Carisa Lee

Re­porter 

carisa.lee@cnc3.co.tt

Dur­ing his 25-year ca­reer, gui­tarist Joey Ng Wai touched the lives of many, both mu­sic lovers and mu­si­cians. As a gui­tarist, he was known for his work on lo­cal clas­sics such as Go­lo, Dhan­tal Fever, and Jump.

Ng Wai, the mu­si­cal di­rec­tor of Im­ij & Com­pa­ny (orig­i­nal­ly known as Sec­ond Im­ij), was hos­pi­talised in the In­ten­sive Care Unit of the Port-of-Spain Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal for pneu­mo­nia on De­cem­ber 29.

In Jan­u­ary, his sis­ter Sharon Ng Wai Pan­tin post­ed about her younger broth­er’s health, say­ing that he was show­ing lit­tle im­prove­ment.

“Con­tin­ue to lis­ten, lit­tle broth­er,” she wrote.

And as his bat­tle with ill­ness end­ed on Mon­day at the age of 54, the ac­co­lades and anec­dotes poured in from those who he in­flu­enced, both di­rect­ly and in­di­rect­ly.

In a me­dia state­ment on Tues­day, Min­is­ter of Tourism, Cul­ture, and the Arts Ran­dall Mitchell said Ng Wai was in­stru­men­tal in shap­ing the ca­reers of many as­pir­ing mu­si­cians dur­ing his time at Dig­i­cel Ris­ing Stars.

“His lega­cy will con­tin­ue to res­onate through every note he played,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said he was in­cred­i­bly sad­dened by Ng Wai’s pass­ing be­cause he touched many hearts dur­ing his over 25-year-long con­tri­bu­tion to the lo­cal and re­gion­al mu­sic scenes.

“His melody lives on for­ev­er,” he said.

Band­mate Tri­cia Lee Kelshall re­mem­bered Ng Wai as charm­ing and fun­ny but al­so some­one with ge­nius-lev­el tal­ent who “didn’t just play notes.” The singer said she was young when she joined Sec­ond Im­ij, but in the hands of such tal­ent as Ng Wai’s fa­ther and Rus­sel Cado­gan, she was nur­tured well and fast.

“The bond we shared as a band is unique and time­less,” she said.

But Lee Kelshall said his pass­ing was a tremen­dous loss, both to those close to him and the mu­si­cal fra­ter­ni­ty.

“He will be missed—there was so much more to do,” she said.

Band bassist Julius “Ooze” Coop­er said he was hap­py they got a chance for a re­union af­ter the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic.

“I stayed with him while I was in Tri­ni; he would cook me break­fast and lunch. There is pain and mourn­ing now, but our mem­o­ries will last for­ev­er,” he said.

Michelle Xavier-Lee thanked Ng Wai for be­liev­ing in her and the lessons he taught her dur­ing her ten years in the band.

“You were the band leader and the band clown, a prankster ... and one of the best gui­tarists T&T has ever pro­duced,” she said.

Kes the Band al­so took to so­cial me­dia to re­mem­ber Ng Wai for the role he played in shap­ing their ca­reers. Kees Di­ef­fen­thaller was a front­line singer in the band Im­ij and Com­pa­ny be­fore he and his broth­ers formed Kes the Band in 2005.

He said they first met Ng Wai at a char­i­ty event where he saw some­thing in them and tru­ly in­tro­duced them to the world of so­ca. The Wot­less singer de­scribed the time in the band with Im­ij and Com­pa­ny as their for­ma­tive years. 

“Thank you, Joey, for be­liev­ing in us and shar­ing your light with us all,” he said.