TOPIC: Parang

History
In the 1800’s, farmers from Venezuela were bought to Trinidad to worked on
both the cocoa and sugar estates.
These farmers settled in all parts of Trinidad during this time. They are
responsible for the current Spanish names of places in Trinidad like Gran
Couva, Siparia, Rancho Quemado, Brasso Seco, Lopinot. They also influenced
our music by introducing parang to our culture.
Parang songs are folklores sang in Spanish usually about the story of the birth
of Christ or a message about peace on earth and goodwill to everyone.
At first, parang was songs sang only at christening or birthday celebrations by a
group of three to five men playing musical instruments. Then parang took over
Trinidad’s Christmas season, with large groups called Parranderos, including
females.

They would use Parang during this season to visit homes, commonly known as
“paranging house to house”. Parranderos would sing parang music while
playing their instrument through villages from one house to another late at
nights. They would play cuatro, mandolin, violin, chac chac, box bass, guitar
and bandolin.
This would wake the people living there. These people would then offer the
Parranderos stuff to eat and drink.
Notable Parang Bands/Personalities

Today, Parang has expanded to competitions, concerts and festivals. Groups will
compete to see who would be number one for the Christmas season. Some
notable parang entertainers are Los Alumnos de San Juan, The Lara brothers,
Los Ninos del Mundo, Sharlene Flores, Marcia Miranda, Scrunter and the late
but unmatchable Daisy Voisin.

The late Daisy Voisin (1924-1991)

Los Alumnos de San Juan

The Lara Brothers
Evolution of Traditional Parang

Parang has become so popular that there are new forms of parang now. These
are:
1.Soca Parang, this is Soca and Parang come together but the lyrics is in English.
2.Chutney Parang, a combination of Parang and Indo Trinidadian Chutney with
English, Spanish and Hindi lyrics.