barely two weeks after arriving in the US. He is now the toast of Washington, with a fat $500,000 (?309,000) book deal. Rescue in Nassiriya will be published in October. As for Lynch, her status as cult hero is stronger than ever. Internet auction sites have listed at least ten Jessica Lynch items, ranging from an oil painting with an opening bid of $200 to a $5 “America Loves Jessica Lynch” fridge magnet. Trouble is that doctors now say she has no recollection of the whole episode and probably never will. Her memory loss means that “researchers” have been called in to fill in the gaps. One story, two versions. The doctors in Nassiriya say they provided the best treatment they could for Lynch in the midst of war. She was assigned the only specialist bed in the hospital and one of only two nurses on the floor. “I was like a mother to her and she was like a daughter,” says Khalida Shinah.

“We gave her three bottles of blood, two of them from the medical staff because there was no blood at this time,” said Dr Harith al-Houssona, who looked after her throughout her ordeal. “I examined her, I saw she had a broken arm, a broken thigh and a dislocated ankle. Then I did another examination. There was no (sign of) shooting, no bullet inside her body, no stab wound — only RTA, road traffic accident,” he recalled. “They want to distort the picture. I don’t know why they think there is some benefit in saying she has a bullet injury.” The doctors told us that the day before the special forces swooped on the hospital, the Iraqi military had fled. Hassam Hamoud, a waiter at a local restaurant, said he saw the American advance party land in the town. He said the team’s Arabic interpreter asked him where the hospital was. “He asked: ‘Are there any Fedayeen over there?’ and I said, ‘No’.” All the same, the next day “America’s finest warriors” descended on the building. “We heard the noise of helicopters,” says Dr Anmar Uday. He says that they must have known there would be no resistance. “We were surprised. Why do this? There was no military, there were no soldiers in the hospital.

“It was like a Hollywood film. They cried, ‘Go, go, go’, with guns and blanks and the sound of explosions. They made a show — an action movie like Sylvester Stallone or Jackie Chan, with jumping and shouting, breaking down doors.” All the time with the camera rolling. The Americans took no chances, restraining doctors and a patient who was handcuffed to a bed frame. There was one more twist. Two days before the snatch squad arrived, Al-Houssona had arranged to deliver Jessica to the Americans in an ambulance. “I told her I will try and help you escape to the American Army but I will do this very secretly because I could lose my life.” He put her in an ambulance and instructed the driver to go to the American checkpoint. When he was approaching it, the Americans opened fire. They fled just in time back to the hospital. The Americans had almost killed their prize catch. A military cameraman had shot footage of the rescue. It was a race against time for the video to be edited. The video presentation was ready a few hours after the first brief announcement. When it was shown, General Vincent Brooks, the US spokesman in Doha, declared: “Some brave souls put their lives on the line to make this happen, loyal to a creed that they know that they’ll never leave a fallen comrade.”

None of the details that the doctors provided made it to the video or to any subsequent explanations or clarifications by US authorities. The Pentagon spokesman in Washington, Bryan Whitman, declined to release the full tape of the rescue, rather than its edited version, to clear up any discrepancies. Whitman would not talk about what kind of Iraqi resistance the American forces faced. Nor would he comment on the injuries Lynch actually sustained. That American approach — to skim over the details — focussing instead on the broad message, led to tension behind the scenes with the British. Downing Street’s man in Doha, Simon Wren, was furious that on the first few days of the war the Americans refused to give any information to Centcom. The British were put in the difficult position of having to fill in the gaps, off the record.

Wren described the Lynch incident as “hugely overblown” and symptomatic of a bigger problem. “The Americans never got out there and explained what was going on in the war,” he said. “All they needed to be was open and honest. They were too vague, too scared of engaging with the media.” He said US journalists “did not put them under pressure.” Wren acknowledged that the events surrounding the Lynch “rescue” had become a matter of “conjecture”. But he added: “Either way, it was not the main news of the day. This was just one soldier, this was an add-on: human interest stuff. It completely overshadowed other events, things that were actually going on, on the battlefield. It overshadowed the fact that the Americans found the bodies of her colleagues. What we wanted to give out was real-time news.” The American strategy was to concentrate on the visuals and to get a broad message out. Details — where helpful — followed behind. The key was to ensure the right television footage. The embedded reporters could do some of that. On other missions, the military used their own cameras, editing the film themselves and presenting it to broadcasters as ready-to-go packages. The Pentagon had been influenced by Hollywood producers of reality TV and action movies, notably Black Hawk Down. The Pentagon has none of the British misgivings about its media operation. It is convinced that what worked with Jessica Lynch and with other episodes of this war will work even better in the future.

