The development of modern calypso dates from the turn of the century and an era which saw an older body of Afro-Creole patois song give way to carnival songs in English. Fortunately, we have on record at least a few of the individuals who shaped this intriguing topical music.
The roots of calypso are traceable to African antecedents which survived, at least for a time, in Trinidad and other Antillean locales. Songs of praise and derision were important to festive observances, Yoruba shango ceremonies and other rites of slavery times. Calypso also owed something to the string music featured at the masquerade balls of French estate owners, parang serenades balls of Christmas time and pasillos (or paseos) from nearby Venezuela and from Trinidad's own Hispanic past. Each contributed elements to the patois topical songs of the streets commonly heard during pre-Lenten carnivals.
Many of these songs were kalindas, African- derived quatrains used as verbal assaults dur-
ing stick-fighting contests and as substitutes for them. During carnival, stick-fighting was observed in mime with songs and elaborate costumes prepared especially for the show. Slavery ended in Trinidad during the 1830s; subsequent migration from West Africa refreshed kalinda traditions.
Carnival began in the early nineteenth century with masquerade dances hosted by wealthy Latin landholders. Post-emancipation carnival was soon usurped by freedmen as an underclass or jamette carnival emerged. By mid-century the ruction had, some felt, gotten out of hand, largely because of contributions from the raucous stickmen. In 1881, British colonial authorities ordered black carnivals suppressed; the Port-of-Spain police, led by one Captain Baker, were remembered for their brutal tactics for generations. But kalinda persisted, despite legislation which abolished drumming and restricted other carnival practices offensive to middle and "upper class sensibilities. Subsequent carnivals included middle class participants who, in turn, adopted folk elements of kalinda for their own fancy-dress masquerades.
Carnival songs came to be called calypso around 1900, when primitive structures called tents were erected in masquerade camps. Stick-fighters in the kalinda yards also adopted some English-language songs. Costumes, floats and other carnival paraphernalia were assembled in tents during the season between Christmas and carnival. Calypso stars and contenders rehearsed and performed there too, providing amusement for both participants and passers-by. By the twenties, these informal presentations where becoming full-fledged shows which could charge admission. Kalinda rivalry evolved in to calypso competition as each tent developed performers and fans who claimed the superiority of their tent over others.
At the same time, a calypso-related form of vaudeville was emerging, both in theaters and carnival masquerades. This development also occurred in Guyana (then British Guiana) and in neighboring English-speaking islands. Record companies failed to document any significant amount of black music in the United States before the twenties. Fortunately, attitudes were less circumscribed when it came to the music of the Central and South American countries, most of whom received at least occasional visits from recording teams anxious to log popular music on masters from which records were pressed in North America and shipped back for local sales.
The earliest music from Trinidad on record was waxed in New York by Lovey’s Band (his full name has not survived) in 1912. Little else is known about him except that he led dance orchestras in Trinidad from at least the nineties. Two companies visited the island in 1914, where Lovey was recorded again, as well as a younger ensemble led by pianist Lionel Belasco. There were also a few examples of early calypso and kalinda, which are especially important since no further recording was done in Trinidad until 1937. The intervening years saw calypso recorded only in New York, primarily by resident expatriates. Julian Whiterose, only one of several important calypsonians of his generation, never recorded again. His contemporary, Lord Executor, went unrecorded until 1937.
Our chronology picks up again with 1923, which witnessed a group of songs recorded in New York by Guyanese vaudevillian Phil Madison and several waltzes and carnival tunes by violinist Cyril Monrose. By this time, there was something of a West Indian vogue in Harlem, aided by a small but significant number of emigrés who settled there after the war and by the activities of Jamaican political leader Marcus Garvey. Popular literature and music of the Harlem Renaissance occasionally turned to West Indian themes; one record company even launched a short-lived West Indian series in 1924. Other Antillean music showed up in either the "race" or Spanish catalogs.
Most West Indian material on record from the middle and late twenties was by actor/vaude-villian Sam Manning, whose songs range from
calypso to pop. Pianist Walter Merrick of St.
Vincent led recording groups on a few occasions, but his releases sold poorly. Lionel Belasco was absent from the studios from 1922 to 1927, though he recorded frequently afterwards, even during the lean days of the Depression. A number of his records were made with Wilmoth Houdini, a genuine calypsonian if not one held in high regard by islanders. Nevertheless, Houdini acquired a following and he became an active record-maker for nearly two decades.
Unlike Manning, Houdini remained close to calypso and composed much of the material he recorded. By the thirties, it was clear that calypso records made by expatriates and other thousands of miles from Trinidad were inadequate. Eduard Sa Gomes, a successful retailer with several small department stores in Trinidad, made arrangements for Atilla the Hun and the Lion to travel to New York to record with Gerald Clark ’s
orchestra. The results were both artistically and commercially successful and, for the remainder of the thirties, leading island calypso stars were recorded following each spring carnival season.
Recording trips served to introduce leading island talent to America, through appearances in New York, network radio exposure and the records themselves. New listeners were attracted to the editorializing, the relatively exotic music and the colorful personalities calypsonians assumed during performance. Calypso had truly entered a new age as international acceptance enhanced its status at home.
Reflecting the distaste some middle-class Trinidadians still harbored towards the music, Atilla sang in 1935:
A prophet has no honor in his own land
The truth of that proverb I now understand
When you sing calypso in Trinidad
You are a vagabond and everything that's bad
In your native land you're a hooligan
In New York, you're an artist and a gentleman
For instance, take the Lion and me
Having dinner with Rudy Vallee
Indeed, Mr. Vallee had wined and dined the calypsonians and featured them on his popular network radio show, paving the way for calypso throughout the English-speaking world.
Tracklist:
01. Lovey's Band - Mango Vert
02. Belasco's Band - Germaine
03. Julian Whiterose - Iron Duke in the Land
04. Monrose's String Orchestra - Old Lady, Old Lady
05. Phil Madison - Caroni Swamp
06. Merrick's Orchestra - Married to You
07. Sam Manning - Sly Mongoose
08. Wilmoth Houdini - Caroline
09. Belasco's Orchestra - Caroline
10. Sam Manning - Lieutenant Julian
11. Gerald Clark & His Night Owls - Carmelita
12. Bill Rogers - West Indian Weed Woman
13. Wilmoth Houdini - War Declaration
14. The Executor - My Reply to Houdini
15. Atilla the Hun - Graf Zeppelin
16. Keskidee Trio - Congo Bara
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