This month is Calypso History Month and it ties in nicely with the Black History Month. As a Trinidadian, I have an automatic and natural love of calypso. Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s have not only been great for my education on Caribbean…and European history, but also to understand and be proud of the genre that is still celebrated and evolves on the streets and festivals all across the Caribbean diaspora, and especially here during Notting Hill Carnival. I hope to demonstrate, in writing, my love of the genre, as I share some of my own lived experience of these songs. I have been thinking of Calypso especially this month as we bid farewell to the now late calypsonian The Mighty Sparrow, who died a few weeks ago.
Calypso’s history has a direct link to the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade with its’ origins from West Africa. Many parts of the Americas and Caribbean were colonised by the Spanish, French, Dutch and later the English. The atrocities of humans in this dark history should not be taken lightly and the horrors and treatment of enslaved African is one of the most shameful in human history. The African slaves were not allowed to celebrate but the oral traditions of song and storytelling were still practiced in their living areas. This may not have been encouraged in certain settlements but generally the songs and oral tradition in the early days were known as Kaiso and canboulay for those who worked in the plantations. There is also a theory that the word derived from the Indigenous tribe word cariso and the National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS) of Trinidad & Tobago has some more information on the origins of the word here.
Calypso was birth out of this need for social commentary, story telling, news sharing and comfort for people. As in other parts of the hemisphere, the blues, gospel and other similar musical genre evolved from struggle and faith, as well as rebellion and as a means to communicate to others and to those in power and people at the time. I was looking for books in the British Library catalogue for some academic sources but could not find any in the time that I had for my research. However, there is a great blog here that explains more about the history of Calypso: Kaiserball on The Origins of Calypso.
The first recorded music of calypso song was in 1912 by Lovey’s String Band from Trinidad and Tobago called ‘Mango Vert’, which is French Creole for ‘Green Mango’. The calypsonian and calypso ‘tents’ were the first forms of official live musical shows that we may recognise today. There were the early greats singers with stage names like ‘Attila the Hun’, ‘Lord Invader’ and ‘The Roaring Hun’ that were able to set up for artists to practice their music and songs. By the time post-war and peacetime arrived in the 1940-50s, recording and travel influenced western proliferation of songs and music such as The Andrews Sister 1944 remake of Lord Invaders ‘Rum and Coca-Cola’, and Harry Belafonte’s ‘Banana Boat’ which exposed songs with rhythms and melodies that were new to the mainstream audiences of the day. By 1956, The Mighty Sparrow, born in Grenada but raised from the age of one in Trinidad, was another hit with ‘Jean and Dinah’. Like the song Jean and Dinah, there were hard-hitting messages of not only of everyday struggles but the deepened anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism, freedom and empowerment of people. This is a great link with photos and more on this history in this blog post by the Jazz History Tree: https://www.jazzhistorytree.com/calypso/
Growing up I remembered my parents going to the calypso tents to hear calypso shows, and I had the privilege of going to Skinner Park in the late 1980s to see a show. I do remember that it was the year that The Might Duke released the winning Road March song call Thunder. So what is a Road March – Road March is the most played song in the competition for Trinidad Carnival at the judging point. Calypso is also an integral part of the carnival experience, and in the 1970s and 1980s it was great to see the brass and live bands in the carnival parades in Port of Spain. Like Jazz bands for Mardi Gras in the Americas – it amazing to hear the live sounds and the trucks as festival revellers tag along the parks or roads. In the 1980s, we started to hear the fusion of Calypso and Soul mainly with Asian rhythms brought from the indentured East Indian labourers, with Lord Shorty coined as Soca. When I came to study and live in London in the 1990s, I lost touch with some of the songs as it was not played on the radio stations I listened to, but eventually with cassettes and the internet, I was able to access them more easily.
Of course there are hundreds of songs in my lifetime that I love but the best thing about calypso is that it is still played by DJs on the streets or parties, and can certainly get you up and dancing. I particularly like that it is this genre of music that fills the streets of Port-of-Spain to London that has youth (and older people) dancing, especially people of colour too! There is a whole identity and belonging that comes from the beat, lyrics and rhythm of calypso. Reggae, dancehall and the sound systems are also heard in most of these events I go too, with the little bits of modern Chutney music – an Indo-Caribbean genre. Women calypsonians are around since the 1970s with Calypso Rose still known as the Queen of Calypso. Some of these lyrics are empowering and liberating for women all over the world, from Calypso Rose’s recent song ‘Leave me alone’ to the late Denyse Plummer’s ‘Woman is Boss’.
With calypso and soca, the Steel Pan goes hand in hand with the musical gifts from Trinidad and Tobago. The steel pan is versatile enough to play other genres of music but if you know a calypso tune and then you hear it played by the large, vibrant steel band orchestra’s – it is truly amazing! I do feel that it belongs to all of us (all of we as a Trinidadian will say). These musical art forms are to be cherished and preserve like any other. There are other influences and the evolution of song – even I didn’t understand some of the other Caribbean songs on the streets of Notting Hill this year plus some of them were very sexually explicit. Not like the subtle innuendos of ‘normal’ calypsos. It was shocking to hear some of the explicit words, although we didn’t know the lyrics but we can understand the blatancy of what they were singing! Some dancehall lyrics are like this too – so you have to be cautious when playing the music for all ages to boogie down to in a party.
I can tell you some more of my favourite songs but I am going to run out of time. I do miss calypso and soca even though I may not listen to it for months. However, once I am in a party or listening to it closer to carnival time – (usually from early Spring in Trinidad to Summer for Notting Hill), it really is splendid and one of the best music forms to get you up on your feet and to make your body move to the rhythms. Let’s keep on celebrating calypso!