Where is the justice?

THE EDITOR: Please spare me a space in your newspaper. This is an open letter to the Commissioner of Police. I am sitting here at 3.35 am on Tuesday May 12, 2003 writing this letter. Half an hour ago, a battalion of police came to my house and arrested my parents and two brothers. They claimed they had a warrant concerning an “incident in January.” This happened earlier this year also where they came and arrested my parents for “not appearing in court” for which my parents never received a summons. The people who are responsible for this never appeared in court and the case was dismissed. My parents had to suffer in a cell for not doing any crime. It’s such a shame, what type of law is this? These police could just come and arrest innocent people when the criminals are out there. They are not doing their job and they call themselves law protectors.

An incident happened here on Sunday which was Mothers Day, where a bunch of men came and stood knocking and shaking our gate, brandishing cutlasses and iron threatening to kill us. We called the police, they never came. That happened during the day, and they never came. It seems as though these police are “night men.” These bunch of men who came threatening us, we heard are being paid by a so-called “prisons officer” who claims he has “police friends” and this said “prisons officer” is in dispute with us because he and his family are fighting for the land on which we live. I wish to add that yesterday he was riding in an E999 jeep looking at us. What a coincidence the police came at 3 am this morning? My parents are law-abiding citizens and these incidents have tarnished their characters.

Mr Commissioner Sir, if you’re reading this I ask where is the law and justice? These police are not doing their job, something should be done about this. You need to do some cleaning up. There are some dirty mice hiding in clean places and it is your duty and responsibility to get rid of them. As of this moment, I do not feel safe in my house, neither my community because it seems to me I’m not going to be protected by law enforcers or as the saying goes “pay for protection” and well, if you’re poor, too bad for you. I must say that I don’t have faith in this police service and I don’t respect them.


R RAMKHALLAWAN
Chaguanas

Matthew is De Lucozade man


Remember this commercial? A little stick man, complete with headband and mas costume is dancing in the hot sun. As the heat rises mercilessly around  him, he loses energy, so… he grabs a Lucozade, glugs it down and puts down a sexy “fast wine” to the ground.

Then there was the Panadol commercial with its protagonist Solomon Grundy, who also ends up doing a similar wine after getting relief from his headache. All of these commercials (and more) have one name in common, animator Matthew Hudson. Hudson was one of four persons who, through the success of the last Animae Caribe Festival, won the FCB award for Best use of Animation in the Media. He was also part of a small contingent that went to London, visiting schools and animation studios, learning about their techniques. But before all that, he was one of six (three brothers and sisters) growing up in Newtown, who loved to draw. He still has scores of his early drawings (and some from his days at Newtown Boys’ and QRC) neatly packed into large manilla envelopes, carefully labelled and dated.

“You never know when these could be brought to life,” he quipped, showing his renditions of local superheroes, based on our local folklore.
He usually works from his home in Woodbrook, which squashes that first impression that he is attached to any “one” advertising agency. His services are for hire. “This is very convenient for me here,” he says, relaxing on his couch. “When the agencies come calling, I don’t have very far to walk to meet them, you know? How it usually works is that they come up with a script and I do my best to interpret what they have. I also do story-boards, which helps with interpreting the story. When I draw I try to put special characterisations into the character and that way people relate to the ad better. But I always do story-boards beforehand, which determines the look of the ad.”

The former QRC graduate learned animation here in Trinidad at the John Donaldson technical institute; it was the first time they had ever taught this craft. Said Hudson, “We learned some amazing stuff, you know? There is so much that goes into making a cartoon… it was all about gravity, motion, physics… we learned about momentum, like looking carefully at how a person lifts an object, how to break it down into separate movements. There were new terms to learn and execute like ‘squash and exaggeration,’ which is what makes your drawing come alive…but what makes the difference between my stuff and other people’s is that I don’t follow all the rules, that’s the key.”

