From time to time, I mull over what is the best ca­lyp­so ever writ­ten and, al­ways, two rise to the top: Por­trait of Trinidad (sung by Mighty Sniper) and Progress (sung by King Austin). We know that Wins­ford Devine wrote Progress but there is much de­bate as to who wrote Por­trait. From the com­ments on the YouTube video, there is a body of sup­port for a cer­tain "Pen Man" who "is a va­grant and a per­ma­nent pa­tient in St Ann's Hos­pi­tal." One per­son said that he heard in an in­ter­view that the Mighty Bomber claims it was he who wrote the song but that "Pen Man was paid for some lines."

An­oth­er com­ment­ed, "It's a shame that's such a beau­ti­ful ca­lyp­so has so much bag­gage." I agree.

So, for the sake of his­to­ry and pos­ter­i­ty, I be­lieve it is high time that the "rights" to this very im­por­tant ca­lyp­so be thor­ough­ly in­ves­ti­gat­ed and the mat­ter re­solved once and for all. Over to you Alvin Daniel (ca­lyp­so his­to­ri­an), Min­is­ter of Arts and Mul­ti­cul­tur­al­ism, Win­ston Pe­ters, and Min­is­ter of the Peo­ple, Glen Ra­mad­hars­ingh (to find Pen Man).

Noel Kalicha­ran

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