Flawed TTPost stamps

THE EDITOR: Credit must be given to any corporate body which promotes our culture, so to TTPost, “Hats off for an excellent effort.” You must then be taken to task for the end product as there are mistakes, omissions and a case of inept proof reading. The first thing to catch my eye was a great picture of Lord Blakie. While he is so prominently featured, his “pen portrait” is the shortest. Surely someone who started singing in 1950, “with a reportoir of over 200 calypsos” surely deserves more than a few lines. You could have added that he also won the Road March of 1962 with Maria. (“repertoire” is the correct spelling”)

The Lord Pretender’s stamp is the lowest denomination. This is acceptable as it will have the widest circulation. Certainly much more could have been said about the calypsonian who was the undisputed King of Extempo in living memory, and not only of 1973 as was put. One can hardly mention Mystic Prowler without pointing out that he won a hat trick in the Buy Local competitions in 1967, 1968 and 1969. The Mighty Sparrow’s pen portrait is loaded with inaccuracies. Your statement “In 1958 he became the only calypsonian to have had a triple win, in the same year, in the Road March competition” is unclear. TUCO records show that he won in 1956 and 1959, but Lord Christo won in 1957 with Chicken Chest. The Calypso King of that year was the Mighty Striker.

What was the triple win? In 1958 the competitions, such as they were, were organised by the Trinidad Guardian Newspaper through its Guardian Neediest Cases Fund. The CDC was no where around. For Sparrow to have sung “Federation” in 1959 (the breaking up) he would have had to be a “Seer Man.” The break up came in 1961. He sang that calypso in 1962 with “Sparrow Come Back Home”, not “A Model Nation”, to win the Calypso king competition. That was Sparrow’s calypso for the Independence Calypso Competition in August 1962. Another paux pas is the following “In 1966 he won the Road March with ‘Melda.’ Mr Walker and won the Road March competition again in 1969 with Sa Sa Yea.” Where does “Mr Walker” fit in there? Continuing with the errors The Roaring Lion is said to have written “Old lady run a mile and a half”. It is well known that Lord Kitchener wrote that calypso, the correct name being “Old lady walk a mile and a half”.

The picture of Nap Hepburn, Lord Brynner and Sparrow is historic. It was probably taken right after the results of the Independence Calypso competition were announced, showing the winner, Lord Brynner with the runners up. Lord Brynner should always be considered the Independence Calypso King and not the first Independence Calypso King. A nation gains Independence only once. Calling Brynner “the hot boy of calypso” is a misnomer, that title goes to the Lord Blakie. The selection of these vintage calypsonians is another side of the story. Growling Tiger as the first Calypso King and Atilla the Hun, Deputy Mayor and Member of the legislature, known as the “Shakespeare of Calypso” would have been good choices too, not forgetting Shorty/Ras Shorty I and The Mighty Spoiler.

EDWARD “TEDDY” PINHEIRO
Cultural Archivist