Some time ago, I got my hands on this CD – ‘Calypso Awakening’ from the Emery Cook Collection. I highly recommend everyone get a copy of this. If you want to hear real, authentic Calypso, you must have it in your CD collection.
When you (my partner Trini), listen to the songs on this recording, you will hear for yourself what I am talking about.
The level of skill, wit, talent, and banter in each of these songs performed by The Mighty Sparrow, Lord Melody, Small Island Pride, Commander, Wrangler, King Fighter, and the John Buddy Williams Band is beyond question.
It is absolutely brilliant.
The lyrical content makes you think, the melody and harmonic lines make you sing, and the rhythm will make you jump and bounce in your seat. The arrangements of the songs are timeless and precise.
It’s a great record.
What is special about this recording? Well, for one thing, a lot of the performances are ‘live’. And songs recorded in the studio have a thick, fat feel to them. They ring alive and true. It can be said that each instrument is actually being played. It is not a ‘sample’.
Contrast that with now, where all Trinidad songs, the dominant art form of Soca (son of Calypso) and the dying form of Calypso, use an electronic drum pad to make ‘a beat’. Where a keyboard plays the ‘wind lines’ and in some cases the bass lines as well. There’s no real instrumentation, except maybe a thin guitar line or two. There are no real horns. Not a thing. Where ALL the ‘singers’ use damn Autotune software to create an effect for their voice, when the truth is most of these ‘Soca singers’ can’t hold their keys live. And no matter how much each of these modern recordings is ‘mixed and mastered’, they still sound flat. They have no depth, no dynamic.
The fact is that the modern music of Trinidad has no soul.
Compare the raw brilliance of this great period in time (early 1900s to about around 1970) for our music, for our ‘Kaiso’, with what we have now: a time when no one knows what Calypso songs are. for a carnival season. , only the ‘Soca Hits’.
Contrast the healthy, competitive duel that used to take place between Calypsonians with what happens now between ‘Soca Artistes’. In some Soca camps it is almost war. There is a lot of hate and gossip within this big ‘Soca Fraternity’ when it is actually a Soca Mafia.
Meanwhile, Calypso lies bleeding to death.
Look at this year’s Calypso Monarch (2013) how poorly attended it was compared to the growing popularity of Soca Monarch competitions, which have everything from fireworks to flying Soca singers, it’s a freaking circus extravaganza.
After listening to this year’s Calypso Monarch winner, I came to the sad conclusion that Calypso is dead. There is no Calypsonian that can save our music. The older heads are getting old and dying, and the younger ones can’t sing without the help of Autotune. The younger Calypsonians have no idea of the lyrical content or structure of the melody. It’s terrible to write songs, if that’s a word to call this material: a song.
Well, don’t even talk about Soca Artistes, they’re not writing songs, they’re selling smash hits and marketing this year’s gimmick, whatever it is for the year.
If no one has picked up on the fact that Calypso is dead, then I ask you this?
– When did you last go to a Calypso show? Have you tried?
– What new Calypsos do you like? Are they capable of carrying the torch to the next generation?
– Is Calypso coming to the world stage? Ever?
– What did you think of this year’s Calypsos? (Not Soca tunes)
– Are this year’s Calypso songs able to stand up to all the timeless classics we all love?
– What Calypso albums do you have?
I stay with my case.
I’m in mourning for Calypso. But when I turn on my radio, all I hear is a bunch of auto-tuned ‘Artists’ singing about jumping, waving and doing some damn trick move.
It’s like we’ve all become idiots and are so amused and impressed by our own stupidity.
The really funny thing is that neither Calypso nor Soca are going anywhere on the world stage.
But still, we keep fooling ourselves in this little bubble of ours.
I hope you cry for Calypso like I do.