By Lara Pickford-Gordon Tuesday, February 20 2007

“CHILDREN singing to adults is very impactful. The beauty is they are writing their own songs,” said Dick Lochan of the third Pass the Torch CD of Soca and Calypso songs, which was released in Canada last year.

Trinidad-born Lochan and John “Jayson” Perez are the directors of Pass the Torch School at Malvern, Scarbo-rough, Ontario. They created the school “to pass on” the Calypso and Soca art form to a younger generation. In an interview at Newsday’s Port-of-Spain office last Tuesday, Lochan said the school was in its fourth year and had students from eight to 17 years old. Classes are held two hours every Saturday starting in September until July.

Lochan said, “They are taught all aspects of calypso and soca and the history of calypso.” Students are expected to come up with their own ideas for songs, and are critiqued by their peers. They are taught about performing for an audience. “Soca, soca ballads, rapso, even gospel is incorporated,” Lochan said.

“Pass the Torch 3” has ten songs with titles such as “Love,” “Good Friendship,” “I saw Jesus,” and “Looks Don’t Mean a Thing.”

Lochan said students will “come up with their own ideas and what is of interest to them and we will mould it.”

He said students of the school gain experience performing at high schools, libraries, community events, Caribana and Kiddies Carnival.

Lochan said the school has had a positive impact on the students’ school work and building their self-esteem. After the students write their verses, melodies are added and a demo tape is made and sent to an arranger. Ossie Gurley is the arranger for the latest CD. Lochan said he arranged Anslem Douglas’ hit “Who Let the Dogs Out,” and is one of the top producers in Canada.

Pass the Torch 3 was launched last July and the students featured on the CD performed their songs at their graduation.

The 2005 CD earned students Ramona Fevlo, and Kristel Fevlo two of the four nominations in the 2005 Canadian Urban Music Awards 2005 in the “Best Soca Recording” category.

The Pass the Torch school is sponsored by the Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Lochan has been in Canada since 1966 and works as a Client Services Manager with the Canada Border Services Agency. He said Perez won a Juno Award (Canadian music awards) in 1993 for his Soca song “Mash it Up.”