Not too long ago Isaac Blackman launched his new website in gala fashion. The venue was the Veni Mange Restaurant in Woodbrook. Isaac is the youngest son of the late great Ras Shorty I. Isaac had the monster hit ‘To the Ceiling’, one of my favorite songs, that carries a message of hope and triumph. Our music will triumph with the likes of Isaac Blackman and the Love Circle churning out music of hope with soul searching lyrics that are not only uplifting but really sweet to groove to - I just love listening to them and you will also.
The website address 'is/was' http://www.isaacblackman.com/; however that site is not available at this time and appears to have a broken link. I was curious and wanted to see the young man’s site. The web page loaded quickly and has a full page photo of Isaac with a menu to the right side of the page. The website/page is well done and looks very good. However, nothing opens up as if there is no content to link to. Maybe the initial page was meant to be used as an advertisement for the movie "Shanty" that features Isaac’s song “Old School Love”. Hopefully content will be added and the buttons will link to additional information. Some of Isaac's videos and 'most played songs' are available for viewing and listening at URL provided beneath, go and take a look; I guarantee that you will not be disappointed.
I really do enjoy the music of the Love Circle and wish the Blackman family all the best in their future endeavors. I have attached two videos/songs that I really like for you enjoyment... Enjoy!
De Grandmaster 'Lord Kitchener' talks about his childhood, musical influence, life in London, Calypso in the US and Harry Belafonte's contribution to the art form. The Lord Kitchener, Aldwyn Roberts aka the Grandmaster died February 11, 2000!
The Road March King
1946: Lai Fook Lee
1954: Mama Look Ah Band Passing
1963: The Road Kitchener Forever Vol. 2
1964: Mama Dis is Mas
1965: My Pussin' Kitchener Forever Vol. 2
1967: Sixty-seven Kitchener Forever Vol. 2
1968: Miss Tourist Kitchener Forever Vol. 2
1970: Margie
1971: Mas in Madison Square Garden
1973: Rain-o-rama Kitchener Forever Vol. 1
1975: Tribute to Spree Kitchener Forever Vol. 2
1976: Flag Woman Golden Hitz Calypso & Soca Vol. 1
This Calypso is one of my Kids favorite songs. They came to know it after listening to the "University of Calypso" compact disc by Andy Narell with Relator on Vocals. Now my triplet crew (2 girls and one boy) will be five years old in June 2010. However, to see them sing and move to the music in the car is funny as hell. Here is the Grandmaster with the 'original version' of this classic calypso (a much older Kitchener doing his thing).
Written and Sung by Lord Melody (Fitzroy Alexander) in 1956 but fame came to the Americans Harry Belafonte and Nat King Cole. This was the period when America was in love with Calypso. They could not get enough. The situation today is different with most American only identifying the Caribbean region with Jamaica and are aware of Reggae and Bob Marley . Trinidad who, Trinidad what ... What a Shame!
From Calypso Dreams...comments from Gypsy, Sparrow, Lord Superior, Harry Belafonte and David Rudder...insightful and thought provoking. Please listen to Harry Belafonte's honesty and his reverence for calypsonians five minutes into this excerpt from "Calypso Dreams"
Who or what is a Calypso Curator? Now that is an interesting question because I am sure there are many institutions and persons around the world that have a collection of Calypso music. As a matter of fact many of the radio stations back home should have an invaluable collection of Calypso’s stack away somewhere. Most of the old classical stuff is on vinyl records and may have been put away in preference to that which is available on compact discs. Now we have Mr. Kenny Phillips of WACK radio and his WACK foundation which plans to document the history of the art form with a new website. His goal is to present discographies and biographies of the calypso world. This is an interesting development since this gentleman is considered to be the 'culture krazy' driving force of the south land and maybe of the the country presently. We wish him only success in this endeavor. You can link to the site here: http://www.wackfoundation.org/
I remember listening to Sprangalang's discourse on WACK radio 90.1 FM that broadcasts out of San Fernando; he was speaking about the vast volume of music that he possesses. Wack radio had a show that talked about all aspects of the Calypso culture; the show was wonderful since it was conducted like a casual Trini Lime but with serious issues discussed - 'calypso collections' was a topic of discussion for part of a show - they need to bring back that show. He also mentioned losing music that was saved on hard drives that went bad. However, I am certain that he too has a collection of vinyl and compact discs. So is Sprangalang a Calypso Curator? Who knows, that is a question that only Sprang could answer.
