James Saunders... Sportscaster by day, artiste whenever possible

You may have heard the name James Saunders. You may know him as a television sports journalist. But do you know he is a musician? The 29-year-old Moruga resident says he has been doing music for the past ten years, starting off in 2002 in the gospel arena. He says although he dabbles in both soca and dancehall gospel music, his personal values are reflected in the music he releases. “I’m not confined to the boxed-in genre of plain gospel, because you know for gospel artistes it’s still taboo to be singing certain types of genres,” he said. Saunders says his music has made the rotation list at a number of gospel stations over the years, and outside of T&T, his music gets the love of people from as far as South Africa. 

 

 

“It’s a good, strange feeling to know that your music is getting attention outside of Trinidad. I think it’s all about the message that you sing about,” he said, adding that once people can identify with certain lyrics, an audience is likely to follow. Saunders says he looks up to Jamaica’s Papa San, from his days of doing strictly dancehall to his new beginning in the gospel arena. “With him now being a Christian artiste, he still represents for dancehall as well,” said Saunders. The sportscaster, whose musical sobriquet is Mr Waka Waka, says he recently released a single called Generation Soldiers on the Idle riddim. He says he is willing to explore various genres but his belief in Christianity will always be reflected in the lyrics he put out.