In a statement, the company said a delegation, accompanied by Guillermo Vasquez Moreno, Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba to Trinidad and Tobago, met with senior officials of the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries (MEEI) on January 25.

The statement said that one of the main topics of discussion at the meeting was the strengthening of energy relations between the two countries.

The CUPET executives accepted an invitation from Phoenix Park Gas Processors Limited for a reciprocal visit to Trinidad following the attendance of a delegation led by Minister of Trade and Industry, Paula Gopee- Scoon, of Trade and Industry from Trinidad and Tobago to the Havana International Fair 2016.

Among the delegation were various local energy sector interests.

The mandate was to pursue cooperation in the key areas of trade and energy and to outline mechanisms for increased collaboration between both countries. The attendance of the ministerial delegation also allowed for discussions on strengthening the existing infrastructure to facilitate increased trade.

Trinidad and Tobago’s attendance at FIHAV 2016 was arranged following a meeting between Prime Minister Dr.

Keith Rowley and Cuban President Raul Castro during the VII Summit of Heads of State of the Association of Caribbean States in June 2016 in Havana, Cuba.

The CUPET executives had a very satisfactory and productive visit and were able to attend the first two days of the Energy Conference which was held at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad on January 23 and 24.

Responding to a question on Tuesday from Opposition Senator Wade Mark in the Senate, Imbert said Shell produces natural gas from the North Coast Marine Area, East Coast Marine Area and the Central Block. Imbert, who is Finance Minister stated, “All gas from North Coast Marine is supplied to the joint venture special purpose vehicle in Atlantic LNG (ALNG) under a dedicated netback marketing arrangement.” He explained that the National Gas Company receives a portion of natural gas from the East Coast Marine Area and the Central Block.

Mark asked whether BGTT is under-supplying natural gas to NGC by re-routing extra gas to ALNG, which is now called Atlantic.

Imbert said his understanding was that, “BG has been struggling with its contractual obligations to NGC.” He said he was advised that this was due in part to, “declining production from the Dolphin Field.” In response to another question from Mark, Imbert said the average daily volume of natural gas purchased by the NGC from BGTT was 140 million standard cubic feet

FROM the wellspring of Garfield Ras Shorty I Blackman, Nailah Blackman has come. The musical root of a family of musicians sprouting from the life and work of one often regarded as the father of soca. The 19-year-old is walking in the footsteps of her grandfather and has given her first offering to soca .

Blackman’s Workout done collaboratively with Kees Dieffenthaller has become one of the more popular song out for Carnival 2017. It is the first of many to come, she said .

Like Ras Shorty I, Blackman hopes to put her own stamp and sound on the local genre. Blackman’s root also springs from mother and calypsonian, Abbi Blackman and father Carlyle Thornhill (a manager and writer in the music industry). He managed her mother and uncle, Dereck (OC) Blackman .

Blackman’s music journey began at an early age, four to be exact .

“Music started for me at a very young age. I started singing in public at the age of four-years-old. My dad would write calypsoes and my mother would compose them and I would go to many different calypso competitions such as NJAC, national competitions, school competitions .

There are competitions everywhere around Carnival time and even just in general that I would do from four till high school.” Blackman attended Rio Claro East Secondary School.

“I was always doing music because I love to sing, always. Coming from a music family like my own, it was kind of bound to for me. Whereas I knew what I wanted to be from a very young age .

I modelled my life and my being and my entity behind what she [her mother; Abbi Blackman] was doing because I thought it was fantastic,” she said .

At 11, she began writing her own songs. She then joined her aunt’s Nehilet Blackman’s “All Girls Band”, a gospel band where she sang background vocals.

Although she is not a Christian, she used the experience to hone her skills and develop the art of performing. At 12, she learned to play the guitar and was, at that time, writing, robustly, as well.

At 15, she was prompted by Nehilet to “forge her own path.” She then teamed with her uncle, gospel artiste Isaac Blackman, “doing studio recordings and doing my own material. I tried to forge a song from him but I couldn’t because everything that we created sounded like his and I wanted my own sound.” She began working with Kasey Phillips who then introduced her to other producers. “I started there and I soon became known by other producers and I started going to different places seeing who I clicked with…who I had that musical chemistry with and I started doing my EP by a producer by the name of Keron ‘Sherriff Mumbles’ Thompson and we released my first single entitled ‘Cigarettes’ in 2016,” she said.

Blackman then made the decision to do more.

Doing more meant developing her musical interests, among them soca. “I wanted to do soca even before. I also did a lot of soca competitions in school but people talked me out of it because they felt I was much bigger than soca,” she said.