He was ready to share the John D experience after obtaining his certificate, but it would be a hard road. He worked as a graphic artist at a few companies before the people at John Donaldson approached him to teach a subsequent class. That done, he tried his hand at other companies, but was repeatedly shafted. Promises would be made to him, but payment was not always forthcoming. Frustration mounted.
“I started working with a guy (he’s now in Venezuela) at Video Associates and through him I started to make contacts with the agencies. I still had problems getting proper pay, but it was a progression, like my story-boards. I said to myself, ‘You see this, is better to do it on my own, because people just taking advantage.’ So, I went on my own and set up from home. I made my own rules, pay scale, everything. I also made a personal decision to do mainly 2D work (cell animation) because most of those jobs they give to Venezuela, like the Chubby ads and so; this meant that I would always be paid and have a little money in hand and carve my own niche in the market.”
And it has definitely paid off.

Looking back, he knows he’s paid his dues and the recognition he receives now more than makes up for those trying times. His wife Sharla (who’s also an artist) and three year old daughter give him the encouragement (and inspiration) to go on. When the Animae Caribe Festival came about, he was ready to show his work to an eager audience. A collection of his works (including past ads for Food Giant and Nagib Elias) were shown, but what took the cake was an animated “short” called “Some Things Doh Change,” which showed a “twenty-something” man going about his daily routine in a Trinidad of the future, set in the year 2071. Maxis had hover jets. The conductor was a robot sporting gold teeth. KFC was still around, but it was called TFC. The difference was that it came in a small cube and had to be rehydrated.

“I’m really proud of that one,” Hudson smiled, chuckling. “The reaction alone was worth it, because I put in a lot of elements that everyone is familiar with, the sign that says, ‘No Dumping of Rubbish’, yet the rubbish is there watching you. Dogs barking when you pass them, only the dogs are robots. I was just showing that the more things change, the more they stay the same. It was very well received though… very well received.” Nowadays, Hudson is busy working on other projects from home for future ads (top secret of course) along with personal projects of his own. He would also like to see a school for animation in this country and more. “I’d like to see an animated children’s programme that can educate, but not in a cheesy way,” he explained.

“People like seeing the local stuff, so why not use it in a positive way? We need to get the opportunity to make something else, show something else. Even people who do these independent films at the festival, we need something of a forum to see our stuff, why is there nothing for that? I don’t know if anyone ever approached anyone about it, but it is needed. We need writers to produce parts for these projects, or other animators. The good news is, there is interest in the art form. “For our trip to London we learned a lot, and we even shocked our hosts in a pleasant way. Over there, projects like these get immediate funding, so they were completely surprised to see that we did our work without that kind of assistance. Shock is a better word. Yeah, they were shocked. We do this because of a love for the art form, but it’s expensive too, eh? (Laughs) To do shows like this, we can get people to do voices, people like Jarred Butts come to mind. Then there is the music. Somebody else can come up with music, or write scripts… it will come together in a big way, it’s just the start we need.”

With the second festival coming up, he has something on the drawing board, literally… but he’s keeping it mum for the time being. When he’s not creating new characters, he’s puttering around with his aquariums. He even confessed that he would like to retire to the country someday, with his family and his fish. But  until that day comes, he will continue to churn out innovative ideas. “You know, something hit me the other day… I was one of those fellas who used to do the stick men in the corners of textbooks and make it like a flip book, now I doing this for money. But like I always say, you could do whatever you want in this life yes, once you like it, you could make something out of it.”

SUREKHA .. like a bolt of chutney lightning

At the Triangle Amphitheatre in Rio Claro, thousands of chutney fans gathered to witness the semi-finals of the National Chutney Foundation competition.

