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Offline AB.Trini

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Do we still rely on calypso to unveil the ills of society?  does it still have the impact to effect change?

PROUDFLESH: A New Afrikan Journal of Culture, Politics & Consciousness

ISSN: 1543-0855

Intimidation of Calypsonians by the UNC Government of Trinidad & Tobago
   ProudFlesh: New Afrikan Journal of Culture, Politics and Consciousness

Lynette M. Lashley
Introduction

The calypso is one of the indigenous music forms of Trinidad and Tobago. This art form originated from among the talented, dispossessed African males of the society, similar to the art forms of reggae and rap. Among the many functions of the calypso, it has played the role of unofficial political activist and communicator for the masses of the society. Its lyrics can disseminate such significant messages to the population of Trinidad and Tobago that people have come not only to listen to them purely for entertainment, but also for their instrumental value. They listen with the expectation of receiving messages from the calypso about political, governmental and other topics, to which they could relate.

Specifically, in the areas of politics and government, when all is not well in those spheres, the calypsonian articulates this on behalf of the masses. The more there is dissatisfaction among the masses with the state of politics and government in the country, the more this is reflected in the calypso genre of political commentary. While this form of expression had been challenged by the United National Congress (UNC) government of Trinidad and Tobago, and many calypsonians had begun to practise self-censorship, it was also being used by the UNC government self-servingly. The perspective of the UNC government was that calypso should promote the government, not criticize it. This paper will examine the status of the calypso genre of political commentary in Trinidad and Tobago, under the UNC government’s tenure from 1996 to 2001.
The Influence of Calypso in Political Communication

As far back as during slavery, calypsonians seemed to have special powers through their songs to sway, control, and influence people around the “slave masters.” This ability earned them, in some cases, special favors. After slavery, the power of persuasive communication remained a strength of the calypsonian. They were experts in their art form on the communication of political and other relevant messages to the population of Trinidad and Tobago (Lashley, 1982).

Calypsonians were described as gun-slinging balladeers whose weapons were quick wit, good voices, and a wide knowledge of the events of the land. They were the mouthpiece of the people. They were able to articulate for the population their analysis, a synthesis of opinions on an extremely wide range of matters, both local and foreign, particularly regarding social, economic, and political issues (Lashley, 1982).

Political commentary in calypsoes has assumed many different forms. Some of the lyrics are blatant; some are in double-entendre; some employ puns, satire, acerbic wit, pungent humor, and corrosive discourse; some even become personal, going so far as to incorporate commentary about family members.

Albert Gomes, now deceased, a former head of state of Trinidad and Tobago during the years 1950 to 1956, firmly believed that the calypso was an important vehicle for communicating political messages. He states:

    The calypso is the most effective political weapon in Trinidad. The singers - all of them - are men reared in poverty and oppression and they sing of the life they know. Thus it is that even when cleverly camouflaged with wit and banter, the sharp tang (acridity) of social criticism is evident in their songs. Moreover, people go to the calypso tents (concert halls) to be entertained. What politician, who must harangue from the rostrum, can boast of a better opportunity for influencing people’s minds? The fact that the tents are so sedulously supervised by the police reveals the extent to which the calypso singers influence political thought (Brown, 1987, pp. 251-252).

Gomes, as an early politician, expressed a truth about the potency of the calypso. Other politicians recognized this truth as well.
The UNC Government’s Reaction to Political Commentary in Calypsoes

Since the British colonial government, it has only been the United National Congress government that has sought overtly and insidiously to censor and manipulate calypso with political commentary in Trinidad and Tobago because this genre of calypso comments candidly about political and governmental issues.

As an art form, the calypso has been traditionally regarded as the people’s newspaper, whose lyrics carry social and political commentary. Calypsoes have always contained lyrics that have been known to criticize politicians and government. Possessing an equivalent of poetic license, calypsoes have been recognized as having the right to be tasteless or insulting, sardonic or venomous without being viewed as a specific assault against any particular group or individual (Lashley, 1998).

It should be noted that no government of Trinidad and Tobago has ever escaped the pen of the calypsonian. Lyrics of calypsoes pertaining to government and politics have always either been invective or complimentary in their satirical or blatant commentaries. During the Carnival season, the public is treated to a variety of this and other genres of calypsoes.

Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago is a pre-Lenten festival which starts shortly after Christmas, and ends the day before Ash-Wednesday, culminating in a street festival of costumes and dancing on Monday and Tuesday. During this season, calypsonians provide the music and appear at various “tents” to showcase their compositions. These “tents” are the equivalent of miniature concert halls where the calypsonians perform their work. Those with the best calypsoes from the various tents appear as finalists for the National Calypso Monarch competition at the government-subsidized Dimanche Gras show on the Sunday before the street festival begins. There are substantial monetary and other gifts for the competitors. Besides, the calypso public in Trinidad and Tobago looks forward to the contest. It is at that venue where calypsonians present political commentary at its best. Whatever is currently politically relevant in the country is sung about, and most songs are laced with corrosive humor.

The first Carnival season after the United National Congress had formed the government of Trinidad and Tobago was in 1997. Some of the calypsonians sang calypsoes critical of the government. One calypsonian with the sobriquet “Watchman” sang a calypso titled “Panday needs glasses.” This calypso was about corruption in the UNC government, and about the Prime Minister himself, Mr. Basdeo Panday, who allegedly imbibed heavily and regularly.

“Watchman” used props and portrayed the Prime Minister as a blind man with dark glasses, being led around by someone with a glass of liquor, with Panday sniffing trying to find the liquor himself (Lashley, 1998). In other words, “Watchman” was commenting on Mr. Panday’s alleged alcoholism and blindness to corruption in his own government. This type of portrayal was not unusual for calypsonians. They had long targeted errant politicians and the corrupt in the society, using the tradition of their art to do so (Lashley, 1998).

Besides “Watchman,” Mr. Panday had to contend as well with three other calypsonians, “Cro Cro,” “Sugar Aloes” and “Pink Panther,” who mainly sang calypsoes expressing similar sentiments as “Watchman.” Panday reacted to these calypsonians by warning them that the UNC government would ensure that it did not happen again (Lashley, 1998). In 1998, he repeated the threat. No “post-colonial” government had ever sought to be antagonistic to the calypsonian, even though many of them had been mentioned negatively in calypsoes.

For example, the first and longest serving Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Eric Williams, was hearing-impaired and wore a hearing aid. He had held office for thirty years before his death. He was often ridiculed in calypso for some of his policies, and was even called “Deafie” by some of the calypsonians, meaning that he was stubborn and did not listen because he could not hear. Williams never sought to punish those who sang unflattering songs about him. Williams’s successor, the late George Chambers, was even called “Duncy” (Lashley, 1998). This is because Trinidadians had become accustomed to his predecessor, a Prime Minister with a Ph.D. He, too, like Williams, did not retaliate.

Another former Prime Minister, A. N. R. Robinson, was described in calypso as a driver who could not drive, meaning that he was not a good leader and did not have the skills to rule Trinidad and Tobago. The calypsonians again suffered no repercussions because of their calypsoes.

The UNC government, however, was different. The Prime Minister was hell-bent on muzzling the calypsonians. Panday, who is of East Indian descent, saw the calypsonians, the majority of whom are African, as being racist. The UNC government was demonstrating ample evidence of pervasive intolerance of criticism. On one of his visits to Trinidad during the UNC administration, Colin Powell, the present Secretary of State of the United States, told Mr. Panday that he should not be offended by the calypso because it has always been sung in the same tradition with no racial overtones (Lashley, 1998).

According to Selwyn Ryan, a professor and political commentator who responsed to Panday’s accusation of racism by the calypsonians, “The epithet racist is used in the Trinidadian society in a very irresponsible and abusive way. To some, any Afro-Trinidadian who is pro-PNM [People’s National Movement, the party that held government prior to the UNC] or not pro-UNC is a racist or a pseudo racist." (Lashley, 1998).

The Prime Minister had on many occasions openly attacked Sugar Aloes for singing about the political issues affecting Trinidad and Tobago. In due course, Panday accused Aloes of being a racist. But the calypsonian stated in a newspaper interview:

    I am not an exterior or interior decorator so I don’t dress up the issues I sing about. I put in melody the same comments I hear from people in society. My work is simply a compilation of national issues. Much of the information I gather from the weekly talk shows, such as Issues Live, I just give it back the way I get it. My comments are made by respected speakers and casual observers. How the people feel on social and political matters are the indicators for composing my songs (Findlay, 1998, p.7).

