An insight into the calypso world

Now you mightn’t believe this but my best efforts to enter the calypso singing arena this season came to nought. To begin with, I didn’t have a song, my voice is neither sweet like the proverbial nightingale nor melodious as that of a frog. It’s not that there are no issues that need to be publicly ventilated in the “big yard” but who’d want to listen to someone without his own posse and constituency? Even without a song, a single fan, a voice, calypso persona or diction I still thought that, like Gypsy and Denyse Plummer, I could pass the “toilet paper” test. However, my problem was settling on a calypso sobriquet.

I just couldn’t make up my mind whether I should be a Lord this or Mighty that or a King other. Given a choice, I’d settle for “King Dotish.” But alas, I gather that the competition for this sobriquet is tight and probably has more appropriately been appropriated. But c’est la vie. So, bye, bye calypsodom, but “ah go play de arse’ as usual, because ah love carnival/ But no competition for me, in San Fernando or the city/ You could preach Peter or Paul, ah ain’t even going to the Savannah to see football.” See what I mean. I can’t even make the grade on the ground of originality, as my fumbling first effort at composition suspiciously resembles Sparrow’s griping about the Dimanche Gras Show at the time when the Carnival Queen received a car and an assortment of expensive prizes and all the Calypso King got was “a couple dollars, a case of beer and a brass crown on top he head.”

After winning the crown for the first time, Sparrow’s response was to boycott the show, singing “...who want to go could go up there, but me ain’t going nowhere.” Today, calypsonians can compete for cars and small fortunes. They receive appearance fees that their predecessors could not have dreamt of. Although the calypso house now has many mansions, it appears that the “social commentary” section is the one that lends itself to the most controversy. Traditionally, the calypsonian has enjoyed a certain latitude, especially when it comes to articulating social concerns and grievances and lampooning public figures. However, one needs to bear in mind, that, however blurred the line, there is a distinction between freedom and licence, and, even within permitted parameters, a certain amount of sensitivity and fair play cannot reasonably be dispensed with.

Sometimes, one hears misguided and inane expressions of bravado like, “...It have democracy here and I have a right to sing anything I want about anybody,” Oh yeah? Some fellows openly admit to their partisan comments and see nothing wrong with using the cultural platform to promote their political loyalties and propaganda. That’s not to say that bonafide calypsonians should be denied the space to expose corruption and oppression, where they exist, and challenge powerful figures and institutions in the society, using the rapiers of wit, metaphor, double entendre and other artifices developed over time. However, there’s a sort of vulgarity, personal vilification and abuse which, though applauded by the fans in the calypso tents, do not merit a captive national/international audience. I don’t wish to develop that point here and now except to mention that I once attended a calypso show, in the aftermath of the 1990 attempted coup, to gauge for myself the response to some of the calypsos which used the attempted coup as their “story lines.”

To say that I was appalled by the response of a predominantly “black audience” applauding  “black” calypsonians eulogising Abu Bakr for being responsible for the torturing of “black” parliamentarians in the Red House is putting it mildly and probably illustrates my own squeamishness or undeveloped sense of humour. And talking about humour, the competition for the most humorous calypso is, in my view, probably a step in the right direction. By humour, I don’t refer to the toilet bowl and latrine lyrics type which require little or no ingenuity. Additionally, I believe that prizes should also be awarded to the composers of calypsos as well. I’m aware that there’s the view that the “true true” calypsonian is the one who writes and sings his own song. I suppose that some would wish to distinguish the calypsonian from the calypso singer. The reality, of course, is that some people are gifted composers and for one reason or another cannot or would not sing. On the other hand, there are those who have what it takes to deliver a calypso to the satisfaction of an audience but can’t compose a line.

I once heard a story about the collaboration between a prominent calypsonian and a natural composer (that being a special gift). It appeared that the calypsonian’s treatment of the composer could have been described as bordering on the exploitative. The composer’s wife, I’m told asked him, “Why don’t you give your compositions to other calypsonians?” His reply was, “This fellow is the only one who can get the calypso across as I’d like to see it.” I suppose that in those days composing calypsos was little more than a hobby. Today’s composers are mindful of their own worth and are not only emerging from the shadow of anonymity but, unlike their predecessors, insisting, I suspect, in sharing the rewards commensurate with their contributions to the art form. Some of the better and much sought after calypso composers are so prolific that they can  justifiably boast that at some of the prestigious competitions their compositions are virtually competing among themselves. That’s not of course, to disregard “the icing on the cake” provided by the singer’s distinctive personality and singing style.