Helena Allum

“I regard myself more as somebody commenting on the society, than as a comedian,” says Miguel Browne. This, although he had a packed Queen's Hall laughing almost throughout his performance the night before at Talk Tent 2006.

He explains: “Trinidadians and West Indians as a whole tend to say things in A humorous way. There is always a humorous vein to sometimes very serious issues, to convey a message. When you look at my work, there is always a message. I could never go on stage and just do something to make people laugh.”

In this respect he is faithful to the Talk Tent motto “Where Talk is Art”, which was chosen by founder of Talk Tent, Paul Keens-Douglas

At this year's Talk Tent Miguel launched his first album, Talk Boy Talk .

By the second night he had sold at least 100 compact discs, not counting those that might have been sold in the music shops. He feels a sense of achievement with the production of this CD and explains that it was conceptualised some three years ago, though he only started putting the pieces together after last year's Talk Tent.

Given the work he has done over the years, Miguel admits to having some difficulty choosing the pieces to record. He has enough material for two more CDs.

The ease with which Miguel performs on stage dates back to his days at Rosary Boys' RC and was nurtured at the University of the West Indies (UWI).

“I have fond memories of Rosary Boys'. It developed so many sides of me.”

He explains that he was often on stage reciting poems from Nelson's West Indian Reader. He and another student, Alexander Chin, wrote poems about the beauty of Trinidad and Tobago . “I still have them in a copybook at home, a copybook with a map of Trinidad and Tobago on its cover,” he says. Mr Jerome, their Standard Five teacher, encouraged them to keep writing and performing.

At UWI he became a part of the Drama Players and wrote and performed his own monologues. Later on, as a post-graduate student, he wrote monologues for other students to perform.

“UWI gave me the experience but it was at Talk Tent that I got the exposure,” Miguel says, revealing his love for Talk Tent and the admiration and respect he has for Keens-Douglas

They first met at the annual July-August Extra Mural class conducted by UWI. Miguel had cut short his holiday to attend the workshop being conducted by Keens-Douglas. He recalls that Deborah Jean-Baptiste was also in that workshop.

“ Trinidad is full of talented people,” says Miguel. “Given the opportunity to showcase the talent is what really makes the artistes. For that I will always be heavily indebted to Paul. He gave Deborah and myself that break.”

He admits to learning “so many things from watching others, those who were experienced in the field. I tended to move a lot on stage. I learnt so much from a lot of people in Trinidad .”

It was Keens-Douglas who also taught him to choose an area and focus on that. “Paul has been like a father to me.”

A teacher at St Mary's College in Port of Spain , Miguel has found that drama and performance go hand in hand with teaching.

“Going to class is, for me, like rehearsing the lines, knowing what's the lesson for today, planning it and delivering it, finding methods to keep students interested.”

He agrees that performing comes naturally to him. His students tell him that when he talks in class he does so as if he is on stage.

He admits that everything that happens to him, he sees as a potential story. Sometimes he writes by inspiration and he can complete a piece in a few days. Most times it takes much longer: he starts it, puts it down and thinks about it for some time. “Sometimes a piece is never finished.”

Miguel tries to give hope in his work by using Natasha's Sweet T&T as his theme song. his pieces also encourage us to value things that are an integral part of us.

“Sometimes I feel you get more messages at Talk Tent than at the calypso tent. Calypso used to be the vehicle for social commentary, the people's newspaper,” he says, adding that calypso needs to come out of painting ugly pictures.

Miguel has performed abroad, including in Washington and London . He knows how to adapt his script to suit his audience.

“Before going to a country I have research to do. The research is there, there is a lot of research on linguistics. The Allsops dictionary is like a bible for me.”

He credits the two radio stations that existed when he was growing up with giving him an appreciation of our culture. “I grew up hearing Paul Keens-Douglas. We have so many talk stations, or what I call ‘gripe stations', that only paint a bleak picture.”

Another invaluable lesson Miguel has learnt from Keens- Douglas is to do things yourself.

“Artistes need to invest in themselves. Too many of us are too dependent on others. We need to believe in ourselves.”

Miguel invested his own money in his new CD, Talk Boy Talk . He used the services of Jason Dasent and his Studio Jay.

“I saw Jason grow as a student at St Mary's College, making it as a blind student among all the other students. He is quick and able to hear things people don't ordinarily hear.”

Miguel advises young artistes to “just continue writing and performing. Material does not spoil”.

He is very interested in ensuring the longevity of his work. That's why he is pleased that Talk Tent has continued since 1983 without any major sponsorship and that Los Paranderos de UWI , of which he is leader, celebrated 25 years last year.

One of his guiding principles seems to be, “Everything happens in its own time.”

“I never rush things. I just leave things and let the course flow naturally.”

What he is certain about is that “I feel that I am upholding a tradition that is rich and has to be carried on.”

There are 12 dialect pieces on Miguel's new CD in which he comments on society, not getting us angry in doing so, but making us laugh at and appreciate ourselves.