PAN & CALYPSO
1979 Donald “Dan” Seon South PanmenCalypsoes and Carnival, and pan music ( which has replaced the music of the ‘Tamboo-Bamboo’ band ) have been recognised as Trinidad’s Folklore, since the time of indentured labour from Africa and India. Those men brought from Africa and India, minimised their arduous tasks on the cocoa, coffee and sugarcane plantations by singing calypsoes.
Great pleasure was afforded them when maintaining a tune in unison; and so, while they concentrated on calypsoes, their various duties were accomplished with little thought of the hardships they endured.
Similarly, at Carnival time masqueraders would throw all their troubles to the wind. This attitude has been passed on to the majority of Trinidadians; it is a question of mind over matter.
Although music of wind and string instruments has its staunch supporters and competitions among those bands that are keen, steelband music remains the craze of our community. Optimum effect of the steelband music depends on the quality of calypso road-marches.
West Indians love to sing and parade the streets to the tunes of the most vibrant calypso road-marches at Carnival time. [Inter-collegiate] matches provide great excitement, the constant “Chanting”, by way of encouragement, heckling and barracking; not forgetting the ringing of bells and blowing of horns, are factors proper to such occasions. Throughout those games, such team tunes would fill the entire environment; with [samples of] tunes like;
[Appertaining to Queens Royal College (QRC) and St Mary’s College, Port of Spain]Q-RC we want a goal,
Q-RC Saint Mary’s Old.Other apt tunes appropriate to Presentation, Fatima, St Benedict’s and Naparima Colleges would be sung. At the end of those games, the victors with their supporters would march along the street singing their team tunes and other compositions to the music of the steelband. We would remember, that the majority of ex-collegiates [had] formed their own steelbands. Consequently, there would be great support from those bands, for the respective colleges.
South panmen made the study of old calypsoes their business and they noted with interest the vast changes made. Whereas in the early 20’s, there were about four outstanding calypsonians in La Brea, Fyzabad and San Fernando, today, there are numerous. How vividly could our grandparents recall some of South’s great past masters in the field of calypso!
Siparia Tiger
In the 30’s there was a dandy lad from Siparia who was versatile in the art of stick playing, dancing, boxing and singing ballads. During that period, he boxed professionally against such game fighters of South, such as, Timla, Kidram and Mootie Kid Singh (Guyanese), who[m] they [used to call] The Indian Light-weight Champion of the World. [43]
Always well dressed and bearing a cheerful countenance, that lad who was nicknamed Siparia Tiger composed and sang a calypso that aroused the Black World about the wealth of Africa. Topic he sang: The Gold in Africa.
In this song, he emphasised on the wealth of Africa that caused Benito Mussolini, the great Italian Dictator to attempt to invade Ethiopia and take it from Haile Sellasie in the war of Abyssinia. Masqueraders sang only the chorus for Carnival road-marches.
Chorus
The gold, the gold in Africa, that Mussolini took from the emperor.
The gold, in Africa that Mussolini took from the emperor.To give a brief insight of the happenings of this war, Haile Sellasie and the people of Ethiopia were [over run] by Mussolini’s army, resulting in [the] killing [of] thousands and causing [many a] man, woman and child to suffer.
Clarence Le Blanc’s Marie Vidale
Another calypso sung that to my mind must be mentioned and which may be even before Tigers time and although I cannot say for certain that this song was composed and sung by a Southerner, but was told it was a most touching song at that time, is the calypso Marie Vidale.
At a happening in the South in the 20’s, that calypsonian named Clarence Le Blanc composed this calypso, with an aim to give his views of an incident that [took] place. I will try to give a brief detail of this incident. From information received, it was said that a love affair existed between Marie Vidale and Prieto the deceased (a matter for conjecture).
She possessed queenly beauty; and was more than ordinarily amicable, and many suitors came in quest of her. Fidelity to her husband was unquestionable, more so in those days, as men guarded their secrets jealously; this was part of their honour.
Prieto the deceased, was an upright man, who had great respect for all. Spinsters would declare, that he was hard to get, so to speak, above all, he could always spare the time to console people in their troubles - what we would call “good old talk”.
Marie’s husband was quiet and secretive, he gave the impression that he had no reason to distrust his wife, so she had a freedom quite denied to most wives.
