Henry Gomez MA; MFA; B. A.; B. Ed.

OCPA President 2021-2023

Henry Gomez is a composer and recording artiste, actor, academic and retired educator. He holds a bachelor’s and two master’s degrees from York University, and a bachelor’s from the University of Toronto. He is an executive member of the Harriet Tubman Institute at York University.

As the current President of the Organization of Calypso Performing Artistes (OCPA), he brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in the Carnival Arts to bear on this office. He is an original member and one of the founders of the organization. He was first elected President in 1982. Over the years, he has served both as President and Secretary, helping to create and maintain a space for Canadian calypsonians to develop and practise their craft. During the current term, he will direct his experience and leadership skills to building on the work of previous boards. He will strive to enhance the position of calypsonians, and the carnival arts in general, in Toronto and Canada. Establishing new, and re-establishing old links with other cultural organizations will be one his foci.

Henry’s community involvement includes two terms as Chair of the Caribana Arts Group. During his second term from 2012-214, he rebranded the Jane and Finch children’s carnival as Flags and Colours. He also managed the team that organized and staged the event over the three-year period. He has also toured in various capacities with Dance Caribe Performing Company, most notably to the south Philippines in 2018; and co-managed the Kaiso Forum calypso tent in Toronto.

Professionally, Henry Gomez has had an extensive period of employment with the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) as an educator who taught English Literature, Media Studies, and Drama at secondary schools in Scarborough. This earned him a nomination for a “Teacher of The Year” award. He is now retired and devotes most of his time to family, academic pursuits, creating and performing calypso music and community service. Henry believes in lifelong learning, and recently completed a master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies at York University. He focused his thesis on storming in the Caribana parade.

In addition to being a well-rounded practising calypso artiste, known as King Cosmos, he has played the steelpan and masqueraded in Trinidad & Tobago, Canada, and Hong Kong. He has close links with other stakeholder organizations and the FMC, the parent body that produces Toronto’s annual carnival. He knows the needs of calypsonians and is well-positioned to help them achieve.

Brown Sugar

Secretary

Ken Sosa

(Director at Large)

Ken currently lives with his wife in Toronto. They have two adult children and two grandchildren.

Ken was born and raised in the land of Calypso/the Hummingbird (Iere), now the republic of Trinidad & Tobago but has lived in various parts of Ontario – St Catherines, Thunder Bay, Toronto – since 1968.

He did his secondary education and was in the choir at St Benedict’s College (La Romaine, Trinidad) and at Leaside High (East York). His post secondary education was at the University of Toronto.

He was a primary school teacher in Trinidad, an inside Postal Worker, a Gardener, a Jail Guard, a Filing Clerk, a Planning Associate but spent most of his working life (27 years) as a Community Development Worker.
He grew up in an era when Calipsonians like the Mighty Sparrow, Lord MelodY, Lord Kitchener and Lord Blakie ruled the Calypso world. And like many Trinidadians he ”Played Mas” (with Sunland Steel Orchestra of Belmont) multiple times when he was a teenager.

Joanne Davis

Joanne Davis is our treasurer. Born in the Trinidad and Tobago, she migrated to Canada many years ago. She started singing as a child in church and school choirs. Joanne aka Princess Trinidad has been a back-up singer for various artists, and co-produced a radio show on C.H.R.Y.105.5 FM. A prolific songwriter, composer, producer, she also is a disc jockey on SAMESOHITGOH RADIO, her own online station.

Princess Trinidad composes and performs various genre of music – calypso, soca, reggae, gospel – in Jamaica, Trinidad and all over Canada, sharing the stage with many international artists. She was recently featured on SISTAHFEST in Toronto, and has received many awards, such as 2021 Youth in Progress Award Reggae Showcase – Excellence in Canadian Music Culture and the 2020 Black Music Month Canada Award for Parang.