Scrunter (Irwin Reyes Johnson) is as well-known for his cooking as he is for his music. This much beloved calypsonian has been chosen to be one of the featured artistes in the Icons of Grande concert, being staged by Spektakula Promotions on Saturday, at the North Eastern College, Sangre Grande. The show is being held under the patronage of Sangre Grande Regional Corporation Chairman Terry Rondon.
Scrunter, who was born and bred in Sangre Grande, is famous for his love of the country district in which he grew up. Therefore when we hear the name Scrunter, we do not only think of good classic calypso such as Woman On The Bass, and The Will, we also think of parang/soca music and the food that goes with it at Christmas time. That food is of course, delicious baked or barbecue pork and provision, and a number of other finger-licking side dishes.
In fact, over the years, Scrunter, who was also renowned for being a wild meat hunter, was famous for giving his own pork, with freshly baked bread, by himself, and parang fete at his home in Valencia. Of course, such a fete could only give rise to many admirers, and Scrunter quickly became in demand to perform at many popular parang and pork fetes, which are now held annually.
But while Scrunter’s name is synonomous with the parang/soca genre, he is just as famous for his pan and calypso classics,
In 1980, his Woman On The Bass gave the National Panorama title to Trinidad All Stars steelband, and today both the calypso and the pan version are hailed as classics. Some still argue that it might be the best Panorama arrangement ever.
Scrunter continued to blaze his trail in 1982 when he won the National Calypso Monarch crown with The Will and Lick-e-Ting. He has also given the calypso world such favourites as Sing In She Party, Oil in The Coil, Crapaud Revolution, Take De Number, and many more.
Scrunter has been singing for over 40 years and is truly a well deserving living legend in calypso.
The other Icons of Grande to be featured are Pink Panther (Eric Taylor); Poser (Sylvester Lockhart); and, Johnny King (Johnson King). Guest artiste on the show is the Baron (Timothy Watkins Jnr).