Because men are mortal and could fall prey to the persistent flirtations of a charming woman, let it suffice to say that Prieto weakened to temptation. A plan to lure him into the woods at Siparia was put into force; that the court knew, from the manner in which he died. Prieto travelled every day from San-Fernando [44] to somewhere in the vicinity of Siparia, where he worked for good wages. After receiving his wages on that day in question, he met Marie Vidale ( they called her the ‘Dougla Temptress’ ) who pretended that she had just returned from the forest where she claimed that she had lost jewellery of great value.
Marie wanted Prieto’s company in order to return to the bushes to search for the lost jewellery, and a gentleman as he was, did not hesitate in obliging her. This act may have been a pretext on Marie’s part, so as not to appear to Prieto as a woman of easy virtue. All along they had been secretly followed by a man named Mahal; the story of whose life following this incident left people wondering how on earth could the “Black Art” have dealt him such a severe blow.
Amidst the thickly clustered shrubs and trees, Mahal saw someone deal Prieto a blow on the back of his head, which stunned and felled him. Hidden from their view, he could clearly see them covering his body with bushes.
While blows were dealt on Prieto during consciousness, he pleaded for his life and begged Marie to disclose the truth of their affair to the killers. His supplications were in vain, and it would have been an act of stupidity to leave the money with the deceased.
It is said that Obeah was worked on Mahal to prevent him from being a witness; news travelled. For years afterwards Mahal walked all day as an imaginary driver of a motor car, until his death from thrombosis.
There was no doubt that some evil force had taken possession of Mahal’s soul. Mahal, clad in rage, would walk from Siparia to San Fernando, then to Couva and Port of Spain regularly. He held out his hands around an imaginary steering wheel of a vehicle. Mahal would do every thing that a driver would do, such as putting in the correct gears, and using the brakes when necessary.
Children and even some adults found his antics quite amusing. These strenuous journeys had taken away heavy toll on his legs as could be seen by the bulging varicose veins. The best descriptions would be that the muscles of his calves bulged like the knots of a guava tree.
Mahal would seriously wave aside to passengers because there was no room in his car and he would never forget to pull up the hand brakes before opening the door. People, over the years had grown accustomed to his misfortune and no longer made fun of him. Suddenly one day, Southerners received the news that Mahal had passed away. Someone had provoked Satan and could not repair the damage.
I will now try to give the reader ( as told to me by old-timers ) a verse and chorus of this top calypso [ Marie Vidale ] of the twenties. [45]
Verse
Marie Vidale kindly tell me the truth
Why did you carry Prieto away
In the jungle, Valley, there and then?
No one can tell the story but you
Take my treasures and leave me alone
Mother is awaiting me at home,
I haven’t done you wrong, why should you envy me?
Marie Vidale kindly tell me the truth.Chorus
Ah fuss ah sorry for Marie Vidale
Look ah in mih a morning for her
Marie Vidale, the Queen and criminal
Look ah in morning for her.[The second line in the chorus above may have a typographical error.
It would be semantically more correct as:
Look ah mi ah in morning for her
Which also better matches the last line. But then, who knows? JGdeB]
A Song about the SouthMany outstanding road-marches were composed about places in South; one that still makes a hit is [ Los Iros ]
Take me take me
I am feeling lonely
Take me down to Los Iros
But doh let meh mammy knowIn 1974 the famous Willie West band [not a steelband] recorded a medley of calypsoes and road-marches which reached fever pitch during Carnival. Los Iros, Nettie Nettie, and J’Ouvert were among the tunes. Thus the young panmen of South, as well as those over the island, had the opportunity of hearing some of those old tunes.
Lord Invader and the Rum and Coca Cola song
[Plagiarised by the film song writers for The Andrews Sisters]Born in San Fernando where he spent the best part of his boy days, Bobby Grant [or] Lord Invader was also known as the “Tough Cat”.
In South, the tradition was that all boys must show their mettle in fisticuffs of a gentlemanly nature.
When they met in the Mon Repos savannah, they would be matched according to age, and great fun it was to see them boxing and wrestling and finally the vanquished would congratulate the victor with a promise to turn the tables in the return encounter.
I have heard that Invader as a lad was never skilful in the fistic art, but was renowned for his endurance and brute force. But when he reached the age of maturity he astounded the calypso-world with a calypso that panmen all over the island were proud to play.
Why? Because [from the first], the Americans employed in constructing their base at Chaguaramas went figuratively 'mad' over his calypso and road-march. [46] The title of that calypso, subsequently a famous road-march was, Rum and Coca Cola.
Quite a lot of money was circulating on the American base here in the 40’s Our taxi men introduced the Yankees [colloquially: the American service personnel; and more lately the American tourists] to our famous drink, rum and Coca Cola, which, when drunk to excess, produced disastrous effects on them.
