During his lifetime, Brother Resistance seemed to be one of those proverbial prophets, never appreciated in his own land as much as he was appreciated outside TT.
His rapso music, a soulful, rhythmic blend of African drumming, Trinidadian pan and chantwell-inspired vocals, inspired a distinct musical voice that embraced Trinidad creole as our defining language.
Some of his most famous songs – Dancin Shoes Rapso and Ring de Bell – evoked cultural awareness and preached the message of supporting local culture, while Mother Earth created environmental awareness, decades before these two issues became popular causes.
Brother Resistance, who died of cancer on July 13, at West Shore Medical Private Hospital, Cocorite, was a pioneering force for rapso music, but he always credited Lancelot Layne as the father of rapso.
Lorraine O’Connor, a creative sector specialist, first met him in 1989, when she came back to Trinidad to make her first film, Calypso Roots.
“We were given Resistance’s name from a guy in Paris. We learned about him outside of Trinidad,” she said.
A few years later, Brother Resistance became one of the first singers to sign with Rituals Music, founded by O’Connor, Jean Michel Gibert and Rosemary Hezekiah.
O’Connor recalls the joys of recording Brother Resistance and especially remixing the late Lord Pretender’s Never Every Worry in 1997. Resistance wove rapso through the classic calypso. O’Connor recalls the respect he had for Pretender (Aldric Farrell).
[caption id="attachment_901732" align="alignnone" width="740"] Portrait of Brother Resistance backstage at the Kaiso House calypso tent in 2020. - Photo by Mark Lyndersay[/caption]
“He was very protective of Pretender.”
Throughout the calypso, Brother Resistance refers to Pretender as a calypso icon.
“He’s a living legend in the house of kaiso,” he sings.
Brother Resistance always celebrated the history and culture that preceded him.
“In those early days of recording, we were the heart of rapso,” said O’Connor. “Brother Resistance led the way. Then came Kindred and Black Lyrics.”
“If it wasn’t for Brother Resistance, we wouldn’t be who we are today,” a Facebook post by Wendell Manwarren and the popular rapso group 3canal said after the death of Brother Resistance. The post described the rapso stalwart as “humble, rooted, real, wise, committed and strong.”
Together with other calypsonians, O’Connor and Brother Resistance toured France and Italy. In television interviews, which can be viewed on YouTube, Brother Resistance spoke of the mass appreciation he received at Reggae on the River in California.
“I had never experienced anything like that,” he said, referring to the vast crowds and enthusiastic reactions to his music. Talking about a tour of Italy, he smiled while recalling Italians reacting to the one sentence he learned in their language: “Raise your hand.”
He marvelled that Italians obeyed his command.
O’Connor described the late rapso artiste as “charismatic. He enjoyed life, but he was a serious guy. He was a
