Raphael John-Lall

Vet­er­an ca­lyp­son­ian Seadley Joseph, who per­formed un­der the name Pen­guin was a "gi­ant" in the ca­lyp­so art form says fel­low ca­lyp­son­ian Leroy Cal­liste, known al­so as Black Stal­in. "We lost a gi­ant in ca­lyp­so mu­sic, we al­so lost a friend," Stal­in said by tele­phone yes­ter­day.

Joseph, 70, broth­er of for­mer na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty min­is­ter Mar­tin Joseph, and a for­mer pres­i­dent of Trinidad Uni­fied Ca­lyp­so­ni­ans Or­gan­i­sa­tion (TU­CO), passed away yes­ter­day morn­ing af­ter a pro­longed ill­ness. He won the Road March ti­tle in 1982 with the song A Deputy Es­sen­tial. He won the Ca­lyp­so Crown in 1984 with We Liv­ing in Jail and Sorf Man. One of his oth­er hits was Look de Dev­il dey.

Stal­in said Joseph will be missed by the ca­lyp­so fra­ter­ni­ty and by the en­tire coun­try. "He will be missed. His con­tri­bu­tion to the art­form is too much to even men­tion," he said. Stal­in said the younger gen­er­a­tion of ca­lyp­so­ni­ans and fu­ture gen­er­a­tions who get in­to the ca­lyp­so genre have a lot to learn from him.

"Apart from his in­volve­ment in the mu­sic he was al­so in­volved on the busi­ness side of things and the youths to­day can learn from how he did things," he said. Pres­i­dent of TU­CO, Lu­ta­lo Masim­ba, al­so known as Broth­er Re­sis­tance, de­scribed Joseph's his death a "great loss."

"His death is a loss to the mu­sic of the world and to T&T as a na­tion. He was a gift­ed com­pos­er and in my opin­ion did not get his just due. He was one of the few peo­ple who won the Ca­lyp­so Monarch and Road March," he said. He said Joseph's con­tri­bu­tion to TU­CO was in­valu­able.

"What he did for the or­gan­i­sa­tion was im­por­tant. He point­ed TU­CO in a pro­gres­sive di­rec­tion and it was an ho­n­our to work with him," he said. Win­ston An­tho­ny Bai­ley, al­so known as the Mighty Shad­ow, was shocked by the news and told the T&T Guardian it was the first time he was hear­ing of his death but said he did "great work."

"I knew at one time he was sick. We all have to leave this life at some time, but he did work and made his con­tri­bu­tion to the art form," he said. He added that the younger gen­er­a­tion, if they lis­ten to Joseph's lyrics, might be able to learn some­thing. "This gen­er­a­tion if they lis­ten to his melody and hu­mour in his ca­lyp­soes could learn some­thing," he said.