By the wayside, they could be seen in numbers lying inebriated, through excessive indulgence in our local product. Such men as “Wings” Carl Brown, so named because the Yankees thought that his taxi moved at such incredible speed that it must have been carried on wings. Boysie Singh, the gambler and Invader, who sang the calypso, claimed that they earned a lot of money for their services.
All over Carenage, and the city of Port of Spain, the calypso Rum and Coca Cola was sung by both young and old people regularly. Invader could see that those Americans were inclined to claim his compositions as theirs, so he protected Rum and Coca Cola by copyright.
At a later date, the fact was made known to Trinidadians, that recordings of Rum and Coca-Cola were made by a certain American firm.
An action taken by American legal advisors against the firm in question, on his behalf, proved successful.
Invader was not in a strong financial position to afford legal expenses; thus a contract was drawn up between the legal firm and himself, in which provision was made for his counsellors to receive a large percentage of the compensation, if such was forthcoming.
The case was won, and Invader received over a hundred thousand US dollars.
Masters of the Art
A summary of accomplishments of some of the masters in the art of composition and rendition of calypsoes and road-marches would show that their foundation was sound. It was one of which their successors could capitalise and improvise. Their titles without the music and words of the verses, would give no indication of the wit and humour and the dual interpretations of which Trinidad calypsoes are composed.
Audiences, which are usually very knowledgeable would always be expecting, these features. However, the titles would refresh their memories and might give them pleasure in recalling those Red Letter days.
In the collectors’ archives of records, would be found many of those old recordings worthy or reproduction on tapes. Starting with the era of Raphael de Leon [as] the Roaring Lion; students of the art are well aware that he had no peer. He did not specialise on any particular type of calypso; he would sing on any subject of a tropical nature. At that time Radio, Growler and Atilla [47] the Hun, were on par. Radio was quite amusing as his everyday topics appealed to the majority. On the other hand Raymond Quevedo, who bore the name Atilla with whose story he became acquainted when he studied at Queens Royal College; was academic in his approach to the art. Atilla the Hun was widely read and popular with the ordinary man in the street. He gained a seat as Councillor for St George West; and continued singing in competitions in the calypso tents, on political topics. As a special privilege was allowed to calypsonians at Carnival time to expose any misdemeanours of government officials, Atilla the Hun was regarded as the person best equipped for the task. Atilla, in pedantic language which the audience loved very much, would gesticulate while he sang of anyones misdoings, nondoings or doings during the current period.
The Mighty Killer
As time slipped by, the Mighty Killer of Gasparillo, sang with a lot of zest; his best calypsoes were Corbeau locked behind, Calabash and Have you ever seen a green fowl yet?
In the latter calypso, Killer outlined where an oversexed male parrot eagerly watched the movements of other species of fowls for a long time. The hens had from time to time mated with the cocks in the yard without objection.
The situation arose, whereby the parrot found it necessary to put a beating on the favourite cock of the yard, so that he fled from the other fowls. This left them at the mercy of the parrot, who started to throw his weight about, without discretion, but when he approached the most desirable hen, his affection was repulsed.
In the language of the birds, the hen told the parrot that he had been out of bounds; this was noticeable by looking at the colour of the feathers - they were all brown. The parrot would not be dissuaded by those supplications and having cornered the Queen of hens tried to make her succumb to his desires. The hen would not submit and her replay to the question put by the parrot was, “Have you ever seen a green fowl yet?”
All the other fowls joined in the cackle; “Have you ever seen a green fowl yet?” The poor parrot was so ashamed of the mockery that he flapped his wings and left the company. Killer was the pride of South and had a close rival in the person of the late Mighty Spoiler.
The Mighty Spoiler
After Killer’s death, Spoiler and Melody remained supreme. Spoiler was a fantastic showman and his calypso metres were unique; all young calypsonians were then trying to copy his style, but there was the one and only Spoiler. Some of his hot tunes were The Magistrate charging himself, Bed Bug, Princes Elizabeth Wedding, and the Stuttering Witness; all very intelligent and humorous thrillers.
The story goes that the magistrate, while driving his car violated a traffic law; the policemen made a charge and brought the case before the court, over which the same magistrate presided. When the time arrived for the trial of that case, there was no defendant. The magistrate took a mirror from his pocket looked at his reflection and made the charge. The funny [48] part went somehow like this;
Himself said to himself “You were caught speeding”,
Himself said to himself “The policemen lying”,
Himself said to himself “Ah not guilty sir”, etc. etc.In the Bed Bug Spoiler sang about reincarnation. He wanted to be a bed bug. Why?
