LAUREN BIROT

Lauren Birot started singing since she was age 14. She started off singing RMB with a well known group at the time called 'Silhouettes' The R&B group performed many times at places like 'Party Time'. They won the 'Party Time' finals in1995. She has a vast wealth of experience and has sang all over Trinidad. She has done background vocals for many great artists, like David Rudder, KMC, Machel Montano, Andre Tanker, and many, many others. She sang some Soca music, with a couple of well known tracks being produced like, ‘Yagga Yeah’...with Nadia Batson. She also sang for Scouting for talent and used to sing with Andre Tanker. She still sings with the great Ella Andel and will continue to sing, as long as she can.

Lauren has been singing 'all her life'. She started singing in primary school in the choir. Her sister was in the band that she joined 'Silhouettes' and she was the great influencing factor for Lauren's singing career.
Lauren joined the band, 'Los Alumnos De San Juan' through Curt Coldero, who used to be with the band. She went with him to an audition, met Alicia and that was it!

On joining the band there was a process, almost like a right of passage, to go through, where you had to prove you’re capable to be a 'front line singer'. 

Lauren did Spanish in school, so her history in Parang made it easy for her to be able to become one of the lead singers in the band. She has a deep love for Parang, and Los Alumnos De San Juan.

"Los Alumnos" represents an essence, a perfection where the art-form/culture of Parang is concerned."

Lauren works with St Joseph Girls R.C., her daughter attends that school and she helps the school prepare for the Junior Parang competition. They came first last year with her help, and she is looking forward to positive results again this year.

She has that commitment to the art-form and the love that she has for it empowers her to go through it all. Lauren grew up in Parang. She went on many 'house to house' Paranging sessions with her family. Her father would leave home on Christmas eve and come back the day after Christmas. She would go with him sometimes with toothbrush, pillow and change of clothes, and parang the night away. She didn’t join Los Alumnos and start paranging; instead, paranging is something that is embedded in her: the joy & passion for it is something instilled in her from small, from her dad, and it is reflected in her singing. 
For her, it reflects the relationship with her dad....she sings for him and her cousins and her love of parang. Family love...more than just the singing, is what motivates her. It is part of her heritage. Her singing and being part of the band is intermingled with all her childhood memories – being young and playing cuatro outside the neighbor's gate. She loves parang and what it represents - the togetherness, the family, the warmth and all that Parang represents.

The changes that have taken place from the traditional Parang to the contemporary Parang are both good and bad. In her words, she says it feels as though the true essence of the music is lost now, for example, long ago you could have gone to anyone’s home and there would be a love and a togetherness. But now the joy and honesty, of it is lost. 
However, Los Alumnos now has the opportunity to show that true Parang still exists. They try to do a mixture so that they can keep traditional songs alive, like Guarapo and so on. They are able to get connections from the past to now, and they count it a privilege to be able to keep this unique tradition alive. 
It's different but all is not lost. They have managed to incorporate the old and the new.