We’re bringing the T&T Ent presence to you once again! You can find our booth at the CHOGM Village, Port of Spain Waterfront, from November 15th to December 6th 2009. We invite you to come out and browse our collection of merchandise produced by a range of local talent. Feel free to ask for information on how T&T Ent is consistently –“helping to empower national talent.”

Port of Spain will not be the only stop for the T&T Ent team during CHOGM. Musicians, members of an organization called Commonwealth Resounds, will be in Trinidad and Tobago as part of the related activities happening during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) from November 22 to 29, 2009. The Commonwealth Resounds is an organization consisting of a small core management team and a much larger group of supporters and volunteers working closely together to assist Commonwealth musicians through promotion of outstanding musical initiatives in Commonwealth countries, development of partnerships between artistes from different cultural origins and training programmes for young musicians. T&T Ent has been given responsibility to manage and execute a series of free performances, seminars, projects, discussions and outreach work at different locations in Trinidad.

The visiting contingent boasts of musicians from across the Commonwealth territories including the U.K., Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, Dominica, Guyana, Uganda, Ghana and Malaysia. Be on the lookout for registration information for our various workshops and seminars and a soon to be published schedule of outreach events.

We are pleased to invite local musicians, performers and business persons involved in the music industry to be a part of a music industry seminar, hosted by the International Federation of Musicians (FIM). This seminar, entitled “Performers’ rights: theory and practice”, will be held at the La Joya Auditorium, St Joseph and is open to the public and is free of charge.  The seminar will run for three consecutive days, from November 24, 25 and 26, 2009 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The FIM and PPL, are collaborating under the aegis of Commonwealth Resounds to be part of the related activities for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). Trinidad and Tobago Entertainment Company (T&T Ent) has been given the responsibility to manage and coordinate the activities of this group’s visit. Each day presenters will cover the same agenda, therefore, interested persons have a choice of attending a day most convenient to them.  There is a limit of 60 attendees per seminar day therefore it is extremely important that interested persons RSVP by email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with required information by Friday 20th November, 2009.  Information for registration: Full Name, Address, Email, Phone Contact, Area of Interest/Specialisation.

Among the items on the agenda for discussion are:

• The origin of Copyright and Neighbouring Rights, led by John Smith and Benoît Machuel.
• Performers’ organisations and the collective administration of exclusive and equitable remuneration rights, led by Ong Pen Chu and John Smith
• Contracts and the transfer of IP rights, led by Keith Harris
• PPL and the management of performers’ rights led by Fran Nevrkla
• Future developments in Performers Rights led by Benoît Machuel

Information on the sponsors and seminar hosts Phonographic Performance Limited, a not-for-profit company, is the London-based UK music industry service organisation which licenses recorded music and music videos for public performance, broadcast and new media use. Through its licensing, PPL allows hundreds of UK radio and television stations, other broadcasters and internet radio stations to legally use sound recordings and music videos in their transmissions. Similarly PPL’s public performance licences allow thousands of clubs, shops, pubs, restaurants, bars and other music users across the UK to play sound recordings and music videos in public. In addition to its extensive UK licensing activities, PPL also has 42 bilateral agreements with licensing organisations in other countries to collect overseas income. The income it generates is then allocated and paid to 5,000 UK record company members and 42,000 UK performer members.

For 2008, PPL collected more than £127 million and distributed more than £110 million to registered performers and record company members, providing crucial revenues for those creative individuals and companies. It also campaigns to uphold and strengthen the rights of performers and record companies both domestically and internationally.
PPL was formed by record companies EMI and Decca in May 1934, following a ground breaking court case against a coffee shop in Bristol. Using the Copyright Act of 1911 as the basis for its argument, in early 1933 EMI (then called the Gramophone Company) brought a case against Stephen Carwardine & Co, a restaurant in Bristol, which had been keeping its customers entertained by playing the 1931 recording of ‘Overture, The Black Domino’, written by the French composer Auber and played by the London Symphony Orchestra.

EMI said that playing the record in public without the permission of the copyright owners was against the law. The judge, Mr. Justice Maugham, agreed, therefore establishing the principle that those involved in creating a sound recording should be paid for the broadcasting and public performance of their work. Seizing upon the opportunity to earn more money for their companies and the musicians who helped to drive their business, EMI and Decca co-operated to form PPL and opened the organisation’s first offices in London’s Wigmore Street. For more information visit www.ppluk.com

International Federation of Musicians
The International Federation of Musicians founded in 1948 is the international organisation for musicians and is now counting 72unions throughout the world.  Recently FIM has created two regional groups; one for African countries and the other for Latin America countries. The Federation’s main objective is to protect and further the economic, social and artistic interests of musicians organised in member unions. This leads to such activities as:

• Furtherance of the organisation of musicians in all countries,
• Federation of unions of musicians throughout the world,
• Furtherance and strengthening of international collaboration,
• Promoting of national and international protective legislation in the interests of musicians,
• Making of agreements with other international organizations in the interests of member unions and of the profession
• Obtaining and compilation of statistical and other information referring to the music profession and provision of such information to member unions,
• Moral and material support of member unions in the interests of the profession and in accordance with the objects of FIM,
• Furtherance of all appropriate efforts to make good music a common property of all people,
• Holding of international congresses and conferences,
• Close collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the International Labour Office (ILO) and UNESCO, and the maintenance of continuous relations with all international organisations which could be of service to FIM.