In 1998, Aloes sang a calypso, titled “Ah Ready to Go,” which was critical of some of the UNC government’s policies. In the calypso, Aloes said that government officials were offended by his informing the people of some of the wrongdoings in society. He said that he was ready to go to jail. In the same calypso, one of the verses addressed the behavior of Panday’s wife. Among other things, Aloes said that Mrs. Panday likes to wipe the brow of her husband’s face in public; and that she likes to “boo” the opposition. He said that he never intended to offend Mrs. Panday. “She has done the things I mentioned in the songs, and I am not the first to comment on it… I love Mrs. Panday. She looks good, very good, and as you can tell, she is a devoted wife…always wiping sweat off her man” (Lashley, 1998).

Mrs. Panday had not been held in high esteem as the First Lady. She used to be Panday’s maid, was not highly educated, and was seen as socially inept. Understandably, the Prime Minister might not have liked personally coming under attack or having his wife ridiculed in verse. But is this racism? It is not. What we see here is the UNC government distorting a traditional art form, labeling calypsoes as racist, because the lyrics offended Panday and UNC officials.

Sugar Aloes further claims that in 1998 he was approached by a government official who asked him to take out certain lyrics from his calypso; in return, he would be guaranteed to win the Calypso Monarch contest (Osuna, 2001). He refused to do it and had remained a thorn in the side of the government. This is yet another illustration of attempted censorship by the UNC government.

Mr. Panday decided to animate his aversion to criticism of himself and his government by attempting to punish calypsonian critics. One route which he chose was via the government-sponsored National Calypso Competition which takes place at the annual Dimanche Gras show. Most calypsonians, the majority of whom are not gainfully employed, aim at a chance to obtain such largesse. Panday was well aware of this fact. Besides, there is the status that goes with being in the national finals. This lends prestige and validation to those who make it there. Appearing at the finals defines the worth of the calypsonian. These were excellent circumstances for Panday to cut down his perceived "racist" enemies at their knees.

Panday was determined to silence calypso, part of Trinidad and Tobago’s cultural heritage. In 1999, the National Calypso Competition committee excluded Sugar Aloes from the annual contest on the grounds that his presence “harboured the possibility of embarrassment to dignitaries in the audience.” Aloes said boldly, “I was victimized,” when officials told him that his invitation to perform was retracted to protect Mrs. Panday. It should be recognized that sometimes the thoughts and lyrics of a calypsonian can be perceived as ugly or hurtful by some. But they are still important. They are the calypsonian’s freedom of expression (Lashley, 1998).

Not satisfied with using the national calypso, Panday went another step further. In 2000, the UNC government proposed a bill, ironically titled the Equal Opportunities Bill. Certain calypsonians believed that Clause 7 in Act No. 69 of the bill was drawn up by the UNC government to muzzle them. Although it purports “to prohibit certain kinds of discrimination, promote equality of opportunity between persons of different status, establish an Equal Opportunity Commission, and an Equal Opportunity Tribunal and other related matters,” many viewed it as a subtle means of controlling freedom of speech in Trinidad and Tobago.

According to T. Joseph, a journalist in Trinidad and Tobago who has written extensively on the use of the calypso in political communication, this clause had been interpreted by some in the media as well as the performing arts as a mechanism that would lead to some form of censorship (Personal Communication, May 10, 2001). Clause 7 was reminiscent of the Theatres and Dance Halls Ordinance, 1934-1935, used by the colonial rulers to abolish the calypso because they did not like the themes of some of the calypsoes on social and political concerns (Lashley, 1998).

    Clause 7 states:

        (1) A person shall not otherwise than in private, do any act which

            (a) is reasonably likely, in all circumstances, to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of persons;

            (b) is done because of the gender, race, ethnicity, origin or religion of the other person or of some or all of the persons in the group; and

            (c) which is done with the intention of inciting gender, racial, or religious hatred.

        (2) For the purpose of subsection (1), an act is taken not to be done in private, if it –

            (a) causes words, sounds, images or writing to be communicated to the public;

            (b) is done in a public place;

            (c) is done in the sight and hearing of persons who are in a public place. … (Trinidad and Tobago Gazette, Oct. 27, 2000, p.950).

