Welcome to our website

    

 

Bienvenida! Welcome! Parang Alive! is just for you.  

 In this website you will find out about the very interesting heritage of our Spanish, French and African descendants of Trinidad and Tobago, and how their music created a unique artform known as Parang. In our quest to find out about the origins of Parang we have discovered a rich history that is shared and enjoyed by our people. The delightful rhythms and timbres of the instruments and vocalists capture the essence of what Christmas is really about.
 

 

 We hope that as you browse through our pages, you will derive much enjoyment and appreciation for this truly beautiful music, as we did.

 

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What is Parang?

Parang is Music! Parang is culture! Parang is tradition!

 

    Parang is an artform that is indigenous to Trinidad & Tobago. It is a genre of Music that was created in our country's history and still lives on today.  This music is heard during the Christmas season and starts from October every year.

    The term "parang" comes from the Spanish word "parranda", which means to fete, spree or party. These songs were religious in nature as they were mainly about the birth of Jesus Christ. Thus parang meant singing Spanish songs about the proclamation of the birth of Jesus, all that ocurred in between and up to the visit of the Magi (Epiphany), on January 6th of the new year.

    This was done in an extraordinary way. A group of about four to six people including instrument - playing musicians would go from house to house singing and playing their instruments. The musicians played guitar, cuatro, mandolin (bandolin) , violin, cello (violoncello), bandol (bandola), box bass, tambourine, clapper, toc-toc (claves), wood block pollitos, tiple, scratcher (güiro) and maracas (chac-chac or shak-shak).

A point to note is that while we can easily go to a shop and purchase and musical instrument today or even place an order for a customized one, in the early years the parranderos carved out their musical instruments from tree barks and gourds. The guiro is still made from gourds and the chac chac made from calabash.

    The families would meet the parranderos (musicians) and serve them drinks and food, (see our link on recipes) and follow a particular routine in singing. This included rituals for the entry into the home, the dedication of songs to the host for his warmth and hospitality, and the departure. During the early years men alone were parranderos while women stayed behind to prepare the food and drinks for the festivities.These sessions lasted until the early hours of the morning.

 

The merriment, joy and vivacious music  that is shared by neighbours and friends have made  this traditon a rich part of our culture.

A tradition that many of the pioneers want to keep alive!

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    PARANG VILLAGES

There are many villages that are keeping parang alive locally.

These include:

Lopinot, Santa Cruz, Rio Claro, San Rafael, Palo Seco, Tabaquite, Arima, Paramin, Bonasse, Brasso Venado, Las Cuevas, Rancho Quemado, Erin, Mundo Nuevo and Cedros.

 

Parang in the villages was a way of life for the villagers. One established parrandero shared that in Erin, where he grew up and went carousing house to house during the Christmas season, parang was used to help overcome and address disputes and disagreements. If another parrandero knew of a dispute among members in the village, he would act as the mediator in trying to get the disagreement sorted out, through the parang, and it usually was. In some villages some parranderos would sing and give picong ( light comical banter where someone is teased or mocked in a friendly manner) to each other.

However, even though parang is the same generally, each village has its unique and peculiar style. In the village of Lopinot, we learnt parang is played throughout the year at different occasions including Easter. Even a solemn occasion as a funeral would have parranderos present to sing each night and of course there would be food to accompany!

 

 

Many parang bands also perform at Malls and Christmas events. In recent times it has become part of the landscape of Tobago although the form is more contemporary than traditional.

 

 

 

 References:

The Parang Project (accessed 9th Spetember 2010) from https://www.nalis.gov.tt/music/parang_project/parangproj.htm

 

Parang Festival (accessed  October 3rd 2010) from: https://www.ttconnect.gov.tt/gortt/portal/ttconnect/eventnholiday/?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/gortt/wcm/connect/GorTT%20Web%20Content/ttconnect/home/events+and+holidays/parang+festival

Opposites Attract (retrieved from website September 9th 2010): https://trinidad-guide.info/past.and.present/history/

What is Parang? (accessed September 09 2010) from https://aingram.web.wesleyan.edu/parangdescription.html 

 

https://www.tntisland.com/parang.html

 

 

 

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Where did Parang originate?

Parang's root is basically Spanish with French and African influences. Our history as recorded, shows that in 1498 Christopher Columbus came to Trinidad. The Spanish settlers did not arrive until 1592, almost 200 years later.

    As part of colonizing the island, the Spanish invited the French and other Europeans to settle and help to develop it. Many of these settlers came with their slaves as well as about 4000 free African slaves. They established cocoa and coffee plantations where many native Amerindians were slaves too. Within a short time the Amerindian population dwindled to a few hundred. 

    In this "New world" as the Spanish saw it, they sent many Catholic Priests who were in charge of various parts of the island where missions were set up to teach the natives Christianity. A criterion for placement was that the priest had to be a master of music and so taught many songs about the Bible in Spanish; the birth of Jesus being one. This influenced what is now known as parang music since the music is primarily about the birth of Jesus. The songs are about the nativity and are usually sung at Christmas time.

Another belief is that when the Venezuelans came to Trinidad to work on the cocoa plantations they also brought with them their culture of music and song. These workers called cocoa panyols entertained themselves with parang music as there was neither radio nor electricity.

African influence is attributed mainly to the zanza mbira drum which looks like the box bass drum.  This drum along with other instruments we saw in the museum at Lopinot influenced the rhythm as we know it. In addition the singing voice added a peculiar timbre that is distinctly parang.  

 

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