55 And Still Alive
Henry, so how do we get to hear the music?
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Last week the Caribbean Camera published a news story about 55 Still Alive, a Calypso song written by performing artist King Cosmos, that is meant to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival. Last week the song was still being worked up and we didn’t tell readers how to hear the new music. Bad mistake, you the readers let us know that it was unfair to hold back on the tune.
Well, we hate to do this again but Calypso fans will have to wait until the end of the month. The song drops June 1st on Spotify, Apple Music and all the other social media music platforms.
What will you hear? The call-and-response style song pays tribute to Canada’s largest multi-cultural festival from past to present. Composed, written and produced by King Cosmos (Henry Gomez) is all about the originators, artists, organizations and stakeholders who nurtured the festival since its inception in 1967. Mixed and mastered by Ossie Gurley, co-producer of the Soca track “Who Let the Dogs Out,” “55 Still Alive” has already earned international appeal.
“I shared the song with close family and friends,” says King Cosmos, “and the positive feedback keeps on keeping on. Now, I understand that international interests, including Trinidad and Tobago are embracing a song about Toronto Carnival, and it’s a great feeling!”
King Cosmos, emigrated to Toronto from Trinidad and Tobago in 1969. He has been involved with Caribana since the late1980s and won the Canadian Calypso Monarch competition in 1995. He was the Chair of Caribana from 1996 to 1997, and again from 2012 to 2014. To many, he is regarded as an icon in the genre and a loyalist to the Carnival arts. He recently completed his master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies at York University, with his thesis focused on “storming” in the grand parade.
Some hope that Caribana Arts Group and Festival Management Committee (organizers of Toronto Carnival) will adopt “55 Still Alive” as the anthem for the 2022 festivities.
CHIN Radio host Jai Ojah Maharaj has had a sneak preview of the song and thinks it is a winner, “A timely tribute to the people who have contributed unselfishly to make this a truly vibrant Caribbean festival in Toronto”
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