Whatever was the real intention of Clause 7, it was seen by calypsonians as an attempt to abridge their freedom of expression.

The government’s attempt to censor the calypsoes, it was believed, would clean up the so-called distastefulness and “racism” in the lyrics. In so doing, the government was trying to deflect the population’s attention away from the real issues and problems of the society. It was using the calypso as a diversionary strategy (Lashley, 1998).

The UNC government’s folly has been made obvious when compared to a situation that existed in the U.S. a few years ago. Rap artiste Ice-T released a song titled “Cop Killer.” Many law enforcement officials and politicians were outraged by its lyrics. Officials at Time Warner, the company that produced the record, received threats from police officers for distributing the song. The American Civil Liberties Union named former Marine Colonel Oliver North sarcastically as one of the “1992 Censors of the Year” after North and his organization, Freedom Alliance, said they would ask governors of the fifty states to bring charges against the record label for violating sedition and anti-anarchy laws. Then President George Bush also attacked Ice-T; and the U.S. Congress condemned him (Lashley, 1998).

In rebuttal, George M. Levine, president of Time Warner, said the song “Cop Killer” was not written to advocate an assault by young Black people on the police. Levine said that the song did not glorify violence. He added, “Whatever the medium -- print, film, video programming, or music -- we believe that the worth of what an artist or journalist has to say does not depend on pre-approval from a government official or a corporate censor or cultural elite of the right, or the left” (Lashley, 1998).

Yet Panday was insistent that calypsoes should not reflect anything factually negative about him or his government. His Minister of Culture laid down certain criteria for acceptable calypso lyrics for the 2000 National Calypso Competition. A local newspaper editorialised about this action.

    Prime Minister Basdeo Panday, it seems, has wisely abandoned his plans to pass laws against calypsoes, which he deems to be offensive. Is that why Culture Minister Daphne Phillips is now trying to achieve the same by other means? Because that is precisely what she is doing when she threatens to pull funding from Tuco (Trinidad and Tobago United Calypsonians Organization) if Sugar Aloes is allowed to compete...

    As we have stated before, Mr. Panday has every right as a citizen of this country to object to any calypso. If he considers it defamatory he has the legal right to bring its perpetrator to court and claim any of several remedies.

    Apart from his understandable dislike for specific calypsoes by specific calypsonians, such as “Why I Stay” by Sugar Aloes, which after all targets both Mr. and Mrs. Panday, the Prime Minister seems to hold strong opinions on matters related to what is good form and what is not in cultural matters...

    But to seek to ban calypsoes and calypsonians (the aim of Dr. Phillips’s threat) from the national competition because the Prime Minister does not like them -- is unacceptable.

    It’s unconstitutional and not in the interests of either our democracy or our culture (Sunday Express, March 5, 2000, p.12).

This editorial condemns the tactics that the government was employing to try to suppress calypsoes with social and political commentary. When politicians attack artistes, they feel that they are doing the citizens of the country a service. But, in reality, they are violating the citizens’ rights. The attempt to censor a calypso is actually an attempt to censor the thoughts of a person. How can any democratic government subscribe to that?

Panday's relentless mission to muzzle the calypsonians was succeeding in part. At the 2000 National Calypso Monarch competition, calypsoes did not “carry the same caustic political sting as in the last few years” (Rampersad, 2000, p. 14). In other words, some calypsonians practised self-censorship. The calypso public was not treated to the usual fare of humorous, vituperative commentary about the government.

In the meantime, however, the UNC government had begun to use calypsoes in their political campaign for the upcoming national elections of 2000. The government employed the genre in both ancillary and adversarial roles in their campaigns (Joseph, 2000). The UNC commissioned two calypsonians, Gregory “GB” Ballantyne and M’ba, both of African-descent, to come up with campaign calypsoes. GB’s tune, “Double or Nothing,” deals with UNC achievements during the party’s stewardship (Joseph, 2000).

“Double or Nothing” praises the performance of the UNC. He speaks of the progress that has been made in Trinidad and Tobago under the UNC administration. He says, in an excerpt from the calypso:

    Yuh now come and yuh gone clear
    Yuh build police station
    Ah hah! Ah hah!
    Introduce minimum wage
    On crime yuh take advantage
    And I was de one who had money in a rage
    (Joseph, 2000, pp. 6-7).

