Paula Lindo – Our histories, stories, present, future.

Soca Parang Queen Marcia Miranda celebrates 30 years in the business this year. In addition to releasing new music, she continues to maintain a hectic schedule, including headlining the Christmas at the Carib concert on December 8, in a return to the venue of her first-ever live concert.

Miranda’s new song is Solamente, written by which she sings on Lujoe and the Gifted’s new rhythm. She released it on November 14. For the 2019 season, she is also performing a medley of songs from artists such as Charlene Boodram, Colleen Grant, Susan Maicoo, Scrunter and Machel Montano. “Most are old-time parang songs that you used to hear a long time ago. People are really enjoying it, because those are songs that we really love, and all these popular parang songs.”

Miranda has already been performing for a month, and is part of the Champion’s Christmas Bandwagon with Adesh Samaroo. “We’re singing in quite a lot of different bars across Trnidad. This is a whole new market for me, and I’m getting to meet people who have never seen me perform, and who would normally not see me perform. There are some very long nights ahead, with multiple shows, and then it’s just go, go, go, go, go. It can be tiring, but I love it, and I know people appreciate it what I’m doing. I’m also performing in New York at Tropical Paradise Ballroom. Every year I also do a lot of charitable performances, for churches and schools, to help people with their fundraising for their churches or ventures or whatever, and I enjoy doing that, that one comes from my heart, I have to give something back.”

Shw said she is looking forward to the Christmas at the Carib concert for sentimental reasons. “That’s where I had my first ever concert in 2016. As a matter of fact, Johann Chuckaree, who is part of the cast at the show, was on my cast in 2016 as well, so it feels like deja vu. I love the Little Carib Theatre itself, because it lends itself to such an intimate setting, and you’re close to your audience so interacting is easy and beautiful, and so I’m looking forward to that show. I’ll be doing my new song as well as some older ones, I ‘ll be doing my new song, the medley, some of my classic songs that people love to hear, so they’re in for a really fun, exciting performance from us.”

Miranda said she has had to continuously reinvent herself to keep going. “Soca parang is my chosen genre, soca parang, I’m comfortable in it, so what I do to try to reinvent myself is to try different songs in different styles of my genre, which I do. I make my performances as exciting as I can to my audience. I’m well known for bringing a party alive, so that’s what I continue to do, and I’m very comfortable in it, and as the years come along, however many years God gives me, I will probably think of other things to do. But it’s a short season, and it’s not like soca where you could go on for the rest of the year doing shows and stuff, it’s just like two, three months and that’s it, so you have to make the best and the most out of it, and do your best as well.”

Miranda said she’s looking forward to the Christmas season. “’Tis the season, it’s all good and I’m really grateful for all the blessings, I just wish everybody a really happy and holy Christmas and a safe one at that, and of course I hope that Trinidad and Tobago will rise into a more beautiful country next year.”