Nigel Teles­ford

Ca­lyp­so was among the ear­li­est gen­res of mu­sic record­ed in Eng­lish in the West­ern Hemi­sphere. It pi­o­neered so­phis­ti­cat­ed rhyming pat­terns, nar­ra­tive song struc­tures, and top­i­cal lyrics—traits that dis­tin­guished it from con­tem­po­ra­ne­ous gen­res like blues and vaude­ville in the late 19th cen­tu­ry. Over time, ca­lyp­so’s in­flu­ence would per­me­ate glob­al mu­sic, in­spir­ing and shap­ing gen­res and cul­tures from reg­gae to so­ca to hip-hop and be­yond.

On Sep­tem­ber 7, at the lush and tran­quil Pueblo El Pao Es­tate in San­ta Cruz, ace pro­duc­er, song­writer, and mu­si­cal vi­sion­ary Kit­wana Is­rael will of­fi­cial­ly launch the sound­scape for a re-imag­ined, mod­ern ver­sion of ca­lyp­so. Cre­at­ed and metic­u­lous­ly craft­ed by Is­rael and Ad­vok­it Pro­duc­tions over sev­er­al years, this sound will hence­forth be known and re­brand­ed as Ka­lyp­so.

“The time for us to claim our sound and of­fi­cial­ly reg­is­ter our brand is long over­due,” said Is­rael. “I am just do­ing my part to help us ful­fill our col­lec­tive des­tiny, and I hope that in­dus­try lead­ers and prac­ti­tion­ers will fol­low suit and make their con­tri­bu­tions in a time­ly fash­ion, so that we can rep­re­sent as a col­lec­tive force and a uni­fied cul­ture ready for the in­dus­try.”

With its first record­ings ap­pear­ing in 1912 and 1914, ca­lyp­so mu­sic be­gan as a sub­tle form of re­sis­tance, al­low­ing slaves to com­mu­ni­cate and ex­press them­selves through song. Shared will­ing­ly across the Caribbean arch­i­pel­ago and in­to first-world na­tions, this rapid­ly evolv­ing oral tra­di­tion was both in­fec­tious and com­pelling. It was quick­ly adopt­ed and adapt­ed by cre­atives across the re­gion and around the globe.

“When we trace the lin­eage from then to now, we can clear­ly see the in­flu­ence ca­lyp­so has had on the mu­sic in­dus­try,” Is­rael re­flect­ed, “but yet the genre is large­ly ab­sent from cur­rent charts, DSPs, and on­line plat­forms. Even here in its home­land, it has been ne­glect­ed and side­lined for decades, while its de­scen­dants have grown, ma­tured, and con­tin­ue to dom­i­nate the sound­scape.”

Apart from the sound of Ka­lyp­so, the event will al­so show­case its vi­su­al iden­ti­ty, style, and fash­ion. The theme of the night is Black Dandy­ism, a state­ment that goes be­yond dress code to rep­re­sent a vi­su­al cel­e­bra­tion of iden­ti­ty and re­sis­tance. From its in­cep­tion, Ka­lyp­so evolved through dance and came with a dis­tinct look and feel, not just a sound.

The fash­ion show­case on Sep­tem­ber 7 will re­flect this vi­sion with a cast of some of the most re­spect­ed de­sign­ers in the na­tion and re­gion: Ecliff Elie, cap­ti­vat­ed by the theme and ready to push cre­ative lim­its; Chris­t­ian Bou­caud, mak­ing her long-await­ed re­turn to the run­way with a brand-new col­lec­tion, her first since the pan­dem­ic; Ryan Chan, known for his bold cre­ative en­er­gy, bring­ing his take on the Ka­lyp­so theme; Na­bal­lah Chi, fresh off her win at the First Cit­i­zens Bank­ing in Style show; and Aaron Mon­eer, who has com­mand­ed run­ways from the Caribbean to Paris. And this is just the be­gin­ning.

Dubbed “Ka­lyp­so – The Luxe Launch: A Cul­tur­al Re­nais­sance in Black, Gold and Glob­al Sound”, and pro­duced by ET&T Mag­a­zine, Over­time Me­dia, Ad­vok­it Pro­duc­tions, and Pix­el Per­fect Me­dia, Ka­lyp­so is an event of his­tor­i­cal pro­por­tions—def­i­nite­ly not your av­er­age fete, con­cert, or fash­ion show.

“This is the launch of a bold new sound de­signed to re­store one of the first es­tab­lished gen­res of mu­sic to its for­mer glo­ry,” stat­ed Is­rael. “Root­ed in ca­lyp­so, but evolved and up­dat­ed for to­day’s glob­al stage, this sound is built on rhythm, sto­ry­telling, and rein­ven­tion. It gives Caribbean cul­ture a new voice while ho­n­our­ing its roots.”

As Car­ni­val 2026 ap­proach­es, Ka­lyp­so sets the tone for a scin­til­lat­ing sea­son that blends mu­sic, fash­ion, and el­e­vat­ed mo­ments of en­er­gy.

Tick­ets are lim­it­ed and avail­able from com­mit­tee mem­bers, is­landet­ick­ets.com, and all Cache stores na­tion­wide. Fol­low @ki­tis­rael, @et­ntof­fi­cial, and @over­timett for more in­for­ma­tion.