He is saying that since the UNC came into power, there is minimum wage legislation; crime is down; and the economy is good. GB has defended his making a calypso in support of the government. He has said, “The constitution defends freedom of choice and my profession does not debar me from working for anyone” (Joesph, 2000, p.3).

M’ba, the other calypsonian commissioned by the UNC, came up with “Put We Back,” which was also used as a favourite theme song at UNC political meetings. Some of the lyrics were used as paid radio advertising by the party (Joseph, 2000). The UNC was now using the same medium or art form it had been condemning for affirmative commentary about its administration. The government was returned to power after the October 2000 elections, amidst numerous allegations of voter fraud. This signalled even more problems for the calypsonians who persisted in singing social and political commentary.

Many improprieties were reported about the 2000 general elections. For example, there was widespread allegations of voter padding, Elections and Boundaries irregularities, and falsification of citizenship by two successful candidates. Still, no contestant touched on any of those subjects. At the tents, Cro Cro and Pink Panther, two stalwarts in the genre of social and political commentary, and other calypsonians trounced the UNC government for their shenanigans and blatant misconduct in the elections. For the 2001 National Calypso competition, no one who dared to sing in the genre of political commentary was chosen as finalists, despite bringing down the house at the tents.

Sugar Aloes, however, renowned for his blatant social and political commentary, seemed to have cleverly toned down his lyrics about the allegations of fraud in the 2000 Elections. Instead his calypso laid the blame on the African Trinidadian people for returning the UNC to power. Indirectly, he did the government a favor by legitimizing their success at the polls, even though he did not believe it. He was among the finalists because of this manoeuvre.

Not surprisingly, the two renowned calypsonians of social and political commentary, Cro Cro and Pink Panther, did not make it to the finals. Cro Cro has always employed brazen lyrics in his calypsos. Pink Panther has always been subtle, using satire full of double-entendres. It is quite glaring that Cro Cro and Pink Panther, who usually appeared as finalists, were not chosen as finalists.

The year 2001 was the second successive year that Cro Cro had not made it to the finals for the Monarch contest. He has had a record of making it to eleven finals consecutively. He has won the title three times. And he has placed second on five occasions, under three different government administrations. He says he knows that he has not been picked for the finals over the past two years because of what he persists in singing -- commentary of governmental and political issues. Two of Cro Cro’s calypsoes for the year 2001 addressed the alleged irregularities and shenanigans of the 2000 general elections. Cro Cro said, however, that he did not care about being a finalist because he was committed to singing about the plight of the future of the African masses under the present oppressive conditions of the UNC administration (Rawlins, 2001).

The 2001 National Calypso Competition “was perhaps one of the most apathetic and unexciting of recent times. Not only was it sadly lacking in good Trini humor, but the stinging political commentaries were not as prevalent as in previous years” (Rampersad, 2001, p.14). Calypsonians stayed away from singing calypsoes of social and political commentary. The calypsoes seemed to reflect adherence to the “criteria” that had been laid down by the Minister of Culture in the year 2000. In a newspaper article, one journalist notes:

    …some calypsonians are afraid to deliver caustic political commentaries for fear of offending certain politicians who may not allow them to escape unscathed. Indeed, Prime Minister Panday, himself, has been an avid critic of calypsoes which he views as “belittling and denigrating citizens and dividing the races in the country.”

    Since 1997, he had declared that his Government “would not sit idly by and allow this practice to continue.” (Rampersad, p. 14).

Fearing reprisal by the UNC government, the tunes calypsonians offered at the competition ignored the tense political climate in Trinidad and Tobago at that time. What was sung seemed oblivious. The calypsoes sung were like a salve trying to cover the many political wounds that were still festering in the country. One would have believed that no one in the population was concerned about the results or carryings-on of the 2000 elections. The allegations of impropriety regarding the general elections were not dealt with in most of the calypsoes.

