Supplequental Parade Route

Send us Fan MailApparently, Trinidad and Tobago has been having some trouble with words lately — so this week, we're putting our vocabulary to the test.After somehow producing a 30,788-word conversation with KES, I go searching for some of the wordiest and best-written calypsos of all time, with classics from Relator, Mighty Spoiler, Lord Blakie, David Rudder, The Mighty Sparrow and more providing the soundtrack to the conversation.But as always, the music leads us into some bigger discussions.We revisit the debate surrounding the new police and army posts at Eddie Hart, and why supporting increased security shouldn't mean we stop asking questions about process and accountability.I also respond to some of the feedback from last week's discussion about Emancipation and share my experience at Attillah Springer's Roots & Rights Emancipation Concert — an experience that made me think differently about the connection between Emancipation, the Canboulay Riots, culture, business and the enormous tourism potential of what we already have in Trinidad and Tobago.Then there's Benjai.His controversial social media post about Indians, soca and Emancipation — and his subsequent apology — leads into a wider conversation about race, division and why I refuse to believe that what we see online represents how most Trinidadians actually feel about one another.We also get into the Caroni Bird Sanctuary, eco-tourism, the return of the Independence Day parade, the Queen's Park Savannah and why Trinidad and Tobago may have one renewable resource we'll never run out of:Vibes.And through it all, we celebrate the extraordinary ability of our calypsonians to use words — to tell stories, make us laugh, challenge society and somehow fit more lyrics into four minutes than I thought humanly possible.This is not about having all the answers. It's about starting the conversation.Tell me where you agree, where you disagree, and most importantly:What is the wordiest calypso of all time?━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🎧 SUPPORT THE PODCASTGet early access, exclusive episodes and behind-the-scenes content on Patreon.https://www.patreon.com/coriesheppardpodcast📱 FOLLOW CORIE SHEPPARD📸 Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/coriesheppod👍 Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/coriesheppardpodcast🎵 TikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@coriesheppod𝕏 Xhttps://x.com/coriesheppod