Wayne's Impulse is not so Modest

Wayne Modeste, better known as “Impulse,” was ever thankful to his fianc?e Michelle “Silver” Mentor, also a calypsonian, for persuading him to re-enter the Young Kings Calypso Monarch competition. After placing fourth last year, he returned with a visionary belief that he would win. Wayne is Young Kings Calypso Monarch 2005. It is his best achievement yet. Wayne had taken a four-year break from the competition after becoming discouraged, he said, when told by NACC (National Action Cultural Committee) officials that the use of double entendre at Young Kings was disallowed. “That is a talent that most of the world don’t have. We were losing it because of our mind and how we think. That year I was coming with ‘Four Cars’ and a kaiso is a kaiso, jump high jump low,” he declared.

Clearly, his 2005 composition “Shadow Jumbie,” a tribute to calypso icons Shadow (Winston Bailey) and Brigo (Samuel Abraham) proved more acceptable to the judges. A calm and crisp-looking Impulse walked into Newsday’s office last week dressed in white, and obvious were his neatly plaited braids that nuzzled his shoulders. So how does it feel to be Young King, I asked the 41-year-old? “I felt happy at the spur of the moment, but it was like an ordinary day for me. The only thing it proved is that I’m good.” He turned to “Silver,” saying, “And ah tell yuh next year ah was going to win? I had that confidence. Even if I come last I still win. Ah just come first from behind.” Born in Mayaro, Impulse’s family later moved to Lowlands in Guayaguayare, where he spent his young adult years. He boasted of his writing talent “since school days.” His first recording, “Maco Me and Maco She” was composed back in standard three at Calmapas Primary School.

“I used to write songs to mess up the teacher and I remember I had the whole class singing ‘Maco Me and Maco She.” Impulse admitted to being the class troublemaker and the ‘dude man.’ “I had a line like this: ‘Darling when I look at you, what do I see! Yuh look like a rose on a chataigne tree...’ “I grew up listening to Sparrow songs. I can’t remember the name now but I always used to sing this calypso that had the line: ‘six months hard labour for smoking ganja’ and my father would tell me, ‘yuh ain’t know yuh work but yuh could sing calypso. Look, go and take yuh book!” “I used to run inside the house when I hear Shadow and Brigo on the radio and I used to get vex when they wanted to turn the station. You couldn’t make noise ’cause I wanted to hear,” he remembered the old days. “I grew up with my father and when I was working I went to ask him for money to record, and he never helped. It was Ulric Hewitt who recognised “Maco” and recorded it at Kenny Phillips studio. That was about 20 years ago.

So that, when ‘Super P’ came out with ‘Everybody Peepin’ I bring back ‘Maco’.” “But no matter how I save my money and record, the radio stations didn’t want to play my song. Ah say I have to fight the system. So I gave a known singer to sing my song. And they wanted to know who Impulse was so the following year I sang ‘Dis is Kim.’ I doh depend on no radio to play my song. I find my way of marketing myself and this year I sold 1,000 CDs at events where I performed.” In recent times, the father of six resigned his computerised machine operator job at Lever Brothers and delved into singing and composing calypso full-time. His compositions are sold at a cost of $3,000-$5,000 for first use over a period of one year, and he collects royalties each time his music is played on the airwaves. He said: “It’s not the money, it’s what I wanted to do. I love to compose. I have to thank my supervisor Mackie Rocke.

He used to hold on for me when the company give me time off to sing in the tent and go on tour. And thanks to the whole of Lever Brothers.” Impulse can be credited this year with the songs “No Respect” (sung by Singing Sandra), “Tainer” (Crazy), “Ah want to live” (Patrice Roberts), “God don’t punish nobody” (Natasha Wilson), “Tribute to Denyse Plummer” and “Sweetness” (both sung by Silver). Among his collection are “Dis Is Kim” (Impulse), “Biting Insects” (Ronnie Mc Intosh), “Confirmed” (Burton Toney) and “No Evidence/where the fork you hold me for,” sung by Eddie Yearwood/Traffik. About his blatant and not too “Modeste” application of double entendre, he said: “My use of double entendre is very clever. Like ‘four cars’ and ‘tainer,’ that is our Carnival. On Carnival Monday and Tuesday you hear people using those words in its true sense on the streets. So I create something to capture both parties.”