Sugar Aloes placed third in the 2001 competition, with “I Plead the Fifth,” which was benign when compared to his renditions of the past. What one can conjecture is that Aloes had cleverly detoured from blatantly attacking the government. The 2000 general elections were fraught with allegations of irregularities, which supposedly contributed to the victory of the UNC. For 2001, Aloes changed his style. Like Sugar Aloes, the rest of the finalists realized that political commentary was becoming passé. The contest was therefore listless, devoid of substantive political commentary.

It was now becoming frighteningly apparent that the UNC government was succeeding in manipulating the calypso. Both the calypsonian and the politician seemed to use the calypso as a vehicle to advance their agenda in line with UNC rule.

As can be seen from the 2001 Calypso Monarch contest, the overwhelming majority of the contestants sang tunes other than blunt political commentary. The absence was markedly so, even in the face of the recent events which had taken place in the 2000 general elections. The Calypso Monarch contest seemed to be no longer the forum for political commentary.
Conclusion

The intrepid commentators, Cro Cro and Pink Panther, and their likes, would never have been among the finalists at a Calypso Monarch competition, the paramount forum for their genre of outspoken political commentary, as long as the UNC government remained in power. The only avenue for such expression would have been relegated to calypso tents. Increasingly, commentary about political matters in Trinidad and Tobago through calypso was being self-censored by calypsonians. The calypso was becoming a “political football,” being kicked around by both politicians and calypsonians in Trinidad and Tobago for political expediency.

Through a strange twist of fate, shortly after forming the government after their electoral success in 2000, the UNC was rocked with scandal. Three of the ministers resigned from the party as a result. The government was then forced to call a new election in 2001, only one year after it had taken power. This resulted in a tie between the incumbent UNC government and the opposition party, the People’s National Movement (PNM). Having no precedent in the Trinidad and Tobago constitution to follow for such an unusual circumstance, the President of the country was at liberty to make the decision as to who would govern the country. He chose the PNM because of all the corruption and dictatorship tendencies of the UNC. Had the UNC party been returned to power, the calypso genre of political and social commentary would in all likelihood have been decimated.
References

Brown, W. (1987). Angry Men - Laughing Men: The Caribbean Caldron. New York: Greenberg.

Findlay, M. (1998, February 20). “Aloes No Longer Bitter.” The Independent, p.7.

Joseph, T. (2000, November 24) “Lyrics to Make a Politician Cringe.” Retrieved January 31, 2001 from the World Wide Web: <http://trinicenter.com/Terryj/200/Nov/lyrics.htmlm>, p. 1

“Keep It within the Constitution.” (2000, March 5). Sunday Express, p.12.

Lashley, L. (1982) An Analysis of the Calypso as a Mass Communication Medium: The Social and Political Uses. Unpublished Dissertation. Howard University, Washington, D.C.

Lashley, L. (1998). "A Threat to Freedom of Speech by the United National Congress Government of Trinidad and Tobago". Unpublished paper presented at the 23rd Caribbean Studies Association Conference, St. John's, Antigua.

Osuna, M. (2001, 14 January). Personal Interview.

Rampersad, I. (2001, March 4). “Calypso apathy.” Sunday Express, p.14

Rawlins, W. (2001, 23 February) Personal Interview.

Trinidad and Tobago Gazette. (2000, October 27) p.950.

Copyright © 2004 Africa Resource Center, Inc.

Citation Format


A
PROUDFLESH: A New Afrikan Journal of Culture, Politics & Consciousness: Issue 3, 2004.

Another good read:

Carnival
 By Milla Cozart Riggio

http://books.google.ca/books?id=EjaW-iU4fEwC&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13&dq=Carnival++By+Milla+Cozart+Riggio&source=bl&ots=-XNnN_FTRX&sig=LHEX8fsXQxGOVvKXY06Tcf-LFlg&hl=en&ei=Pg9iSsHYOYWGsgOklPSPBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1
« Last Edit: July 19, 2009, 11:47:01 AM by AB.Trini »

Offline AB.Trini

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Re: Raising the public's conscience through Calypso.....
« Reply #1 on: July 19, 2009, 11:15:07 AM »
THE SPARROW REVOLUTION: FIFTY YEARS OLD
AND STILL GOING STRONG

 By Caldwell Taylor

"Calypso is a product of Caribbean people's
struggle to articulate an identity in response
to numerous attempts at fragmentation"
-Carole Boyce -Davis


