Duke, who was born in St Vincent but grew up in Point Fortin, died in a private hospital in Port-of-Spain this week after battling with what this newspaper reported yesterday was bone marrow cancer. Duke's place in calypso's history is assured given his historic feat of winning the Calypso Monarch four times on-the trot between 1968 and 1971. But he will also be remembered for songs from later in his career like "Thunder," "What is calypso" and "Harps of Gold" just to name a few. Duke left a rich legacy of music for calypso lovers to enjoy and there is every likelihood that this legacy can take on some value in this digital age in which the sampling of music has become commonplace.
But another of the realities of the digital environment is that many consumers of music have no qualms about downloading or copying music for which they have no intentions of paying. This means that while a song may be a hit–being played numerous times on radio stations and at fetes–the authors of the song and the person performing it receive very little by way of financial compensation from its sale. This new environment for recording artistes has led to calypsonians being able to generate money during their lifetimes mostly from their live performances and not from the sale of their music. This situation has the potential to expose many of premier artistes to spending their golden years in relative poverty.
Just before Christmas, the calypsonian known as Chalkdust, another undoubted icon of the art form, had cause to write to Prime Minister Patrick Manning calling attention to the fact that one of the country's best-known calypsonians was in need of a house. The artistes themselves have a responsibility, of course, to put aside some of the revenue they generate during their peak periods for their down periods or their retirement. But, given the fact that the technology allows the consumers of music to download and exchange the intellectual property of our artistes virtually for free, the wider society has some responsibility to ensure that the creators of this music are compensated–if only to ensure that the calypso, chutney and pan recordings survive to be passed on for future enjoyment.
What is being recommended here is that the Government, in collaboration with the�organisations representing the artistes and some interested corporate sponsors should get together to ensure that those who have contributed so much to the country's cultural development do not end their careers in penury. The other important aspect of preserving the legacy of our artistes in the digital age is ensuring that their contributions are preserved in digital form–especially the work from the pre-digital era. This is a huge task involving the works of literally hundreds of artistes, some of whom would have had just one or two hits. It also involves digitising the recordings of hundreds of steelbands and other recordings done for radio or television programmes or other live recordings.
Attempts to create digital libraries of music that has historic value are underway in other societies, often by universities, museums or preservation societies. It would be a shame if Trinidad and Tobago, which has contributed so much to the development of world music, does not find an appropriate way of ensuring that this legacy is made available for future generations to enjoy.