...Am going to bite those young ladies partner
Like a hot dog or a hamburger
And if you thin don’t be in a fright
Only high fat woman ah going to bite.In his calypso entitled Princess Elizabeth Wedding, Spoiler mentioned that it would be a splendid thing to be a guest of that wedding, for all would have
...Crab and callaloo, lappe, agouti and sweet tattoo,
Macaroni, vermicelli, crab and cascadoux,
Ah fuss ah glas to see female manicou.In the Stuttering Witness Spoiler stutters the verses of a calypso, relating to how the witness who stuttered gave evidence in the Magistrate’s Court.
Melody short in stature, but sturdily built, had a natural baritone voice expected of a person with such compact physique. He could easily make variations in pitch ranging to tenor.
Before the advent of Mighty Sparrow, and the return of Lord Kitchener, who had been residing in England for many years, Melody and Spoiler brought into effect vast changes in the style of singing calypsoes.
Melody’s two notable calypsoes were Jonah who steel may bake, and I wonder why nobody don’t like me?.
In the first calypso, Melody’s neighbour was enquiring of his missing pastry. He suspected that his eldest child would be able to inform him regarding the whereabouts of his bake. Jonah swore that he knew nothing about it; the preacher replied “one gone”, “one gone” and the power “fly up in the ole man head, that he nearly kill those poor children dead”. Towards the end of the calypso he showed his wrath by inflicting punishment on poor Jonah. The audience would join in the chorus and his gestures, and he emphasised the impact of the correction rod on Jonah’s back.
Thus, the audience would sway and sing while using an imaginary rod:
“Whoop, whoop, poo-lup”,
And the power fly up in the ole man head,
That he nearly kill those poor children dead;
One gone; ...One gone; ...One gone.Lord Kitchener
During the time when a variety of tunes were being sung, with distinction by hundreds of calypsonians from year to year and played to perfection on the pan, Lord Kitchener returned from England. [49]
Throughout the cricketing countries of the world, a popular calypso was sung with fervour. Lord Kitchener had brought it back to Trinidad in his composition Ramadin and Valantine; the spin twins.
The two spinners, the best slow bowling combination the West Indies had ever had, brought havoc to the English batsmen who could not detect the vagaries of flight and spin. The moving camera could not show the difference between “Ram’s” leg breaks and his off-breaks. The other twin “Val” bowled chinaman and leg breaks with tremendous turns at medium pace. All top batsman in the world had difficulty in playing those spinners off the pitch.
Disaster was bound to follow and when finally the English team collapsed miserably, other cricketing powers became aware that the West Indies possessed two freakish spinners. At every test match venue, the music of steelbands and calypsoes sung by thousands of West Indian supporters bewildered the English cricketers, who loved calm and quietude. Then there was the disturbing factor of having to face the “twins” only to be mesmerised by these almost “unplayable” spinners. When victory had been gained the young and old supporters of both sides, danced and paraded on the cricket field to the calypsoes played by our panmen.
Love of the calypsoes and music of steelband had become contagious. In Manchester, Aldwyn Roberts [alias] Lord Kitchener, had already created a niche for himself for originality; his recordings of hundreds of calypsoes had already made his financial position secure. Lord Kitchener made a wonderful but odious comparison in a song between a mother’s love and that of a wife. Certain lucky husbands and sons disowned by their mothers from birth, must vouch, that a wife’s love for her husband would be greater that a mother’s love for her son. All calypsonians of this era would certainly have heard of that masterpiece. In one of the verses the question was asked;
If your mother and your wife were drowning
Which one of them you’d be saving.
For me, it would be my dear mother
As you can always get another wife,
But you can’t get another mother in your life. [Upper 50]Transposed from [Top 51]
Panmen had been playing all of Lord Kitchener’s compositions and recordings for ages. The support of his background music was of a fixed style and quite often easy to follow, but the calypso in which Kitch and the panmen excelled was that which captivated the hearts of the whole English nation.Since Ramadin and Valentine would be the chief architects in the West Indies’ Victory, the Test Match, Kitchener had already prepared his verses for the celebration. How could such minute facts be anticipated? But Kitchener was blessed with unusual foresight. At Christmas parties in England, there would be repetitions of such songs as Knees up Mother Brown and Ten Green Bottles Standing on the Wall sung in groups. For several years since 1950, the calypso Ramadin and Valantine was regularly sung on such occasions.