"Radical transformation of any society is
unthinkable without the active participation
of those engaged in creative and productive
work".
-Noam Chomsky



Fifty years ago this month, the "Sparrow Revolution" was brilliantly sung into existence when "the Mighty Sparrow", then rated a "B" calypsonian--seized the calypso crown and with it the commanding heights of calypsodom.   The "laddie" was merely 20 years old and his "B" rating
had to do with the fact that his calypso singing consisted mostly in "hustling tourists" in the "Gaza Strip" area of Port of Spain. But B rating or not , the Sparrow " takeover" of February 12, 1956 was no fluke, for fifty years later he remains the dominant figure in calypso-a truly astounding achievement in the quirky world of popular music .The Sparrow Revolution triumphed on a "manifesto" named "Yankee Gone" (Jean and Dinah"), an infectious mix of sex, social commentary, Sparrowesque braggadocio and creole nationalism. It retooled the calypso art form, giving it a new sound, a new style, a new sensibility, a new stagecraft; and it also introduced the human voice as key aspect of calypso instrumentation.


The Sparrow Revolution also gave us the "new calypsonian"- Sparrow being the prototype- and it prefigured the coming of a new breed of politicians, the People's National Movement (PNM), whose September 1956 victory put an end to the political careers of "Old Guardists" like Butler, Roy Joseph ,Bertie Gomes and Stephen Maharaj. Sparrow was a part of the PNM takeover, for in 1955 he became a member of "Gayap", a group that worked for Eric Williams before the People's Educational Movement (PEM) became the People's National Movement in January 1956. Before the PNM there was also the Bachacs, the Williams-led study group that included individuals like Elton Richardson, Winston Mahabir and Telford Georges.

Williams and Sparrow, the scholar and the songster, were quite fond of each other and there were in the early days many public displays of their mutual affection. Sparrow, at least until the mid sixties, tolerated no opposition to Williams's government and politics. To the glory of Williams and the PNM, he sang songs like "Leave The Dam Doctor" and "William the Conqueror":

Praise little Eric, rejoice and be glad
We had a better future here in Trinidad PNM
It ent got nobody like them
For they have a champion leader
William the Conqueror


"Leave the Damn Doctor" was Sparrow's hard -hitting response to Growling Tiger's satirical stab at Williams's moral armor; the "Tiger" chastised the Doc for deserting his wife just hours following a secret wedding on Caledonia island.

Tiger sang:

No, no, not the Doc
No, no, not the beloved Doctor
I can afford to gamble my life
He'll never marry and next day desert his wife


Sparrow retorted:

Leave the damn Doctor
He ent trouble allyuh
Leave the Damn Doctor
What he do he well do
Leave the damn Doctor
And doh get me mad
Leave the damn doctor
Or is murder in Trinidad


Sparrow once again took Williams's side in the region-wide donnybrook that attended the mash up of the West Indies Federation in 1962. Williams was at the centre of this affair, for he was a key player and the spokesman for one of two theories of federation: Williams wanted a highly centralized (Hamiltonian) federation, and in this respect he was opposed by Norman Washington Manley, the Jamaican premier of the day, who campaigned for a decentralized (Jaffersonian)
arrangement that gave the respective territorial units lots of room to maneuver, especially in the area of economic development. After much sparring with Williams and others, Manley made the decision to turn the matter over to the Jamaican voters. The vote took place in September 1961 and a majority - 54 percent - voted to quit the Federation. The departure of Jamaica spelled the end of the federal experiment. Williams turned to the language of the "Midnight Robber" to sum up the situation: "One from ten leaves zero", he quipped.

Sparrow soon followed with his own take on the break-up of the Federation. In a song called "Federation”, he sang:

Federation came down to simply this
is dog eat dog and the survival of the fittest
Everybody fighting for independence, singularly;
Trinidad for instance
But we go get too don't bother
But ah find we should all be together
Not separated as we are
Because of Jamaica


CLR James (1901-1989), the world-renowned Marxist theoretician (and a big Sparrow fan) was in the calypso tent that night when Sparrow sang "Federation" for the very first time. James commented:
I was in the tent the night he returned and first sang it. When it became clear what he was saying, the audience froze. Trinidad had broken with the Federation. Nobody was saying
anything and the people did not know what to think, far less what to say. At the end of the last verse of that first night Sparrow say that something was wrong and he added loudly:
"I agree with the Doctor"
( James: Party Politics in the West Indies, p. 162).


