Last Tuesday, Kent Merchant, popularly known as Love Man Kent, of Montreal, was alive, well and in his prime. But by Wednesday, he was no longer with us. And even now as I write this, I do not understand why news of his passing has shaken me so much. Both personally, and as the current President of Organization of Calypso Performing Artistes (OCPA).

Was it because we had news of Kenny J and Bomber’s death a few days prior? Was it the suddenness of his passing, or because I knew him personally as a fellow calypsonian and excellent performer? Or that being in Canada his passing was so close to home? Was it because living under Corona conditions for so long had made me more vulnerable to sad news? Was I more stressed than I realized? Was it a combination of all the above? Or, at a much deeper and unconscious level, did his passing compel me to face my own mortality?

When I received the phone call last Wednesday around 6:40 pm from Connector, our reigning Canadian Calypso Monarch, I was in my home studio. I was stunned. I got goose bumps, began to mumble my speech, and had to cut the conversation short. I began to reflect.

Love Man Kent could not be dead! He was not hospitalized or ailing in any way. We had recently done a virtual Christmas, soca parang show with John “Jayson” Perez’s Torch Bearers Calypso Tent. He was in fine form. He was sartorially elegant as usual and performed at his best. Now his body and spirit had parted; and he was in another dimension.

Last Friday, when I paid tribute to him on Princess Trinidad’s SAMESOITGOH online radio show the goose bumps returned. Usually, I am a person not easily flustered. I view death as part of life; and accept that people do die. I believe that death must be random, because although it is usually the old, the young do die as well.

So, could it be that news of Love Man Kent’s passing bypassed my intellectual or philosophical defenses and affected me viscerally? It might be some time before I know.

I, like many, feel his loss.

From me and my family, and on behalf of OCPA deepest condolences to Love Man Kent’s family and friends. May he RIEP.

  Montreal