Calypso Origins
Rhythms of Calypso can be traced all the way back to the very first arrival of African slaves, when they were brought to work on Trinidad’s sugar plantations. Forbidden from conversations with one another and robbed of every link to home and family, most African slaves started to sing several songs with the use of calypso, traceable to kaiso music from West Africa, to communicate and mock their slave masters.
The Spanish colonized Trinidad, receiving huge amounts of immigrants from France and later getting ruled by Britain. The multi-colonial past had a great impact on the calypso development within Trinidad. A lot of earlier calypso tunes were sung with French-Creole dialects known as patois (“pat-was”). Such songs, which were generally led by a person known as a griot, aided the slaves to unity.
Singing competitions for calypso, were held every year during Carnival times, and became more popular after slavery was abolished by Britain in the 1830s. The French happened to bring this Carnival tradition over to Trinidad. Later, the griot became the chantuelle; today, is known as a calypsonian.
Calypso’s Golden Age
1914 marked the year of calypso’s history when the very first recording of calypso was actually made. In the later 1920s, calypso tents came to life. Originally, these tents were regular tents for calypsonians to practice in before Carnival time. Nowadays, calypso tents happen to be showcases for brand new Carnival season music.
In the later years of the 1930s, great calypsonians like the Roaring Lion, Atilla the Hun and Lord Invader made indelible impressions in the world of calypso music. Lord Kitchener became more prominent within the 1940s, dominating the scene of calypso until the end of the 1970s. Lord Kitchener kept making memorable hits up until he died in the year 2001.
With 1944, an American trio known as the Andrews Sisters did another version of Rum and Coca Cola, a hit by Lord Invader. Ever since that year, America and the world identified calypso as a part of the Caribbean.
Usually, calypso involves some communal commentary, frequently spiked with funny spoof related to current events. In fact, calypso is known to be the social conscience’s voice. But not every calypso song is socially conscious; there are some riskier sides to it as well.
The majority of the greatest calypsonians of the golden age happened to be men: Lord Pretender, Lord Executor and The Growling Tiger, for example. But the 1960s gave an introduction to Calypso Rose who is known to be the “Queen of Calypso.” As the years have gone by, Calypso Rose wrote and performed several songs with her themes ranging from party song to political commentaries, and won various awards. Fire In Me Wire was her 1996 song that became an anthem of calypso. Calypso Rose managed to succeed in a genre otherwise dominated by males.