And of course the Doc agreed with the Sparrow. Being a shrewd politician, Williams understood the value of Sparrow's popular appeal as well as his immense pedagogical powers. Indeed, he acknowledges this in his autobiography "Inward Hunger: The Education of a Prime Minister (1969), where he writes that Sparrow was often the person who "summed up" public feeling. Williams would return to Sparrow's role as public intellectual in a 1980 letter sent to the calypsonian on the occasion of the 25th anniversary in the calypso business. In that note, carried in the Trinidad Express newspaper for January 6, 1980, Williams allowed that Sparrow had come
to his assistance with the song "Leave the Dam Doctor".



THE COMING OF THE SPARROW


Sparrow's rise to fame was not driven by good luck, good looks or the singer's rare magnetism. Furthermore, Sparrow's ascent to calypso fame and fortune did not begin in 1955, when he went into the tent (for the first time) to sing "High Cost of Living" and "Race Track" and was introduced by MC "Viking" in the following manner:

"Ladies and Gentleman
It have a young feller here who say he could sing
So I will bring him on stage.
If you think he good, clap.
Well, you know what to do if he ent good"

Sparrow took the stage and brought the house down.

It is not possible to pinpoint the moment of Sparrow's self-conscious take off, but the year 1948 remains utterly crucial.  In 1948, Slinger Francisco (Sparrow) was merely 13 years old. He was at the time a student at the New Town man Catholic Boys School on Maraval Road. He was member of the school's choir. He was an altar boy, too. Slinger loved to sing, something he took
from his mother Clarissa- and so he was a fixture in the school's Friday concerts. But week after week the young man will sing the same song: "Red River Valley". He was a quite popular kid,
but just about everyone had had it with "Red River Valley”.

In the wake of all the gossiping, Slinger decided to put the school's moral code to the test. He walked up to Teacher Carl (Jagnauth) and said: Sir, Ah could sing calypso? And before Teacher Carl could answer, Slinger was on the stage singing a Lord Invader song:

"Before the landing of the Yankees
Everything I give me wife
She never displeased"......


A hush fell upon the assembled teachers and students. Everyone was afraid to talk. This was a Catholic school. A calypso free zone and the young feller sang a calypso! Was this puerile innocence, or was it manish rebellion?


END OF PART 1

Offline Jah Gol

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As much as the UNC government attempted to censor calypso it also marked an era a great political calypsoes that ended with the return of the PNM. Sugar Aloes and Cro Cro in particular penned some outstanding songs then.  Ironically calypsonians self-censored in the years after the UNC. This season however, marked a dramatic increase in the number of songs that were directly critical of the government. 

There is a disconnect between young people and calypso. If I play a sparrow in the office my young colleagues would call me "a old man in a young man body." The extent of their consideration for it is limited to the discussion about the Dimanche Gras results on the Thursday after Carnival because of course they need Wednesday to recuperate. Even though in recent years we have seen an increase in the number of young singers we have also seen the waning popularity in the genre. 

The Chomsky quotation is instructive. Artistic activism is a necessary part of social revolution. I don't think calypso's role today is as influential as in Sparrow's heyday. In fact I know it isn't. Though Preacher's "We stepping up" is notable exception, the only other tune that has galvanised widespread support for any cause in T&T recently is Maximus Dan's "Warrior", which is anything but political. Perhaps Soca might be that outlet for but activism I am yet to hear a great political soca. There is however a budding poetic movement taking in root in T&T.
« Last Edit: July 19, 2009, 03:59:08 PM by Jah Gol »

Offline ribbit

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Do we still rely on calypso to unveil the ills of society?  does it still have the impact to effect change?

no and no.

to use mcluhan's terms, calypso is a "hot" medium and it suited those times past, back when there was the colonialism situation and the times leading up to that. this perspective is unfortunately tinted by hindsight, but there was a certainty that things ought to change in a progressive direction. the changes in the socio-political situation (i.e. independence) introduced uncertainty which favour "cooler" media such as the forum.
« Last Edit: July 20, 2009, 06:13:50 PM by ribbit »

 

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