3canal/ n. 1. A cutlass, a machete, a weapon, a tool for cutting and clearing. 2. A performance and visual arts collaborative rooted in music, theatre and mas.

Wendell Manwarren, Roger Roberts and Stanton Kewley are the artists from Trinidad & Tobago collectively known as 3canal. 3canal began by using the pre-dawn ritual of Trinidad’s Carnival a.k.a. Jouvay as their platform for expression in 1994. Three years later this expression expanded into ‘making a statement’ in the form of music, more specifically ‘Rapso’ [see Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapso ] defined as ”The Power Of the Word in the Rhythm”. Their music is based on the infectious indigenous Folk & Calypso rhythms & melodies mixed with East Indian, Latin, Reggae, Hip Hop and a diverse range of other global/pop/world influences with a special emphasis on power lyrics. The result represents the voice of the New World Order emerging from a country where racial & cultural hybridization and juxtaposition is the norm rather than the exception.

Their first release Blue (1997) was an immediate and spontaneous hit, and together with its video redefined the face of Rapso, Their 1999 single Talk yuh Talk, was powerful social commentary which became an anthem for the disadvantaged and dispossessed. Since their emergence in 1997 they have recorded 9 albums.

Their dynamic stage presence has won them loyal fans locally, regionally and globally in such diverse places as San Francisco, New York & Miami-USA, Toronto-Canada, Havana-Cuba, Valencia-Venezuela, Hoogstraten-Belgium, Barcelona-Spain, Montreaux-Switzerland, London & Manchester-UK and Hanover & Hamburg Germany As well as the many diasporic Carnivals from St. Lucia to Grenada to Jamaica, as well as “Labour Day” in New York and London’s Nottinghill.

3canal describe themselves as “Rapso soldiers on a mission, representing the power of the word in the rhythm.” 3canal come down in the Power of the New Trinity - Truth Love and Possibility.

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