Looking Back and Looking Forward

If i ask my readers to express how they feel about 2021 in one word. What do you think their reply would be?
Exhausting, Revealing, Relentless or Growth are the only words that can properly describe 2021. Let me first and foremost wish all the Community Contact readers and Soca & Reggae lovers a Happy, Prosperous and Healthy New Year.
During this past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has turned our lives upside down and changed not just the way we live and work but also how we think and behave. Every part of the world has been affected, and every aspect of life has been impacted.
Our everyday routines were brought to a stop, and any sense of normalcy was lost two years now. One thing we know is that COVID doesn’t affect everyone in the same way. As some may be affected with a mild cold others are more fatal.
Unfortunately January 2nd 2022 Legendary Soca Parang artist Passed away from Covid – 19. Kenny J (Kenwrick Joseph) passed away while being treated in ICU for COVID-19. He was warded for a few days and took his final breath around 11.25 am at the Augustus Long Hospital, Pointe-a-Pierre.
He left behind four children and ten grandchildren. His wife died before him. Kenny J had one of the sweetest voices on the local musical landscape, not only in calypso, soca, but soca parang, soca chutney and ballads.
Throughout the Christmas season several artistes and other well-known personalities including Kenny J appeared in a series of video clips advising citizens of Trinidad and Tobago to get vaccinated to protect themselves and their loved ones, as well as to allow the nation to return to some measure of normalcy.
Kenny J’s most popular song was his Soca parang classic, “The Paint Brush,” which he recorded in the 1990’s. Another classic was “Alexander,” both songs were always heard during the Christmas season. Kenny J’s death followed that of another cultural icon, the Mighty Bomber – Clifton Ryan – the day before, on New Year’s Day.