3canal

The story so far.

Written and edited by Smokiller

3canal is a rapso group and one of the leading voices in a style that draws on calypso, soca and rap. Visual artist Steve Ouditt and performers Wendell Manwarren and Roger Roberts started it in 1994, and for its first three years the group ran its own J'ouvert band in the Trinidad Carnival, the pre-dawn street procession that opens the festival. In 1997 Stanton Kewley and John Isaacs joined, and the group recorded its first song, "Blue", as that year's theme for its J'ouvert band. Albums on Rituals Music followed, including A Rakak Kie Bonay (1998), The Fire Next Time (1999), 3 Canal 2000 and Heroes Of Wha? (2001), then Jab Jab Say on Machete Music in 2005. A greatest hits set gathers songs from 1997 to 2004. The group marked 25 years as a musical unit in 2022, and its Deezer catalog also holds newer releases such as "Kings Of The Jouvert" (2022) and "Santimanitay" with Etienne Charles (2023).