![\"\"](\"https:\/\/loopnewslive.blob.core.windows.net\/liveimage\/sites\/default\/files\/0f8084c44a8a1810d7366187afcc4e1deverard_and_resistance_easy-resize.com_.jpg\" "\\"Everard")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nEverard Romany and Brother Resistance. Photo courtesy Lars Hanssen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Around 1972\/73 the four men formed The Network Riddum band and the Cold Concrete Network Youth Movement. They rehearsed in a bamboo shed on a piece of land on Quarry St where Romany\u2019s family once squatted. The house had fallen to ruins, he said and he constructed a bamboo shed to do his leatherwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Romany, who dropped out of school in Form Two after his father left the family and migrated to the United States, followed in his dad\u2019s artisan footsteps, making bags and sandals among other items to sell to support his mother and siblings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For almost 10 years the Network Riddum Band performed mainly for Trade Unions who hired them for various events because of their songs which resonated with the working class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Romany said Hughes sang the first rapso hit \u201cWuk and Dead\u201d an unrecorded song that echoed through the ghettoes with the words emblazoned on walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1981, however, they got their big breakthrough with the release of their first album, a 45 record called \u201cBusting Out\u201d with two songs \u201cSquatter\u2019s Chant\u201d and \u201cDancing Shoes\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The album was recorded at KH Records in Sealots and prior to recording, Ras Shorty I, the father of soca, provided a lot of direction and guidance to the young artistes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Romany said they used professional studio musicians on the first album since their band was not yet ready. The group of youngsters they had curated from the area, some as young as 13, were now learning to play instruments that he and Resistance bought for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The original musicians of Network Riddum Band were Norbert \u201cMickey\u201d Moore, drummer and bass guitarist; Steve Jemmot, tenor pannist and arranger; Wayne \u201cBongo\u201d Haynes, African drummer; Sister Irma Williams, the first female Rapso artiste; Kurt the \u201cFaithy\u201d DeFreitas, double second pannist; Derek Benny Jones, African drummer and double second pannist; Clyde Jones, African drummer and Rapso recording artist; Cyril \u201cStou\u201d Jack, bass guitarist; Neal \u201c Tripper\u201d McConney, lead guitarist; Oba Bop, drummer; Dawn \u201cBlack Pearl\u201d Peters, congas; Anthony Humphrey, percussionist; Peter Joseph Elie, manager and Ralph LeGendre \u201dBlockmaster\u201d, the Rapso DJ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Romany said the late Ja Jah Oga Onilu, who introduced the Orisha vibe into Andre Tanker\u2019s band, taught some of the musicians the art of making and playing the drum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group, Romany said, was one big family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTogetherness was the essence of the struggle. The family that prays together stays together. We started holding hands in a circle and the first time we experimented with spirituality there were struggles in the yard, but being persistent the forces left us and we got peace. We were revolutionary in what we did, we became vegetarians, we turned away from religion but we believed in spirituality. It takes a village to raise a child and the foundation of Rapso is building a family and that is the foundation,\u201d said the 69-year-old who is deeply spiritual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Busting Out, as its name declared, was an instant success but the band struggled with the authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Port-of-Spain city corporation evicted them from the land and Romany and Resistance ended up in court as they fought to keep the spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After bargaining with Cuthbert Joseph, the then Member of Parliament for the area, they got a place on Observatory Street in Port-of-Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having inherited business acumen from his father who was a business man, Romany, who also managed five contracts under the Government\u2019s Special Works Projects, an early version of CEPEP, strategised to ensure they could support themselves to keep doing the music as self-sustenance was one of their pillars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everard Romany known today as Rapso Rebel. Photo by Laura Dowrich-Phillips<\/p>\n\n\n\n When they received royalties from the album \u2014 as much as $65,000 in one instance over one six-month period \u2014 thanks to their membership with the Performance Rights Society, they realised they could continue making money if they did more albums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They borrowed money from several banks and started a company called Network Publishing of which Romany was the Director and Resistance the General Secretary. Under the publishing company, they recorded their music and that of Karega Mandela and Clyde Jones, calypsonian African Teller from Grenada and Merchant\u2019s \u201cShellyann\u201d and \u201cCome Let Us Build a Nation Together\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They also operated two stores, one on Observatory Street, the other, Uprising, in the Drag Mall. They sold leather goods that Romany made, ancient African musical instruments from Ja Jah and, in the mall, also sold albums from calypsonians who found space to lime on occasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe were flying but we were innocent, we didn\u2019t understand the music business, it is a money monster, it loves to take money so at a certain time we were taking money from our businesses that were successful and putting it back into the music. This is something we had to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Between 1981 and 84, the band produced five albums, the last one, Rapso Xplosion had six tracks and featured the vocals of Karega Mandela for the first time. Romany described Mandela as a focused and determined youth from Blanchisseuse who worked hard to develop his musical talents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He credited Mandela for filling the void and standing with Resistance after his departure from the band. He said he didn\u2019t want to taint the band or Rapso and as such, chose to withdraw completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After getting off drugs in 1989, he met a Swedish woman who was looking for directions with her friends in Port-of-Spain and ended up migrating to the Scandinavian country where he lived for 10 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks to a group there called Soca Rebels who found him, Romany made a comeback in 2005 performing with his band House of Rapsoul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He returned to Trinidad and has been back and forth since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reclusive father of two, now known as Rapso Rebel, has written a book called Word Catcher and is still making music, among them songs such as \u201cStories\u201d, \u201cOh Laventille\u201d and \u201cAum Shanti\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He had plans in the works for a book on The Network Riddum Band and had reached out to the surviving foundation members including Resistance to write their own chapters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said when people ask him if he is not mad that Resistance is the one who gets all the credit for Rapso, Romany he could never be mad because he loves Resistance and he is proud that he kept the music going all these years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, it was only a few months ago he had the opportunity to meet up with Resistance, hug him and tell him how much he loved him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To those mourning the loss of his friend he said: \u201cThe messenger has left us but the message will live on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thinking back on his days growing up on Quarry Street, Laventille, Everard Romany, co-creator of Rapso, recalls hanging on the block with his friends. It was a busy street, a close-knit community where everyone knew everyone and everyone looked out for each other. Romany knew everyone on the street, including a young Brother Resistance, known then by his birth name…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/loopnewslive.blob.core.windows.net\/liveimage\/sites\/default\/files\/b1ca245f8716806c54a6a3de3df3721feverard_romany_with_logo_easy-resize.com_.jpg\" "\\"Everard"){kind=logo}
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/loopnewslive.blob.core.windows.net\/liveimage\/sites\/default\/files\/7b026d7dd104d6d1cf131ef84bac243abrother_resistance_1_easy-resize.com_.jpg\")
Brother ResistanceIn 1984, suffering from a dread tabanca after his first wife left him and subsequent drug use, Romany left the band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n