The discussion now turns to Mr. George Maharaj, a collector of Calypso music of our beloved land. Mr. Maharaj has written two books, Volumes 1 and 2 carrying the name “The Roots of Calypso”. Mr. Maharaj also has his own website that can be accessed at http://www.rootsofcalypso.com/ww.rootsofcalypso.com.
As a continuation of the discussion, he created two study groups, “Calypso College” and another one called “The Kaiso Breakfast Lime”. I am unaware of when these groups met/still meet or the topics of discussion and what was/is done with the information derived from those discussions.
Anyone can tell that Mr. Maharaj is very fond of the calypso culture of Trinidad and Tobago and as a result one would be curious in knowing what kind of collection he possesses. He claims to have a collection that is over 5,000 strong with a large segment of 78 rpm vinyl records. Whom do you know with such a vast collection of music and more importantly a collection of vinyl records similar to Mr. Maharaj’s? I don’t know of anyone but I do remember visiting the University of Upsala radio station that was located in Orange NJ, USA and was surprised to see the collection of Calypso records there. I saw records by Sparrow and Kitchener that I never knew existed. So yes, there are many people with a vast collection of Calypso music but how many persons with a similar collection in Trinidad and Tobago do you know? Maybe no one.
I don’t know of any entity in Trinidad and Tobago that is preserving the music and culture. Maybe Mr. Maharaj’s collection could be a good start. This collection should be digitized and the original vinyl recording put away. By the way, what about the recording companies that put out the original music? The master recordings must be stored some and probably that place is in the US. The government should act now and compile a national archive of our music. Mr. Maharaj is willing to deal with the government to ensure that his collection is protected and saved for future generations.
"Maya Angelou is an American writer well known for her many volumes of poetry and her memoirs, especially the volume I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. She is little remembered for her early career as a dancer and calypso singer. Angelou had a Trinidadian grandfather and became familiar with calypso at home. During the early 1950s, she sang and danced calypsos in local nightspots in San Francisco. While on tour with a production of Porgy and Bess, she spent a period in Paris, where she was one of the first artists to perform calypsos in nightclubs. She returned to the United States at the height of the 1956-57 "calypso craze." In 1957 she recorded an album titled Miss Calypso and appeared in the Hollywood film Calypso Heat Wave (Columbia Pictures, 1957). She also headlined a calypso revue in Las Vegas and New York, performed in Harlem's Apollo Theater, regularly sang in nightclubs and appeared in Geoffrey Holder's 1957 Caribbean Calypso Festival in Brooklyn. In 1959 she gave up touring as a singer to pursue a career as a writer - Information from calypsoworld.org.
I have heard so many people lay claim to Soca and many have tried to emphasize that it is a fusion of American soul music and calypso - they are all wrong and clearly misrepresent the facts to suit their selfish desires! The soca music that we know today (Power Soca and Groovy Soca) is not the same that was created by Mr. Garfield Blackman aka Lord Shorty - the music has evolved but the base rhythm is the same.
Many have also declined to acknowledge that East Indian music in Trinidad had a very major impact on the creation of the music. No one outside of Trinidad was responsible for the creation of Soca. Who was? As I indicated in the opening paragraph and every Trinidadian knows that Garfield Blackman aka Lord Shorty (he later changed his name to Ras Shorty I) created the Soca beat and the rest of the World should know this to be a fact!
Ras Shorty I then Lord Shorty had a purpose when he was experimenting with blends of East Indian and Calypso music. As Shorty stated, (during the period 1969-1970) it was his hope that the music could bring both cultures together - Trinidadians of East Indian and African ancestry.
So what is Soca? In Ras Shorty I's words it is the combination of East Indian and African Rhythms which he termed a Dougla Rhythm. It was not American soul music but the "Soul or Trinidad, the soul of Calypso" that came out of the music.
Shorty stated that it all started with 'Indrani' when he first recorded this new beat. This album "Love Man" failed with poor sales figures. He was accused of trying to sound Indian when he used the Dholak on the ten recorded songs of that failed album. This is where the beat started and after the failure of this album he moved on to his next project named "Endless Vibrations". It is from this project that he incorporated the rhythmic structure from the Dholak and incorporated it with the drum set and gave it the name SOKAH. He stated that the "KAH" represented the East Indian finger print or as Shorty stated East Indian influence on the music. However as faith would record it Ivor Ferreira a journalist working for the Punch newspaper, misspelled Sokah in print using Soca. He stated that he did not mind the error in spelling because it was all about the rhythmic structure of the music and not about the spelling. He wanted it to be known that it is was about the 'soul of calypso' and not Soul and Calypso.
