San Fer­nan­do ca­lyp­so­ni­ans are re­new­ing their call for the cre­ation of a per­ma­nent Ca­lyp­so Mu­se­um to cel­e­brate and pre­serve Trinidad and To­ba­go’s mu­si­cal and cul­tur­al her­itage.

With Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar now in charge of the Na­tion­al Trust, they are hope­ful that a per­ma­nent archival space could soon be­come part of the city’s cul­tur­al land­scape.

Speak­ing at an awards func­tion in San Fer­nan­do on Sat­ur­day night, Pres­i­dent of the Trin­ba­go Na­tion­al Ca­lyp­so Mu­se­um, Mc Mor­ris Ed­wards, said dis­cus­sions are on­go­ing with the Min­istry of Tourism, Cul­ture, and the Arts to se­cure a lo­ca­tion for the mu­se­um in San Fer­nan­do. Among those re­ceiv­ing awards were vet­er­an co­me­di­an Er­rol Fa­bi­en, Ivan Toolsie, re­cip­i­ent of the Cha­co­nia Medal (Sil­ver), and re­porter Yvonne Webb.

Ed­wards said the city had a col­lec­tion of im­por­tant arte­facts.

“We are in dis­cus­sions with the min­istry to se­cure a build­ing that can be ren­o­vat­ed and used to host ex­hibits and arte­facts, so that vis­i­tors, stu­dents, and re­searchers can ex­pe­ri­ence the full his­to­ry of Ca­lyp­so,” Ed­wards said.

He ex­plained that the mu­se­um is en­vi­sioned as a space for ed­u­ca­tion, re­search, and tourism, one that will show­case the peo­ple and sto­ries that shaped Ca­lyp­so’s evo­lu­tion. “We have so many mem­bers in the South Cen­tral zone who are look­ing for op­por­tu­ni­ties to per­form and pre­serve Ca­lyp­so at the com­mu­ni­ty lev­el,” Ed­wards said.

“These com­mu­ni­ty tents keep the art­form alive.”

He said their or­gan­i­sa­tion has al­ready re­ceived a ma­jor boost from cul­tur­al re­searcher George Ma­haraj, who has pledged to do­nate more than 5,000 Ca­lyp­so record­ings and arte­facts—in­clud­ing mu­sic from the first Ca­lyp­so Monarch in 1939—to form part of the mu­se­um’s foun­da­tion col­lec­tion.

Ed­wards said the awards formed part of the sec­ond an­nu­al cel­e­bra­tion of Ca­lyp­so His­to­ry Month, which pays trib­ute to south­ern icons who have up­lift­ed com­mu­ni­ties through the per­form­ing arts.

Cul­tur­al ad­vo­cate Ju­nior Bis­nath, who co-found­ed the Trin­ba­go Na­tion­al Col­lec­tive Mu­se­um, said the ini­tia­tive aims to pre­serve lo­cal cul­ture for fu­ture gen­er­a­tions.

“Too of­ten, we lose our artis­tic her­itage be­cause there are no prop­er spaces to store and dis­play it,” Bis­nath said. “Trinidad and To­ba­go needs a na­tion­al cul­tur­al mu­se­um where vis­i­tors can see how Car­ni­val, ca­lyp­so, and the arts have de­vel­oped over time.”

The evening’s cel­e­bra­tion al­so ho­n­oured The Mighty Spar­row, re­al name Slinger Fran­cis­co, de­scribed by Bis­nath as “a liv­ing leg­end who de­serves recog­ni­tion while he is still with us.” The event fea­tured ca­lyp­so and parang per­for­mances, as well as live stream­ing to raise aware­ness and funds for the mu­se­um project.

Or­gan­is­ers said they will con­tin­ue work­ing with TU­CO, the Na­tion­al Trust, and the Min­istry of Cul­ture to make the Ca­lyp­so Mu­se­um a re­al­i­ty. They be­lieve the project will not on­ly pre­serve the coun­try’s mu­si­cal lega­cy but al­so in­spire a new gen­er­a­tion of cul­tur­al am­bas­sadors from the south.