As a nongovernmental organisation, FIM has a permanent relationship with major inter-governmental organisations such as UNESCO, the ILO, and WIPO. It is recognised and consulted by The Council of Europe, the European Commission, and the European Parliament, which enables it to participate in crucial negotiations on the protection of performers and to make the voice of musicians heard.  The Federation is also member of The International Music Council (IMC). It collaborates with all national and international organisations representing workers in the media field. It has close working relations in the framework of the International Arts Entertainment Alliance (IAEA) with the International Federation of Actors (FIA) and UNI-Media and Entertainment International (UNI-MEI).
FIM works closely with collecting societies administering performers’ rights.

For more information visit www.fim-musicians.com

Please click here to view the FIM Draft Agenda (.PDF file)

The world premiere of Pianorama, a special composition prepared for CHOGM 2009 featuring 53 one-minute pieces to represent countries comprising the Commonwealth will take place at University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT), Chaguaramas campus on Tuesday, November 24 from 4:00 p.m. Pianorama will feature world-renowned pianists from the UK, Canada, and Antigua and Barbuda.
This activity is one of many being put on by The Commonwealth Resounds!, a group of at least sixty musicians that will be in Trinidad as part of CHOGM-2009-related activities, which have been organized over a one-week period and are being managed by Trinidad and Tobago Entertainment Company Limited (T&T Ent).  These activities will include public workshops at Long Circular Mall, Arima Town Hall, Divali Nagar site, and the Mayaro Indoor Sports Facility.

Musicians will be coming from countries in Africa, the United Kingdom, Canada, Malta, and the Caribbean and the week of activities will include a drumming workshop, a brass/string and brass workshop and a special workshop at the Lady Hochoy Home. There will also be a gala performance of Commonwealth Resounds musicians alongside local musicians at Naparima Bowl on Friday November 27, 2009.

Please click here to view the Commonwealth Pianorama document (.PDF)

Members of The Commonwealth Resounds will be in Trinidad as part of the related activities taking place during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) from November 22 to 29, 2009. The Commonwealth Resounds is an organization consisting of a small core management team and a much larger group of supporters and volunteers working closely together to assist Commonwealth musicians through promotion of outstanding musical initiatives in Commonwealth countries, development of partnerships between artistes from different cultural origins and training programmes for young musicians. Trinidad and Tobago entertainment Company Limited (T&T Ent) has been given responsibility to manage and execute a series of free performances, seminars, projects, discussion and outreach work at different locations in Trinidad.
A group of dynamic musicians from Ghana called “Drummers of the African Diaspora” has been invited to work with The Commonwealth Resounds! They will be in Trinidad and will join talented drummers from other parts of Africa and the Caribbean, several of whom have also travelled to Trinidad as part of The Commonwealth Resounds! to host workshops and to carry out performances. These workshops and performances will benefit local drummers and enthusiasts.
Leader of Drummers of the African Diaspora, Zagba Oyortey describes his group’s performance as “...a truly unique contemporary collaboration between African and disparate African diasporic aesthetics, uniting and re-inventing through drum performance their historic and authentic association. (We) will perform individual presentations as well as combine as a drum ensemble to blend the drum, voice and movement in age-old ancestral rhythms and chants, which today, still continue to fascinate audiences throughout the world and moves towards informing a modern African musical idiom.”
To reach as much of the population as possible, the group will appear at several venues throughout Trinidad. These dates, venues and times are as follows:

• Wednesday 25th November, 2009: Public Outreach Event, Mayaro Indoor Sports Facility. Time: 10am
• Wednesday 25th November, 2009: Performance at the People’s Space, Queen’s Park Savannah. Time: 4pm
• Thursday 26th November, 2009: Drumming Performance/ Workshop, Divali Nagar Site, Chaguanas. Time: 6pm-8pm
• Friday 27th November, 2009: Gala Concert, Naparima Bowl, San Fernando. Time: 7pm
• Saturday 28th November, 2009: Drumming Workshop, Laventille Complex, Angostura Compound, Eastern Main Rd. Time: 10am-2pm