Calypso is almost dead in Trinidad

Some time ago, I got my hands on this CD – ‘Calypso Awakening’ from the Emery Cook Collection. I highly recommend that everyone get a copy of this. If you want to hear real, authentic Calypso, this is a must have in your CD collection.

When you (my partner Trini) listen to the songs on this recording, you’ll hear for yourself what I’m 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 John Buddy Williams Band is beyond doubt.

It’s 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 song arrangements 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. They ring alive and true. You can tell that each instrument is actually being played. It is not a ‘sample’.

Contrast that with now, where all of Trinidad’s songs, Soca’s (son of Calypso’s) dominant art form and Calypso’s dying form, use an electronic drum pad to make ‘a beat’. Where a keyboard plays the ‘wind lines’ and in some cases also the bass lines. There’s no real instrumentation, except maybe a thin guitar line or two. There are no actual horns. Any. Where ALL ‘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 dynamics.

The fact is that modern Trinidadian music has no soul.

Compare the raw brilliance of this great period in time (early 1900s to roughly around 1970) for our music, for our ‘Kaiso’, to 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 and competitive duel that used to take place between Calypsonians with what happens now between ‘Soca Artistes’. In some Soca camps it’s almost war. There is a lot of hate and backbiting within this great ‘Soca Fraternity’ when in reality it is a Soca Mafia.

Meanwhile, Calypso lies bleeding to death.

Look at this year’s (2013) Calypso Monarch how poorly attended compared to the growing popularity of Soca Monarch competitions, which have everything from fireworks to flying Soca singers, it’s a freaking circus show.

After listening to this year’s winner of Calypso Monarch, I came to the sad conclusion that Calypso is dead. There is no Calypsonian that can save our music. The older heads are aging and dying, and the younger ones can’t sing without the help of Autotune. Younger Calypsonians have no idea of ​​lyrical content or melody structure. It’s terrible to write songs, if that’s a word for this material: a song.

Well, don’t even talk about Soca Artistes, they’re not writing songs, they’re selling noise-making 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 am I asking you this?

– When did you last go to a Calypso show? Have you tried?

– What new Calipsonios do you like? Are they able to carry 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’ll take my case.

I’m mourning Calypso. But when I turn on my radio, all I hear is a bunch of automatically tuned ‘Artists’ singing about jumping, waving and doing some damn trick move.

It’s like we’ve all turned into idiots and are so amused and shocked by our own stupidity.

The really funny thing is neither Calypso nor Soca are going anywhere on the world stage.

But even so, we keep fooling ourselves in this little bubble of ours.

I hope you cry for Calypso like I do.