Volume 29 Issue 6 | June, July & August 2024

IN CONVERSATION SAVING

IN CONVERSATION SAVING CALYPSO BY GLORIA BLIZZARD “Calypso is the most important music in the world,” says musician Jesse Ryan of the music originating in the twin island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. We talk via screens as I interview him for this article. We are both in Toronto, and share common origins and ideas. We agree that calypso shares an ancestral musical and cultural thread with all diasporic cultures that originated in Africa and spread throughout the world – to Cuba, to the French- and English-speaking Caribbean and to Brazil – via the chattel slavery system. We both recognize that calypso as a form, speaks to and about power, culture, social dynamics and the evolution of a people. Ryan surprises me however when he says, “Because of its sheer popularity between the 40s and the 70s, it deeply influenced other forms; in the U.S. in the 50s and 60s, it rivalled rock ’n’ roll. Every club had regular calypsothemed events.” I said calypso sweeping the place like if she come outta space My, my calypso sweeping the place like if she come outta space I can remember rock and roll had the whole place under control Since calypso leave Trinidad rock and roll really suffering bad — The Mighty Sparrow, No More Rocking and Rolling (1958) Jewelled Peacock masquerader Errol Payne, from Toronto's first Caribana parade in 1967. This year's Toronto Caribbean Carnival Grand Parade is on Saturday, August 3. Origins “It is an important political music and culture of music because it came out of a people who did not have one identity … it became the expression of the collective identity for people of Trin-Tobago,” Ryan says. Between the 1400s and 1800s the two islands changed hands many times as different industries caught Western Europe’s attention. Initially, the Indigenous Taino population were forced to dive for pearls and then dig for gold. When European interest turned toward the more lucrative sugar, the Dutch brought enslaved Africans to the island and built six sugar factories. The French soon followed with both free and enslaved people and then the Spanish arrived. Eventually the British took over. At certain points there were Indigenous Taino (formerly referred to as Carib), a few Dutch and a French-speaking majority, all living under Spanish law. The islands were eventually taken over by the British. “Calypso comes out of all that. The tyranny of chattel slavery of Africans kidnapped and brought to the islands to manpower the industry and colonial rule. That’s the environment that led to the formation of calypso. In addition, there’s other history that comes later on with the arrival of the indentured Indian and Chinese The Mighty Sparrow: No More Rocking and Rolling Lord Invader: Calypso in New York Calypso Rose: Calypso Queen 10 | June, July & August, 2024 thewholenote.com

populations. With calypso, there’s also the South American influence that came through Venezuela.” Calypsonians sing under cover of a sobriquet. In the documentary Calypso Dreams, calypsonian and academic, the Mighty Chalkdust explains, “Calypso is a poor man’s newspaper, the people’s spokesman, let de people know what time it is, what going on behind they back.” However, “it’s not the singer saying, it is the title. Like a colonial judge in an English wig who give a sentence, makes a proclamation – it is the wig doing it, not the man.” Mighty Sparrow, Atilla the Hun, Lord Blakie, Lord Melody and Sir Lancelot can say what an ordinary person cannot. Music and Identity Every Sunday, both in Trinidad and here in Canada, in the family home with my parents and brothers, the house was filled with the sounds of music – all day. My father had primary access to the record or compact disc or cassette player – whatever the thing with the speakers attached at the time. He often played calypso for hours. I gathered its importance, not just by how much aural space it took up in the home, but by the fact that my otherwise very busy father would, with sheer delight, happily explain the lyrics to me. He would deconstruct the political commentary, the sexual innuendo, the economic and social and cultural histories and the clever turns of phrase. He explained the impact of the American military base on the island in the lyrics of Rum and Coca Cola by Lord Invader (with melody by Venezuelan composer Lionel Belasco). He explained what happened when they left in Sparrow’s song Jean and Dinah. He was always amazed and so proud and would delight at the cleverness and truths nestled within “Dan is the man in the van,” as Sparrow sings on the uselessness of colonial education that taught people on the island nothing of their own history. “It make me a stupidy,” he sang. My father would grin gleefully at Lord Blakie’s raucous laugh, following a particularly scandalous insight. He showed me what calypsonian David Rudder said in the documentary Calypso Dreams, “the laugh fools people, under the laugh is a blade.” My father’s greatest legacy to me, is the love and appreciation for this art form. Women calypsonians joined in later on in this predominantly male-originated field. Calypso Rose and others eventually gave some clever, funny, joyful, insights on politics and culture, as well as some discerning licks back to the men. Traditional calypso has often been a way through suffering, sometimes cutting, sometimes light, ironic and gleeful. And yes, sometimes, it’s all fun and games. “Fire fire in she wire wire, ay yai yai, oi oi oi” sang my little brother, still a toddler, joyfully one Sunday morning in church. The family was busy sitting and standing, chanting and then singing as is common in the Catholic mass. That moment we all stood and at this new opportunity to sing, he joined in in full voice with this familiar refrain. “Fire fire in she wire wire,” from the Queen of Calypso herself. Global dialogues Britain positioned itself as the mother country for colonial subjects and then was somewhat surprised when said subjects showed up on her shores, looking for new life opportunities. “London is the place for me,” sang Lord Kitchener smiling for the reporters and cameras who were there to meet him as he disembarked SS Empire in 1948. London would go on to become a centre for the form. Traditional calypso as Ryan prefers to call it, (or ole time calypso, a Trini might say), contains embedded social Jesse Ryan commentary, clever turns of phrase and, amongst the chipping and the intoxicating singalong melodies and rhythms, sophisticated solos and arrangements. In London, Lord Kitchener and others, made recordings with some of the best jazz musicians of the day. However, even while recording and performing, Lord Kitchener became disenchanted by the struggle with racism in Britain and wrote, So boys, if you brown they say you can stick around If you white, well everything’s alright If your skin is dark, no use to try You got to suffer until you die. With this new positioning, “Kitch” as he was affectionately known, was also singing “Africa My Home,” as Caribbean people and people within the pan-African movement dug into histories beyond the imposed colonial ones. I want to come back home, gyal I tired roam The Mighty Dollar Some of the best-known calypso artists are not the originators of calypso at all. Gloria written by the Mighty Bomber, Ryan’s grandfather, was on the American musician Harry Belafonte’s first album, which sold a million copies. The Mighty Bomber and many other calypsonians felt unrecognized or improperly compensated for their compositions. When infuriated originators went to New York to get some recourse, despite the commercial worth and cultural influence of their work they were rarely successful. It was a complex scenario in that they also had to listen as their sound, commentary and turns of phrase were turned into something lighter – “brandy mixed with water,” sang Chalkdust in Misconceptions, referring to North American versions of calypso. The sordid boon is that the form became well-known LENARD ISHMAEL Lord Kitchener: London Is the Place for Me The Mighty Bomber: Gloria thewholenote.com June, July & August, 2024 | 11