The Organist's Daughter--Yankee Girl
There's a picture of my father in one of his bands that I keep close to me, on my desk. It's a group of 8 young men, and the band includes conga drums, a guitar, drum set, bass and keyboard. My father is the keyboardist. It is an old picture, he must have been around 17. My mother told me that my father started playing professionally by the time he was 15 or 16, hanging out in Port-of-Spain in a time when it was really a port. It was full of rum shops, prostitutes and music-- commodities engendered by the frequent visit of foreign ships and its crew. My father is the son of a musician. His father, my great-grandfather is from St. Vincent and played what is called the box guitar. He was a carpenter by trade, but walked the streets the streets of Port-of-Spain, playing his guitar in his free time. My father is from a part of Trinidad referred to as "behind-the-bridge", I believe the bridge is the East Dry River bridge, and it is a place that my Grandfather always ref...