The big band Divine Echoes is looking forward to 2017 as the year to make a difference to young people and the country.
One of the lead vocalists of the band, Moricia Cagan, told the T&T Guardian that since the appeal was made at the funeral service for former prime minister Patrick Manning in July for the Government to restart the band nothing has happened, “no one from the government has contacted us,” she said.
However, the band is not resting on its laurels and waiting for handouts.
Cagan said they have been meeting frequently “if not always face to face, there is social media and we talk to each other. We want to ensure we keep the band going. If the Government steps in to help we will be grateful, but we not waiting, we doing what we have to do and continue to try to secure jobs for the band,” she said.
Divine Echoes was the brainchild of Manning and operated under the management of the Office of the Prime Minister, with a budgetary allocation.
The band was often seen and heard at official State functions rendering a wide repertoire of music.
Manning had hoped that State funding for the band would have been weaned off and corporate sponsors would have stepped in but this never happened.
In 2012 the band hit a sour note when the People’s Partnership government ceased State funding for the entity saying the state had no business funding a and musical group.
Cagan explained that initially the band was launched “to target youth, to do a particular kind of music-what Mr Manning called pure music. To show young people there was more to music that the dub and other types of music which inspired negativity. He wanted them to know what real music was.”
She said said the aim was to keep young people busy “so that they don’t fall into bad company and get involved in crime, and for them to realise that music presented a range of avenues and opportunities from playing in a band, to teaching and even fixing instruments. They have the opportunity to learn about the instruments, how to play and even to sing.”
Divine Echoes currently has an interim executive.
Cagan said the management team would be formalised early in 2017.
Currently, she said, there are about 20 people on the team and BRUCEshe was optimistic the numbers would grow “because there are many people who are willing to come on board.”
One of the things the band would be looking at is the possibility of renaming in honour of its founder.
“It came up but we will say more about that when we re-launch in 2017, we are also re-tweaking our mission statement and making changes which we hope will attract more corporate people to us, we are not just about making music,” she said, “we also want to make a difference in the lives of young people.”
The band’s last public appearance was at Woodford Square on July 9, when they played music to an appreciative audience at the funeral service of their founder.