In the year 1976, the West Indies team under the leadership of Clive Lloyd repeated similar victories over England. The atmosphere of the 1950 tour returned and that old ditty Ramadin and Valentine sung to the music of steelbands, enlivened the crowd.
It would be fitting to give the chorus of Ramadin and Valantine at this stage.
We want Ramadin on the ball,
We want Ramadin on the ball,
We want Ramadin on the ball,
When he bowl them English can’t play at all. [Upper 51]Transposed from [Lower 50]
[ Lord ] Bryner, [ The Mighty ] Duke and Calypso RoseBryner of South, was the first Independence Calypso King, and South panmen were on the lookout to hold close contact with Duke their compatriot, who succeeded in winning the title of calypso king of Trinidad on four occasions. [ Up to this time of writing - 1979 ]
Queen of calypsoes Calypso Rose who snag two excellent tunes, A Man is a Man and Fire Fire, was so popular with her tunes that it might be unobtainable from any of the record shops. There would be a great surprise if the tourists did not purchase every available recording of the two songs. [End 50]
[Lower 51]
ShadowShadow won the road-march competition of 1974 with a calypso that described the effect which the smoking of opium and “the weed” had on him. Whether he had been asleep or awake, he could hear the persistent beating of drums in his head ...“Boom, boom boom boom.” He continued:
I don’t know how this thing got inside me,
it sending me crazy,
pum pum pe de pum pum...Although at first, the tune sounded crude and unmelodious, it started to grip and fascinate the revellers and the calypso atmosphere grew heated. The annual pre-carnival competition at the Grand Savannah to determine the Calypso King of the year, brought together the best artistes in the islands.
The year 1974 was the most impressive as the top calypsonians who were present were at their best. Shadow’s supporting calypso was I come out to Play and that was equally effective as that with which he won the road-march championship. His theme was that he come out to play ‘Mas’ but did not get the co-operation from the female who was revelling next to him. His words to her were “you dancing like you really fraid to touch me, but I come out to play”. She was afraid that her boy-friend might see her; so she had to be cautious. The audience showed appreciation with prolonged cheers. Lord Kitchener had already made his contribution; his calypso Jerico had the audience swaying as the panmen excelled with that tune, but the majority of that audience apparently went there to vote for Shadow at any cost. They had heard his calypso before at the calypso singing venue and were confident that he would be unbeatable. [51]
The Mighty Sparrow
For one reason or another, a large section of that audience had their prejudices, not against Lord Kitchener but against that peerless champion The Mighty Sparrow. Since Sparrow first won the crown with his famous calypso Jean and Dinah he has rapidly grown from strength to strength.
[ Jean and Dinah was another song that was plagiarised by a foreign party; but because the song never gained fame at the hands of a foreign singer, its plagiarism remains unnoticed. JGdeB-1998 ]He has always been unpredictable, capable of turning the tables in the face of great odds. Tunes to remind us of his versatility are Congo Man, Good Morning Mr Walker, Drunk and Disorderly, Gun Slinger and On a Sailing Boat One Morning. The fact that Sparrow had aged considerably since he made his debut, could never be denied. So have all of us.
Although he had grown quite powerful in physique, there was no impediment in his movements on or off the stage. That was quite obvious when the shouts from the audience prevented him from commencing his masterpiece. No one knew what to expect, as his theme was never sung in public before this occasion. Neatly dressed as a University student Sparrow had no alternative but to override the carts and costume lies in the interim, by dancing in mockery of the jeers. When the noise had finally subsided, the attitude of the audience seemed to suggest “What could he offer, his days were over“.
The genius of calypsonians, before the large number of tourists in the audience began his masterpiece. He must have anticipated the misconduct of his detractors, why he composed such a fitting declamation of their outlook on life in general. The Mighty Sparrow left all his listeners dumbfounded; there was complete stillness throughout the stadium. They were mesmerised by this topic We Pass that Stage. Since certain writers criticised the judges’ decision, one must not be denied this opportunity to judge for yourselves.
We Pass that Stage
We show disrespect. And then we object
When people reject us and call us low class
Courteous words like Thank you, I am sorry, Please would you forgive me
Which we once knew have now become a forgotten thing of the past.
We convict, and we condemn in our minds our bosom pal without a trial.
But this wickedness, crookedness, stupid and malicious guile is out of style.
Can’t we be constructive and try to engage in something to alleviate the present shortage?
Control the urge to damage and as a people less savage.
For in this day and age.
We must remember we pass that stage.
© Francisco Slinger The Mighty Sparrow
[Near End 52]© 1979 Donald “Dan” Seon
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