Why T&T Loves Japanese Soca Artist - Minmi

Her Performance Was Spellbinding

Is it because she's Japanese?

Exactly, it is a long journey from Japan to Trinidad and Tobago. Crossing the seas, crossing cultures and language barriers, it is indeed a long journey.

It is an honor, maybe not in the traditional Japanese sense but then again maybe, to be chosen by anyone in any foreign speaking country to take the journey to come to Trinidad and present themself in a was that everything resonates with the people.

The audience reaction to her soca musical presentation expressed that honor in the only way we know how, we get on bad, wine and misbehave. .

It is amazing that a foreign singer, and one that speak a language that only about 10 people in the entire population of T&T can speak could get such a reaction from a crowd of soca lovers. .

My conclusion is that people like anything that's different,  There are literally hundreds of soca artists in T&T, many have not commanded such excitement.  It validates that when you are different you stand out of the crowd.

Minmi, comes with a difference a big difference. She has captured the rythem of soca and expresses it in Japanese and English,

Listen to her rock the local Trinidad crowd, she will did not win a title but she deserve big ups for her performance here

Check the Japanese Soca video.

Who is Minmi?

According to an excerpt of an article posted on wikipedia..

Japanese singer in Soca Monarch.

By Joan Rampersad (Newsday).

Minmi, a 29-year-old Osaka-born Japanese hip-hop, reggae and soca singer, is among the 107 entrants for the Groovy Soca Monarch competition, and also one of the 110 artistes registered for the International Soca Monarch competition.

Locals will remember Minmi when she mesmerised the crowd while performing her 2006 soca hit “Summertime” at Machel Montano’s Alternative Concept 4 concert last year.

Patrons didn’t know what the exact lyrics were whether it was jump, wave, wine, in Japanese but the performance was one of high energy and when shouted to the crowd to “Put your hands in the air”, patrons went wild.

She started her career back in 1996 at clubs in Osaka performing both hip hop and reggae. She then released her first album in August 2003 and has since released four albums and eight singles. 

She has a big following in Japan as well as in Jamaica and here in Trinidad Tobago.

For 2007, she has recorded “Shanananana Japanese Wine” featuring Machel Montano, and on her own, “Step By Step”. The latter song is currently enjoying heavy rotation on local cable stations.

So what do you think?  

Did the fusion work for her?

Can Trinidad & Tobago Withstand An Earthquake Like Japan's?

WAKE UP TRINBAGO

You're due for another major earthquake and we are not prepared for it.

There is not much preparation you can make for an earthquake , it's not like a hurricane with hours of time to alert everyone. 

It is an instant,  unpredictable disaster with immediate consequences during and after it hits.  The scope of destruction depends on its intensity and duration.  Tsumanis are very predictable and with certainty could de large enough to devastate an entire island if not a very significant portion. 

Here is a youtube video of the aftermath of a tsunami caused by an earthquake.

 Typically major earthquakes in the Caribbean measure in the range of 6.0 to 7.0 on the Richter scale.  Here is what happens.

Pressure builds up in the earths’ crust along a fault line.  After many decades of pressure, like a rubber band stretched to it’s limit, something gives, the result is a shift in the earth’s topography; an earthquake.  The only way that scientists have found useful is the time in-between earth quakes.   Here is a history of all recorded earthquakes 

There have also a theory that animals can sense when an earthquake will hit.  One local article with quote by our local earthquake expert provides great insight into this idea.  Read it here.   

Although there have been a number of minor earthquakes in recent times, they have not caused much damage.  The signs have been there, but we are not prepared.  Most notable, unlike Japan, there is no regulatory agency to over see construction of home and large buildings.  Here is how prepared the Caribbean is right now. 

Remember when we talk about an earthquake hitting Trinidad and Tobago, that includes anywhere in the Caribbean with sufficient magnitude. Thank God we were not hit with a tsunami when the earthquake destroyed Haiti.

The last time we in Trinidad and Tobago felt the earth shake uncontrollably was…

 On October 21, 1766 at 10:65 Saint Joseph, Trinidad and Tobago was destroyed by a 7.9 earthquake.  The city has been rebuilt but was one of the reasons why the government at the time to relocate the capital to Port of Spain.  The other reason was that Port of Spain was accessible by sea.

To answer the question whish is the subject of this post is a flat out NO. 

We are not ready.  We need to get ready before it’s too late.  

We will never be able to predict when it will happen.  Our building suck and many people will be crushed by them but at least we know the urgency of evacuating any large building or at least how to react when an earthquake hits.  

We can predict how we are going to react.  Instead of looking at hanging people we could lobby for legislation that addresses this issue in a holistic manner.   That is just in case an earthquake wakes us up, which according to the people that know, is a certainty.   

This is a quake up call Trinidad and Tobago.  Heed it. 

Stay Blessed.