She began working with Mumbles and Anson [Soverall] to do soca. Visiting Soverall, he played her a rhythm and,“I fell in love with it and I started writing.” Another writer was in the studio at the time and said the song would be great as a duet. The male part was written and pitched to different male artistes. “Two weeks after, I met Kees in a studio and I told him I have a song and it would be great if you could be on it. I played the song for him and he loved the track but felt the male part was not suited well for him.

He wanted to re-write the male part, so that was when writers and artistes like Preddy, Anson and Kees, we all came together to rewrite the male part,” and her 2017 track “Workout” was born.

But as she began her journey in the soca world, she has plans to greatly impact it. Soca, Blackman said, is much more than people perceive it.

“I feel people put down soca because of what we have made it. Soca is an amazing genre.

It is only mediocre because people make it a joke. People make it about money, people make it about hype, people make it about everything other than the music. I want to bring that back. My grandfather being the creator of soca music, I wanted to bring back some sort of life and justice and integrity to the music,” she said.

While for some, “soca is a topic and the topic being what happens in Carnival,” for Blackman, “soca is an all-year thing. It is a rhythmic structure, it is a feeling.” And so looking at soca as more than …she hopes to infuse different sounds into her music but more interestingly, she wants to experiment more with the Indo- Trinidadian sounds which gave rise to soca in the first place.

She has been approached by different artistes since her 2017 soca debut and is expected to release a single with a top Jamaican artiste-although she was reluctant to say who.

She also plans to redo some of her grandfather’s classics among them his 1974 Endless Vibration.

As for what she defines her style as, “It is such a fusion. It is very ballad type, very contemporary but it is very jazz, very funk, very indie, very alternative as well. But it is extremely Caribbean. It is such a fusion there is no box I can put it in as yet and until I can find my path I am just going to stay out in the wind.”

The play by Ricardo Samuel has won four Cacique Theatre Awards: Best Comedy, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Set Design. The play addresss several questions: What happens when a prominent older man marries a younger girl? Is he a minister of government? Why are older men attracted to younger women and exactly who is using whom? A prominent older man ends up with a sexy young girl from Brasso Seco and bacchanal begins to brew in the family.

The ex-wife and son are on the attack, the maid is in the middle and a seduction is being planned to expose all. But who will be exposed? Men Are Dogs!!! features a stellar cast and crew that includes Richard Ragoobarsingh, Glenn Davis, Debra Boucaud Mason, Corrine Browne, Ria Ali, Leslie Ann Lavine and Aaron Schneider.

The play is directed by Debra Boucaud Mason and Richard Ragoobarsingh and the award-winning set design by Ricardo Samuel.

Tickets available at the usual outlets.

The event takes place from 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm and is free. The line-up of entertainment which is expected to delight both children and adults, includes a magic show, face painting, storytelling corner, bran tub, Carnival games and live performances by soca artistes Rupee and King Bubba among others.

Last year over 500 persons attended the popular event which is inclusive and will also be hosting guests from various special needs organisations across Trinidad. Partnering for the event would be Blue Waters, Funnables, SM Jaleel, Nestle, Rene Sound and Vision and Sno Bizz.

Pan, the national instrument holds a treasured place in TT ’s culture, society and history and is synonymous with Carnival and greatly impacts Trinbagonian culture.

Benoit has found a way to embody the watchwords of Cariri, “Innovation is Creativity being Implemented” with his local innovation, Panimation- Legends of Panderica, Cariri said in media release.

The series is extremely appealling to youths and can enhance their interest in pan, the release said. It is also very educational in nature and imparts life lessons on morals and perseverance which will serve as an inspiration for the youth to become “all that they can be.” The venue for the launch, the Centre for Enterprise Development (CED) is Cariri’s flagship development and is aimed at facilitating not only research, development and innovation capacity- building but also the fostering of business creation and expansion through the use of ICT.

“Through this medium, the centre can potentially enhance Cariri’s contribution to Government’s goals of economic transformation, employment and income generation and the achievement of sustainable development,” the release stated.

The event’s theme is “Putting All the Stars on Stage”. The organisers is doing just that with a performance line-up that includes MX Prime and Ultimate Rejects, Ravi B and Karma, Omardath Maharaj, Kes the Band, Orlando Octave, Blaxx, Shal Marshal, Tim Tim, Iwer George, Marz Ville and Devon Matthews backed by the A Team Band. Surprises guest artistes will also hit the stage. DJs Nuphoric will take the main stage together with DJ Adam and Alicia the Duchess, said a media release.

The exquisite menu will include Chinese, Indian and Creole cuisine.

