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From Christmas…
This Christmas season has been a good one for the veteran. He came strong this year, as he often does, with a track called Tribute To Tito Lara. The track, written by T&T Guardian reporter Michelle Loubon, pays homage to the famed cuatro player of the Lara Brothers, who passed away in February at the age of 82. This year, Crazy formed the Caravan Parang Soca Fiesta Tent. He explained that along with other members of the soca-parang fraternity, he attempted to take soca parang out of the rum shop and prove that it is a viable part of local culture that deserves the utmost respect—among practitioners and audiences.
His work throughout the season has afforded him the opportunity to interact with many young, up-and-coming soca parang artistes. From Ninja and Myron B to Dee Diamond and Poser, Crazy said credit must be extended to these people who have been devoting their time and energy to keeping the craft alive. On the issue of lyrical content, the man who reputedly produced the first soca parang track in 1978 said, “Soca parang is 31 years old in 2009. I want people to be a little more mindful of the season and what it means. We need soca parang with more Christmas vibes—angels, birds, and other Godly things—instead of the rum shop lyrics.”
On to Carnival…
Now let it be known that Edwin Ayoung, the man we all call Crazy, has shown his versatility in areas other than soca parang and even soca for that matter. His diversity has made him a mainstay of the Calypso Review Tent, where he is revered as the veteran of the bunch.
His ability to belt out social commentary lyrics has impressed many—and who would’ve ever thought that Crazy, the voice behind tracks like Paul Yuh Mother Come, Suck Meh Soucouyant and Mosquito, could offer 11 Panorama hits for Carnival 2010? Renegades, Desperadoes, All Stars and eight other steelbands will, for next year’s competition, offer music vocalised by Crazy. “Most of the writers cannot sing, so they call me to sing the tracks. I don’t charge the steelbands, cause I know they struggling, but I hope one day Pan Trinbago will call me and say they have a cheque for ten million dollars with my name on it,” he says.
Crazy for chutney
Crazy, who will also offer his Leston Paul-produced soca contribution in the coming weeks, said “I have a chutney track too. Ah going to change the face of chutney ’cause they need help; it’s too much rum. They need music that makes sense,” he asserts. His chutney song, Wasting Yuh Time, will be entered into the competition in 2010 and according to the man himself, it will hold its own. Shaking down the city in more genres than one, in 2010 the loveable lunatic is still Crazy, after all these years.
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 Edwin Ayoung, Crazy, has blazed a trail
in T&T music for over three decades.
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