By Francis Quamina Farrier

AS promised, we continue to feature married couples in this, the month of June, 2021. Our couple in today’s publication is unique to a point. For this married couple, it was love the second time around. Andrew Cromwell was a widower and the father of two young teenagers when he met his second wife, Nina. She was a single parent of an older teen.

Both of them possessed musical talents, but performing as a duo was not on the cards at that early time of their becoming a couple. As a teenager, Andrew sang, accompanying himself on the guitar. In fact, he is the lead guitarist on the well-known LP record “SING OUT MY SOUL” album. At that time those beautiful musical compositions were recorded, Andrew Cromwell was resident in Trinidad and Tobago, where he was engaged in musical activities.

As a child, Nina played the accordion. Music was one of her favourite activities. But through her adult and professional lives, she concentrated on her career as a high school mathematics and science teacher. She also possessed a skill for the art of pottery, which she did as a hobby. Andrew’s professional career was that of a Mental Health and Social worker at a local hospital.

He enjoyed photography as a hobby. The two individuals brought to their oneness as a married couple, lots of general knowledge and musical talents which they combined for enriching not only their own lives, but those of many others.

They were already retired 10 years ago when they began looking for an activity to be engaged in away from their home. “Starting from scratch, we joined a community band as beginners, and learned how to play wind instruments,” Andrew related. He now plays the tenor saxophone. Nina plays the clarinet. Both of them read music with competence. After two years, they left the band when they were attracted to jazz music. That was the beginning of an adventure in music that neither of them could have anticipated.

Andrew and Nina had met in Toronto in 1995, and have now been married for 22 years. They travel together regularly and had just returned to Canada from Ecuador when they had to go into quarantine, as the COVID-19 was sweeping across the world.

During the never-ending period of social isolation, the couple decided to stay connected with friends and family, by streaming a weekly Live Jazz Broadcast from their home every Saturday. As they continue to make music together, Andrew and Nina bring joy, not only to themselves but to those fortunate to access their live stream.