Premium bars will provide a wide selection of sparkling wines, cocktails, shots and mocktails.

Shuttle services will be available from four secured “parking centres” at Valsayn Teachers College, Kay Donna, Cipriani Labour College and Valpark Plaza.

This year there will be a park and win competition.

Prizes include television sets and tickets to Miami and New York courtesy Caribbean Airlines.

Tickets are available from All Xtra Foods branches.

For more info: ultimateone.

mycarnivalbands.com or Facebook.

The other half of De Red Boyz, Mikey Hulsmeier was not able to make the trip to Trinidad.

Biggie Irie performed song after song way out of what we in Trinidad are accustomed to hearing him perform. His version of Ed Sheeran’s Thinking out Loud was exceptional, so too was Shaggy’s It Wasn’t Me, Murder she Wrote and The Israelites.

Biggie Irie also did some Bob Marley classics like One Love and Three Little Birds and a Sparrow Medley which included Obeah Wedding, The Lizard, Jean and Dinah and Drunk and Disorderly.

Guest musician out of the USA, Joel Cruickshank played a haunting saxophone with the duo which complimented Galt’s guitar playing.

Part-time calypsonian Swami out of the Queen’s Park Oval also performed Congo Man with the musicians.

While the audience was somewhat small the show was well appreciated forcing owner Carl Jacobs to say he will definitely bring them back.

This is how NCC Chairman, Kenny de Silva, sees the future of Carnival.

“Carnival can make money, but we have to reshape the model,” de Silva told Business Day, “We need to take Carnival to the big networks of the world. We need to produce and sell Carnival like a product, in much the way the Olympics is done. The money is made in the coverage.” There is just one problem.

He has no packaged product to sell to them.

The tussle over who has the final control over the festival leaves the NCC in a difficult position, where, de Silva lamented, the organisation has no control over the products of Carnival.

“You cannot develop a way forward unless everybody is on the same page,” said the NCC chairman.

“It’s like I give you a store, but I give control of the goods in it to somebody else. Then I tell the person owning the store that you have got to make this work.” “You have no good to sell. No influence. It’s frustrating.” He said, though, that this year there has been more cooperation between Special Interest Groups and the NCC.

De Silva said this year, based on the direction of the NCC’s line ministry and the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, they have taken control of revenue aspects of all the shows for Carnival, pan, calypso and mas. A hard decision that had to be made because of tough economic circumstances.

“Based on what is happening with the economy, we have to go into and see what is happening with the financing and public funds given to these organisations.” It is an action that has not sat well with Pan Trinbago, who’s executives accused both the Culture ministry and the NCC of attempting a hostile takeover of the organisation and pan.

The pan body has even said that the NCC is not fit to supervise it as that organisation is in debt to the tune of $200 million.

De Silva denied this, however.

And it is not a case of different strokes for different folks, with the NCC remaining outside the reach of auditors. De Silva said he welcomed the intervention and his tone throughout the interview suggested that this may happen sooner rather than later.

He told Business Day that an audit of the NCC was the first step in streamlining the management of Carnival. One of the areas he intimated might need review, was the NCC’s staff requirements.

He also said the published accounts after the audit, would help the public make better decisions on whether they have received value for money.

Having a good board in place, formulating good policies, with an executive that would carry out these was also necessary, the NCC chairman said.

As to what this packaged Carnival will look like? De Silva likened it to 2020 cricket, which he said had more viewers than test cricket because people simply did not have the time to look at long matches any more. He saw more produced and edited material.

“You have to sell something that is packaged. It can’t be 8 hours long, or 20 hours long.” He also wants a change of how advertisers are charged for their banners throughout the season and said changes to legislation may be necessary to make this happen.

“Advertisers put up banners all over TT during carnival, but don’t put out anything beyond the cost of the banner. There should be a cost attached which advertisers should pay to the NCC or some other organisation.” The NCC chair said unless action like this was taken, carnival would never realise its true financial potential, since it was the business activity generated by carnival that made money and not necessarily the festival itself.

De Silva said making Carnival a yearround revenue earning opportunity was difficult, however, he did think there should be a space where people could go to see local content at least once a month.

“Carnival is important to all TT,” he said, “It is more important now than in other years. The country has a lot of challenges and needs a good carnival.” He is optimistic that this year, is going to be a good one.

During Biesebroek’s hour-long visit at the Minister’s St Clair office, discussions focused on agroprocessing, youth in agriculture, innovation; legislative and policy support, competitiveness, diversification, fisheries, climate change, the honey sector, forestry, among other topics.

Rambharat discussed technical guidance and oversight for the conduct of a National Forestry Inventory with the FAO officials.