Regarding the new direction the music he stated that in 1977 when Maestro sang Savage and Kitchener sang Sugar Bum Bum, he knew that it was time to step away from the change that was taking place. He created the music but never envisioned it going it this direction. He knew that something had to be done and as a result he went ahead with his new project taking the music along the path he wanted to see it go.
The birth of Jamoo music (Jehovah’s music) which is the soul of calypso blessed with the spirit of God in the music came to fruition. This is what he termed born again Soca. I have included the 1995 interview from the G.B.T.V CultureShare Archives that was sourced from YouTube. Please watch this video take note of the words of the creator of the music. Never again should any Trinidadian put up with the nonsense claims by others regarding Ras Shory I's creation of Sokah the music that we know today as Soca.
Ras Shorty I died on July 12, 2000 of multiple myeloma (a type of bone marrow cancer). Now sit back and listen to Ras Shorty I (the creator of Soca) tell you how it all happened:
Addendum:
Now after reading the article above and watching the video it is apparent that the article was written with a clear bias to Shorty as the creator and innovator of Calypso into Soca. Most people tend to believe the claim that Shorty created Soca. We do know that he gave a class of music the name Sokah that was eventually misquoted as Soca and the name stuck. So the major question is this, is the music that Shorty experimented and created so many years ago the Soca that we know today? In other words what are the elements that make a song a Soca song and can you identify those traits in the music Shorty created and named Soca?
Dimitry Subotsky puts forward an interesting case for King Wellington as the person who impacted the move from Calypso to Soca. Here is a snippet from an article that appeared in the Trinidad Guardian newspaper: "I tried to think of what records I had heard from the early to mid-’70s that stood out as being different, and my mind was drawn to two particular albums by the same calypsonian. Examining his prior work led me to believe that this man played an important part, if not the most important part in the development of calypso into soca. That man was King Wellington."
Here is another paragraph from the article: "The influences of American soul and funk, giving space to the musicians, the prominence of the electric bass, the extended instrumental play-outs and the move away from the big band sound are all key elements of early soca, and they are evident in the recordings of King Wellington more prominently and earlier than that of any other artist.
We will take a look at these and other matters of significance regarding the move from Calypso to Soca and the many claims to ownership regarding the creating of this music genre.
Now listen to the man and his music:
Though the esteemed English imprint Honest Jon's has devoted a number of compilations to documenting the thriving West Indian music scene of the `30s, `40s, and `50s, MARVELLOUS BOY: CALYPSO FROM WEST AFRICA stands out insofar as it documents calypso's transatlantic passage from the West Indies to Africa. These recordings were made in Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ghana, and a number of other West African countries in the `40s and `50s. Their propulsive rhythms and playful melodies are a precursor to the driving Afro-beat sound that would emerge in subsequent decades.
Trinidad and Tobago's favorite calypsonian Lord Melody demonstrates exactly why he is the lord of melody in this collection of songs that includes "Crazy Love" and "Dr. Make Your Love." Two songs, "Cowboy Sparrow" and "Sparrow's Sister," are testament to the professional provocation of rival calypsonian Mighty Sparrow. Melody's vocals are backed by the Frankie Francis Orchestra and the March of Dimes Quartette. "Cowboy Sparrow" was reissued in 2000 on Calypso Awakening from the Emory Cook Collection (SFW40453).
COUNTRY(S) Trinidad and Tobago
CULTURE GROUP(S) African Caribbean
KEYWORD(S) Calypso (Music
INSTRUMENT(S) Vocals
YEAR OF RECORDING 1957
RECORD LABEL Cook Records
SOURCE ARCHIVE Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
CREDITS Artist Lord Melody.
"These two CDs from Rounder Records' Alan Lomax Collection together make up the complete recording of the Calypso At Midnight Town Hall concert given in New York City on Dec. 21, 1946. The concert was a sampling of many of the styles of calypso popular in Trinidad at the time, and was given as calypso was beginning to make its way into American popular music, offering the American audience an introduction into its variety. Both the recorded introductions, supplemented by the superb liner notes, help one to appreciate the different pieces by putting them into context." http://www.rambles.net/va_calypsoX2.html
Introduction To The Concert - Alan Lomax / Calypso Invasion - The Duke Of Iron And Chorus / Introduction To Stone Cold Dead In The Market - Alan Lomax / Stone Cold Dead In The Market - Macbeth The Great And Chorus / Dialogue On The Trinidadian Harp - Alan Lomax, Macbeth The Great / Introduction To Ugly Woman - Alan Lomax, The Duke Of Iron / Ugly Woman - The Duke Of Iron / Introduction To Rum And Coca-Cola - Alan Lomax, Lord Invader / Rum And Coca-Cola - Lord Invader And Chorus / Introduction To Do Lai Do - Alan Lomax, Macbeth The Great / Do Lai Do - Macbeth The Great And Chorus / Introduction To Three Friends Advice - Alan Lomax, The Duke Of Iron / Three Friends Advice - The Duke Of Iron / Introduction To Happy Land Of Canaan - Alan Lomax / Happy Land Of Canaan - Lord Invader, Duke Of Iron And Chorus / Introduction To Exploring - Alan Lomax, Macbeth The Great / Exploring [Exploiting] - Macbeth The Great And Chorus / Introduction To Man Smart, Woman Smarter - Alan Lomax, Macbeth The Great / Man Smart, Woman Smarter - Macbeth The Great And Chorus / Introduction To Tie-Tongue Baby - Alan Lomax, Lord Invader / Tie-Tongue Baby - Lord Invader And Chorus / Introduction To Edward VIII - The Duke Of Iron / Edward VIII - The Duke Of Iron / Macbeth The Great And Chorus.
