The funeral and thanksgiving service for the late King of Soca, Alphonsus ‘Arrow’ Cassel will take place on Friday, October 1, at the Montserrat Cultural Centre.
Arrow passed away last Wednesday at his home in Montserrat after a long battle with brain cancer.
Several Caribbean leaders weighed in on his death last week.
Trinidad and Tobago Minister of Culture, Winston “Gypsy” Peters, who is also a calypsonian, said Arrow’s death was a loss, not only to his native Montserrat and the wider Caribbean but to everyone and everywhere in the soca world.
Grenada’s Junior Culture Minister, Sen. Arley Gill, also paid tribute to Arrow, describing him as a “great soca man.”
“Arrow has really influenced a great deal of the Caribbean art form and it’s really sad that we now have to mourn his passing,” Gill said in a condolence statement.
“Arrow must be credited for breaking barriers and reaching new places with his music,” the senator said. “He is well-known not just around the region but around the world. His contribution to the development of the art form and to the cultural industry in the Caribbean should not, and cannot go, unnoticed. I think it is quite fitting that we should pay homage to a great Caribbean son.”
Gill also commended Arrow for using his stardom to promote Caribbean integration.
“Even when he was ill, one remembers his performance when President Obama came to Trinidad,” Gill recalled. “He has definitely made his contribution to the advancement of Caribbean people.”
The minister also referred to Arrow as a model of what can be achieved through hard work and talent.
“He is definitely an inspiration,” said Gill, “not just to people in the arts, but also for people who were probably born disadvantaged in small communities, to know that they can fulfil their potential and achieve whatever they want to achieve, once they put their mind to it.”
