“No bois man eh fraid no bois man, no bois man eh fraid no stick man, no bois man eh fraid no demon,” was the refrain that attendees at the 2026 Old Yard sang out in unison as they sat around the gayelle. The powerful voice leading the singing from the centre of the gayelle was Champion Stick Fighter Keegan ‘Tendaji’ Taylor.
With microphone in hand, Taylor described his role as being the Shantwelle of that gayelle, the leader of the singing and chanting, and the words he sang were a lavway, which are the songs sung during stick fighting.
But Taylor is so much more than a stickfighter and a Shantwelle. “I am what some people might call a multihyphenate,” he says. “I work extensively in the creative entrepreneurial field. I do video production, I do film making, digital marketing, content creation. I'm also a songwriter.”
His songwriting credits include the Soca classics Waiting on the Stage performed by Machel Montano, the stickfighting anthem Buss Head performed by Machel Montano, Bunji Garlin and Skinny Fabulous, and Rosie performed by Destra and Yung Bredda.
Despite the multiple hats that Taylor wears, he seems to have found the magic for melding the various arenas that he works in. For Buss Head, Taylor not only provided background vocals on the track, but his company Badjohn Republic is also listed as one of the producers, and he appeared in the video as a stickfighter.
This cohesion in his career did not come about overnight. He tells of the period in his life when he was a part of the corporate world, sitting in board meetings doodling and brainstorming ideas of how he could make the jump to fully being in the creative industry.
“I left the security industry and went into music full time. I had to do it cold turkey. I sat down and spoke with my family. I told them that things would be a little tough for a while but I had to do this, and I never regretted it,” Taylor says.
Despite having to confront his own imposter syndrome, he stands firm on the belief that his talents and enthusiasm for what he does are his keys to overcoming self-doubt.
“I have weathered a few storms, and I might lose a contract or two, but I can’t lose my job as long as I have the zeal to go out there and I have my creativity. I will always find ways to make myself valuable to others.”
While his family supported his endeavours, his mother, June Taylor, always encouraged him to be smart about the decisions he made for himself, and to always build a solid foundation.
To build this foundation in the entertainment field, Taylor enrolled in The UWI St Augustine, pursuing a degree in Business Management with a minor in Marketing. And even though he has continued to surpass all goals he set for himself, he does not intend to pause. So he enrolled once again at UWI St Augustine, and is currently completing his thesis for his Master of Arts degree in Cultural Studies.
He admits that, in his younger years, he was drawn to the campus for the social life that students enjoy.
“UWI was more than just the books, it was a social labyrinth,” he remembers fondly. “It was a place that really helped me to find myself.”
To this day, he still recalls his roommate in Milner Hall (now Freedom Hall), and how they became best friends. His time at The UWI was not without its challenges, as less than desirable grades landed him in Summer School, but he reiterates “what got me through UWI was the friendships and networks”.
Taylor has not only returned to the campus as a postgraduate student, but he has also been invited by some of his lecturers to discuss his art. He recalls being asked by Cultural Studies Lecturer Dr Marsha Pearce to dissect a song that he penned and sang named Doh Cry. He has also shared his expertise in the Creative Entrepreneurship field by visiting the class of the same name to talk about the encoding of language and tradition in our art.
A large part of Taylor’s art is his participation in the local tradition of stickfighting. Telling the tale of what led him to the bois, he explains, “I have been involved in martial arts for many years, but not just karate. I do different things, Kendo, Russian martial arts, and I practice Chinese and Japanese styles as well. But there was a time when I was doing a lot of research and trying to find myself as a man, as a black man, and as a Caribbean man. So, I asked myself ‘What does Keegan from Trinidad, as a martial artist, do?’ And the answer was stickfighting.”
The stickfighting community of St Mary’s in Moruga welcomed him, and Taylor speaks humbly of how stickfighting masters like King David, King Stokeley, Kali and Congo Barra took him under their wings and taught him the art. The fear that he felt during his first fight is what drove him to want to conquer the gayelle, and he acknowledges it today as one of the greatest life lessons that he has ever learned.
“I was a brave fella,” he recalls vividly. “I said to myself that I’m not afraid of that, I could take cuff and kick. But when veteran stickfighter, Acid, picked up his bois and was bringing it down at 300 miles per hour in front my face, I experienced fear for the first time.”
In addition to being a bois man and a Shantwelle, Taylor has also immersed himself in the history of the bois. He describes that it was the amalgamation of different enslaved people coming together and sharing information on the plantation that created a unique stickfighting style in Trinidad and Tobago. Part of this unique style is the manner in which the bois is held.
“We are the only ones where we fight and hit with the same one staff. In Trinidad and Tobago, we hold the stick on both ends, whereas other fighters hold the stick in one hand and something resembling a shield or protection in the other hand.”
And while Taylor hopes that the warrior tradition of stickfighting will continue, he acknowledges that the evolution of the artform has already begun. He highlights the use of padding as one of the big conversations that is now taking place within the community.
“I am in support of the use of padding, but in a specific way. Part of my work is to make stickfighting accessible to more persons, and the use of padding in the gayelle will allow that.”
Taylor has pledged to continue to work not just in the gayelle, but to ensure that stickfighting and other cultural arts from Trinidad and Tobago are recorded so that they can live on.
He says, “Kalinda Kollective is my cultural outreach nonprofit organisation which focuses on archiving the arts of stick fighting, as well as other warrior traditions within the Caribbean. We teach and disseminate information through workshops and various digital means that we're developing to ensure that the culture remains alive.”
