Terrenaissance

About Terrenaissance

Terrenaissance (from ‘Terre’ - Earth and ‘Renaissance’ - reawakening) heralds the rebirth of global consciousness. Forging new routes with its home‐grown sound, Terrenaissance is the first act of its generation to compose and perform totally acoustic music spanning the wide range of languages, oral artforms and vocal styles that co-exist in the Caribbean. The mystic Terrenaissance sound emerged and evolved through open‐air jam sessions at The University of the West Indies in St. Augustine.

Founded in 2006 by Avianne Callender, the band’s members were brought together from different parts of the twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and vastly different musical backgrounds. Over the years, these ʹChildren of the Big Bangʹ have created a vanguard sound through experimentation, improvisation, and a constant search for beauty and quality.

Terrenaissance began by tapping into inspiration from the natural world as well as the influence of pioneering artistes like André Tanker, Ella Andall, Mungal Patasar, The Wailers, Signal Hill Alumni Choir, Ojos de Brujo, Gil Scott Heron, Fela Kuti, Milton Nascimento, Omar Sosa, Ras Shorty I, Ravi Shankar, Lord Kitchener and Linkin Park. The story of Terrenaissance is one of defiant commitment to the mission it undertook at its inception: to create organic, acoustic fusion music with no samples or electronic instruments. In the very midst of the era of the producer, the band chose the path of strictly original music. To achieve this, band members drew on Trinidad and Tobago’s steelband and parang traditions, influences from Carnatic and Hindustani music to Capoeira Angola, and ideas emerging from a burgeoning indie art and music scene that witnessed the explosion of spoken word poetry in the 2000s.

Terrenaissance’s look and sound was not just unique: its style, content and identity went against the grain of increasingly polarized racial politics in Trinidad and Tobago. As the band came of age amidst underground music acts like 12 the Band, Word Sound and Power, Ivory Hayes, Curious Ringo, Gyazette, Cabezon, Ruth Osman, and Gillian Moor, for some time it seemed that local audiences did not know quite what to make of a band with an eclectic sound and a difficult name. Through all this, the band was sustained in its creative journey by the reaction of its audiences, its connection with supporters, the advice and guidance of veteran performers, and a true love for the music it makes.