The toughest audience any calypsonian can face is at Skinner Park, San Fernando, for Calypso Fiesta, the semi-finals of the National Calypso Monarch competition.
Some calypso careers have been derailed, never to recover, after being subjected to the boos, jeers and occasional missiles from toilet paper-waving fans who traditionally occupy positions at the front of that stage.
For Denyse Plummer, who died on Sunday after a long and valiant struggle with cancer, that Skinner Park “baptism of fire” became the defining moment of her long and illustrious musical career.
On that Saturday in February 1986, she responded to the hostility from the crowd with courage and grace, barely missing a beat as she sang her two calypsoes.
While the Skinner Park toilet paper treatment was usually reserved for performances considered by spectators to be below par, in the case of Ms Plummer, it was driven by prejudice. She, a mixed-race Trinidadian woman, was regarded by many in that vociferous crowd as “too white” to sing calypso.
She could have walked away, retreated to the safety of the Chaconia Inn, Maraval, stage where she had already enjoyed several years of success as a pop singer.
To her credit, Ms Plummer stayed the course. Her Skinner Park detractors later became her most avid fans and she broke down barriers in T&T’s cultural arena, clearing the way for the diversity that is now a distinctive feature in calypso and soca.
The nation that mourns her passing today is united in deep sorrow and admiration for a woman whose musical works were distinctive for their positive messages of determination, triumph and patriotism.
Never to be forgotten are the infectious energy and joy radiating in her performances—a quality that did not change even after she stepped away from the calypso stage and set off in a different musical direction as a gospelypso artiste.
Even then, her Trinbagonian-ness shone through in her Christian worship songs.
And what an impressive body of work she has left behind in three musical genres, dating back to the 1970s when she regularly topped the local charts with pop recordings, then the calypsoes that earned her titles over several Carnival seasons and, in her latter years, the full gospel anthems.
Among her biggest hits was Woman is Boss, a feminist anthem that earned her a spot in the 1988 National Calypso Monarch finals, as well as the first of the six Calypso Queen crowns she won over the years.
But even that classic is eclipsed by Nah Leaving, a calypso that evokes patriotic pride. Released in 2001, it earned her encores, rave reviews and the coveted National Calypso Monarch title.
Outside of the Carnival season, during the months of uncertainty and anxiety following the July 27, 1990 attempted coup, she was part of a nation-building campaign, Let the Flowers Bloom Again, as the singer of the theme song.
On-stage, Denyse Plummer was energetic and vibrant. Off-stage, she was warm and welcoming with a ready smile.
She withstood the blows of her rocky start in calypso and grew into a cultural giant whose remarkable life is being celebrated and honoured across T&T and even further afield.
To the end, even in her battle with stage four cancer, Denyse Plummer displayed courage and grace.
This nation has lost a woman of distinction whose positive influence lives on in her music. She will be deeply missed.
