Lead Editor–Newsgathering
ryan.bachoo@cnc3.co.tt
On a Sunday in Barbados when The Mighty Gabby was growing up, his family would listen to Trinidad’s calypso music on a programme hosted by late radio personality Kathleen Warner, who was fondly known as Aunty Kay. From Kitchener to Sparrow to Spoiler, Gabby, whose name is Anthony Carter, was exposed to the greats of calypso from an early age.
“There are some children who would sing calypso or recite a poem or something like that on the programme. All of that was part and parcel of my exposure to calypso, so I have to thank Trinidad for that,” Gabby told the Sunday Guardian in a recent interview.
He would go on to become one of the most prolific calypsonians in Barbados, creating a name for himself across the region. He has won the Calypso Monarch in his country seven times and the Crop Over title three times. He’s one of the most decorated performers in the Caribbean but admits Trinidad and Tobago had a major influence on his musical career.
“I pay honour and homage to Trinidad and Tobago for many, many reasons. That’s where I first got the bug to want to sing calypso,” he said. He speaks of his friendship with The Mighty Sparrow, how he stays in south Trinidad when he is in this country, and how his son performed at the Southern Academy for Performing Arts recently.
Meanwhile, Finley Jeffrey, who goes by the sobriquet Scholar, is a Grenadian calypsonian and agrees that many artistes from around the region are more Caribbean than we think. He told the Sunday Guardian, “We still view Trinidad as the Mecca. We do follow Trinidad, and we are very much aware in Grenada that there are Grenadians who have really shaped and changed the landscape of calypso in the world. I mean, the Mighty Sparrow, arguably the king of calypso, is a Grenadian, true and true. There are many other Grenadians, like Valentino, true Grenadians who have really changed the calypso narrative and shaped it in Trinidad.”
However, Gabby admittd that Trinidadians can sometimes have a short-sighted vision of calypso music. He explained, “Some Trinidadians are not aware of the role that has been played by other Caribbean nations, even the musicians.”
Scholar, who is the reigning Calypso Monarch in Grenada and has won 11 titles, said the different seasons may be contributing to a lack of awareness for Trinidadians about the true impact of the art form in the region.
He explained, “Except for Dominica, whose Carnival coincides with Trinidad’s in February, all of the other carnivals and calypso competitions fall somewhere between July and August. So, this is the time when we are most active, and therefore, we are more predisposed, really, to be following them.”
He saidmsimilar to the large crowds that are seen at Skinner Park for Calypso Fiesta, those crowds can also be seen in Grenada.
Call for Caricom to take calypso more seriously
Having travelled the length and breadth of the region, Gabby said there are many similarities with calypso music around the Caribbean. He added, “First of all, remember the melodies and the chord structures and so on are going to be similar. Also, the beats that the drummers play, but then the phrasing and the metre and things like that can vary from island to island. I got to play with all of them so I could understand how and why the big C would drum this way or play this way or the Trinidadian would play this way.”
Scholar added, “Calypso as a genre in the Caribbean, there are different styles, different ways in which we sing the same calypso, but from an island perspective, we have been able to put our own spin, our own melodic spin, our own lyrical spin to it. So, it’s very simple to figure out what is a calypso from Dominica, a calypso from St Lucia, a calypso from Grenada.”
Though the genre of music is sung across the region, we asked both men why it hasn’t been able to take off internationally in the 21st century.
Scholar offered this perspective: “The thing I think that has kept calypso back, in hindsight, is one of the mistakes that was made was to lay out this art form as an adjudicated art form. I think this has stifled it. Most of the problems, most of the issues, most of the confrontation, most of the quarrels, and most of the contentions that surround this art form are because it’s adjudicated.”
It’s a point Brother Valentino sang at length about in his calypso, Where Kaiso Went.
Scholar was heartened when he saw Machel Montano compete and ultimately win last year’s Calypso monarch in Trinidad. He feels someone like Montano can take the art form beyond the Caribbean. He said, “Last year, I saw Machel took it to the Apollo and so on. Maybe we need a voice like Machel, who’s out there, who can carry it out there.”
Gabby added, “What is needed, especially in Trinidad, is for the young people to start to follow it again. But what has transpired is that the young people in Trinidad and some of the other islands, they only go after what they call the party music as opposed to the calypsoes where you get in the tent and you have people getting encores and so on for songs that carry a social commentary to them.”
He wants the heads of government for the Caribbean Community (Caricom) to look at the art form more seriously, saying, “When you go to these Caricom meetings and so on, discuss culture like you discuss economics. It is as crucial as economics. The only Caribbean country that looks at culture that deeply is Cuba. If you look at it that way, you will see that the potential is there once the finances are behind it to produce more, to sensitise our young people to it, and not just the partying and smoking. It is like the connectivity, the continuity, the way that we should live, and the way that our ancestors taught us how to live.”
For this Caribbean man, calypso music has the power to unite this region while also reinstilling the values that made us.
