Pellau Magazine

Yafeu "Rootsman" Osei, with his melodic voice and engaging personality, brought the house down at the Alternative Local Tuesdays (ALT) show last Tuesday night at the Aquarios Bar and Lounge on Eastern Main Road, Tacarigua. The seasoned calypso and soca bard had patrons clapping, singing along and shaking a leg as he delivered melody after sweet melody from his wide, captivating repertoire of songs. 

 

 

The gifted lyricist shared the night's stage with several other local artistes who delivered their contributions to an enthusiastic audience, presenting authentic work from a broad range of genres inclusive of soca, pop, R&B, dramatic poetry, and spoken word. Fuelled by the ALT-created chant, "Long Live Local!," the performers on the event's playbill had members of the audience enraptured and paying keen attention to their renditions. The lineup included the young spoken word artiste Boom delivering Storytime, Run, and Reminisce; R&B vocalist Michael Foye singing Love, Stay Here, and She's A Bad Girl; Stacyann Parris (Phoenix Lyricis) performing Image and Silent; and the dynamic Chanz Davis offering (Gaza) Strip, and Vanilla Hot Sauce.

 

 

Set in the relaxed poolside atmosphere of the Aquarios courtyard, ALT has been helping to rekindle a love for local entertainment forms and a revived respect for the local artiste, since its inception in April 2012. Developed and hosted by university teacher and talented performing artiste Janique Dennis, the show works to revive the love for home-grown creativity in the musical and performing arenas. New and seasoned talent find an equal place on the stage of ALT, as the programme creates a much-desired open-mic space for emerging artistes to share their work and hone their presentation and audience communication skills. ALT is on every Tuesday from 8 pm.

from The Trinidad Guardian Newspaper http://www.guardian.co.tt/entertainment/2012-06-08/local-music-lives-large-alternative-local-tuesdays