By Richardson Dhalai Friday, April 27 2007

Prime Minister Patrick Manning plans to use dance and music, but not hip hop, to help young people stay away from “unsavoury lifestyles.”

Manning, who has publicly frowned on the controversy surrounding a sexually explicit dance between hip hop star Akon and teenager Danah Alleyne at Zen nightclub, said Government plans to use the “dance option” to draw young people away from criminal activities and expose them to a more wholesome lifestyle. The Prime Minister introduced the idea of using dance and music to deter young people from a life of crime during a public consultation on crime at Rio Claro College, Naparima/-Mayaro Road, Rio Claro, on Wednesday.

He informed the public of his plans to have a 25-piece brass band of musicians put together and stressed that hip hop, a popular genre in American music, and other “undesirable forms of music” won’t be part of the repertoire. This band is expected to come on stream within the next three months, and the Office of the Prime Minister has already published advertisements for musicians and bandleaders.

Reflecting on his youth, Manning said he too used to dance and felt that such alternatives should be put in place to show young people the more “favourable side of life.”

Already Government has taken steps to help young people who have been part of gangs to turn their lives around through an employment initiative of the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs, said Manning.

He praised the ministry, led by Senator Joan Yuille-Williams, which he credited with bringing gang wars under control through the “introduction of sustainable employment opportunities to former gang members.”