But, the crowd grew restless listening to the same soca beat over and over again. Then, like a bolt of lightning the voice of Surekha Yankaran broke the monotony. It was so distinct and powerful that everyone was now focused on the stage. She had spent her entire life hearing the voice of her father, the great Isaac Yankaran. She inherited the art of delivering these original classical lines so beautifully that she held the attention of everyone. Everyone came to a standstill when they heard her spellbinding voice. Although Surekha was just 2 1/2 years old when her father died — she was given a gift by a person she never knew, yet she had his blood running in her veins and his voice in her heart. “My father’s death seems to draw me closer to him. I was ever so curious about this human being who everyone seemed to idolise. I heard his voice every day in the house and I knew all his songs just by listening to him,” she said.

Surekha who still lives in the home of her father in Waterloo has been entertaining huge crowds throughout TT and many other countries. She has followed in the footsteps of her brothers and sisters and sang the songs that the people treasured. She has five brothers and one sister. Her eldest brother, Shyam lives in New York, Suresh live at home in Waterloo, Ashook has found his home in Canada. The famous Rakesh who also lives in Waterloo, travels to many different countries through the year. Her only sister Devika lives in New York. Then there is Anand, the guy who thrilled the people of TT with his popular song, “Nanda Babaji Ko Chaiya.” And finally there is the baby of the family, Surekha.  

The entire family has developed the art of singing. “My father gave us a beautiful gift. The art of delivering these songs. Wherever I go people would say that the sweetness in our voices is different from the other singers. They quickly point out the Yankaran’s voice from a distance,” she related. She agrees that God did give the Yankarans more powerful vocal chords than many other singers. Compared to the many singers of the world, the Yankarans are all enjoying a certain amount of fame because of their extremely melodious voice. Their CDs have been selling like hot bread. The most popular of them being her elder brother, Rakesh who won the Chutney Monarch on three occasions.  “Everyone says that Rakesh’s voice is the closest to his father’s. And he might not know it but I really enjoy listening to him sing. I have learnt a lot from him,” she said. She noted that she never really had the opportunity to share her sentiments with her brother because she doesn’t really have that kind of rapport with him. But when they meet the love is there. While hardly any spoken words pass between them — they communicate on a certain wave length.

She reminisces on the days at school when she was asked to sing for Divali functions. Although she knew the song, she remembers practicing long hours. “I believe that in order to hold the attention of any audience, big or small, one should really rehearse the item. Going before any audience is really a huge task. Imagine you are in front of an audience and you cannot deliver the song. I mean it is really no good,” she said. She noted that while many people have chosen singing as a career, the art of singing has chosen her. She didn’t like the hassle of going out every night to perform. “For women it is really difficult to maintain good character in the world. Each time you have to go out there at night it is taking so much from you. Especially when you are a performer,” she said. Surekha is married to Chris Ruben and they have two sons, Brandon 7, and Ryan, 10. Apart from singing, Surekha is a full time homemaker and housewife. She noted that she enjoys cleaning, decorating the house and also entertaining family and friends. She is also heavily involved in community work. Her husband Chris is the president of the Waterloo Village Council and Surekha is the Public Relations Officer.

Surekha loves to see children of the village get together in the temples. “I really love to see them sing together. It gives a great joy in my heart that I really cannot explain,” she said. She boasts about her niece, Chabela Jangalee (her sister, Devika, eldest daughter) who is following in the Yankaran footsteps and singing classical songs. Her nephew, Navin Yankaran — the son of Rakesh was awarded Best Drummer at the recent Classical Singing Competition at Rienzi Complex. Surekha says that she is always encouraging her nieces and nephews to carry on the tradition of singing since many of them have the Yankaran voice. Her latest CD, Chutney.Com compiled by Ajeet Praimsingh has been doing well in TT and in countries such as Canada, New York and Florida.

In 2003 Phagwa celebrations, the audience was treated to Yankaran’s songs at the Pichakaree competition where she thrilled them with her song entitled, “Let Dharma Prevail.” Her composition for the NCFTT’s Monarch is “Ah Going Away.” The tune deals with the present spate of crimes happening in the country and her quest to take her art to another country. The outspoken Surekha has been spending a lot of time creating new tunes and experimenting with various melodies for the songs she will perform this year. A deeply religious person, she attends Waterloo Sai Centre where she attends religious service every Thursday. She does a lot of devotion at home. “Doing devotion has helped me to focus in life. I get a lot of mental strength from doing devotion,” she said.