Frederick Wilmoth Hendricks (November 25, 1895 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago – August 6, 1973, New York), best known as Wilmoth Houdini, was a prominent calypsonian. He made numerous recordings from the 1920s through the 1940s, also sometimes using the names Wilmoth Hendricks Edgar, Leon Sinclair, and King Houdini
Popular or famous Wilmoth Houdini songs: Poor But Ambitious, Devil Behind Me, Tiger Tom Kill Tiger Cat, Dambalay Santapie and Rat. More music songs African Love Call, Arima Tonight, Sangre Grande Tomorrow Night, Bandsman Shooting Case, Black But Sweet. More music songs Cipriani's and Bradshaw's Death, Cooks in Trinidad, Glorius Centenary, Honey I'm Bound to Go, I Need a Man, Mickey Cipriani's Career. More music songs No Mo' Bench and Board, Song No. 99, Stop Coming and Come, Sweet Like a Honey Bee, Sweet Papa Willie, Teacher Nose Gay the Shouter. More music songs That Big Black Woman.
The original design of the National Carnival and Entertainment Centre (NCEC). In April 2007 Prime Minister Patrick Manning said, construction of the proposed centre came to a halt because the design was being reviewed. http://guardian.co.tt/news/general/2009/11/15/carnival-centre-next-list.
What can I say other than Prime Minister Patrick Manning is having fun manipulating the populace as he dips into the treasury for the many land marks that his government is erecting around the country. Well the only problem is that Point Fortin's Hospital still can't seem to get off the ground. Recently the PM, during one of his walk about pre-election posturing, let the fete promoters know that the government will not be handing over any of the sporting facilities for any fete promotion or Cultural endeavors aka Power Soca and Groovy Soca competitions. This was said after the government had turned down the Promoters regarding the leasing of land to erect facilities with private funds to host these shows. The promoters hit back with basically you told us not to build because the government is building facilities that could be used for this purpose (for a price of course). The response from the government - quiet, nothing nada!
Then like a Knight in shining armor and armed with the press at his side enters Patos who held a press conference "last night at the newly- commissioned National Academy for the Performing Arts, to announce that the 15,000-capacity Queen’s Park Savannah Carnival Centre is the next project on the government’s development agenda. Mr. Manning emphasized that his announcement was aimed at silencing “detractors.” Italics -http://guardian.co.tt/ .
Talk about Politricks and the games that our PM is playing with our brains! All the PM needed to do was simply apologize for the delay in the completion of the Savannah structure and inform the public that as soon as he pumps a few millions of barrels of oil from the ocean the complex will be completed with the help of the Chinese. Then in the same breath announce that the government will provide facilities to the promoters for the upcoming bacchanalia season.
This man has seen it fit to add a performing arts center in the PM's residence but put a stop due to "design problems" for this very important complex. Now don't get me wrong when I say important when we need hospitals and hospital beds around the nation. This structure has already cost the tax payers millions of dollars and it is incomplete and an eyesore in the Savannah that was handed over to the government for public use (I don't think they were supposed to erect any permanent structure on the land).
Even if we argue that the government has its priorities all wrong one must admit that this facility (not structure eh) is needed. You can complain all you want because the bottom line is this government is not asking anyone for permission to do what it considers to be part of its 20/20 vision plans. Yuh could fret and steups all yuh want Patos is the man for now and what Patos says is religion!
Hey we don't have Pan 24/7 but we can add a little sweetness for all "Barrel Lovers". Enjoy Sforsata playing David Rudder's Calypso Music. Remember to stop the radio player (Vibes Connect on the right side bar) before playing the sweet pan music.
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