DAVID CUFFY

Cel­e­brat­ing a 50th an­niver­sary with the na­tion this year is vet­er­an ca­lyp­son­ian Pos­er (Sylvester Lock­hart), who start­ed his ca­lyp­so singing ca­reer in 1962. Born on Sep­tem­ber 6, 1943, Pos­er grew up in Matu­ra, a vil­lage a few miles out­side San­gre Grande. He at­tend­ed school in San­gre Grande, then moved to San Juan and Port-of-Spain, where he spent his youth­ful years be­fore re­turn­ing to his home­town.

He be­gan play­ing the steel­pan, which be­came a great in­flu­ence in his life, lead­ing him to join and play in bands such as City Syn­co­pa­tors, Teen Stars and San Juan All Stars, to name a few. It was through his in­volve­ment with the steel­band that he gar­nered a love for, and start­ed singing ca­lyp­so, in 1962.

Af­ter win­ning the ca­lyp­so com­pe­ti­tion in San­gre Grande for five con­sec­u­tive years, he de­cid­ed to come to town and try his luck against the "big boys" in Port-of-Spain where he wowed au­di­ences with Bus Con­duc­tor in his de­but per­for­mance. In 1979 he turned pro­fes­sion­al af­ter win­ning the Road March ti­tle with the com­po­si­tion Ah tell She.

Pos­er made it to the Na­tion­al Ca­lyp­so Monarch Com­pe­ti­tion fi­nals on sev­er­al oc­ca­sions with pop­u­lar se­lec­tions such as Town Man, Par­ty Tonight, Ah Tell She and Bus Con­duc­tor. He was al­so a reg­u­lar com­peti­tor in the Buy Lo­cal Ca­lyp­so Com­pe­ti­tions, plac­ing sec­ond and third to Chalk­dust and Lord Re­la­tor, re­spec­tive­ly, in two fi­nals. Pos­er has ap­peared on the cast of al­most all the Ca­lyp­so tents that op­er­at­ed dur­ing the course of his ca­reer.

In ad­di­tion, he has been recog­nised as one of the best dressed ca­lyp­so­ni­ans of his era, nev­er fail­ing to as­tound au­di­ences with his sense of style and dis­tinc­tive­ness. Over the years he es­tab­lished a niche for him­self in the So­ca Parang are­na, and is now con­sid­ered one of the top ex­po­nents of the genre, com­ing up with se­lec­tions such as Take A Drink Ah Dis and Sereno Sereno. The dap­per ca­lyp­son­ian has trav­elled all over the world en­ter­tain­ing au­di­ences with our in­dige­nous ca­lyp­so mu­sic.

"My jour­ney has been a most aus­pi­cious and grat­i­fy­ing ex­pe­ri­ence, and I am thank­ful to where it has led me to­day," he said. "The abil­i­ty to bring to­geth­er scores of peo­ple through mu­sic re­gard­less of race, prej­u­dice and class, is one of my great­est achieve­ments. My jour­ney is still an en­dur­ing one, for I be­lieve that the best of Pos­er is yet to come."