As the Calypso King of the World celebrated his 89th birthday on Tuesday, there were calls for the National Cultural Recognition Policy to be implemented so that designated icons can receive their flowers while still alive.
Born in Grand Roy, Grenada, but Trini to the bone, Dr Slinger Francisco, also known as The Mighty Sparrow or The Birdie, now lives in the United States. This was something his birthday twin, CNC3 sports anchor Gyasi Merrique, referenced when asked how our greatest calypsonian should be recognised.
“It would have been nice if he was able to reside here so that the appearances would have been more frequent,” he said.
In 1987 Sparrow received an honorary doctorate of letters from The University of the West Indies. There is a statue of him at the centre of the St Ann’s Roundabout and in 2015, the late Prof Gordon Rohlehr, who wrote about him extensively, published what he described as “a sample of my contemplation of the career of one of the region’s premier and most celebrated artists,” in a book entitled My Whole Life is Calypso. He won the Road March and the Calypso Monarch eight times and the Queen made him an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. He has been recognised, but as he approaches his 90s, ill-health might be preventing him from making Sparrow’s Hideaway his home.
In 2020, The National Cultural Recognition Policy was laid as a white paper in Parliament by then-culture minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly. It proposed the naming of cultural ambassadors who would receive a diplomatic passport and a cash benefit of $250,000.
Writer and Cultural Critic Nigel Campbell said implementation was overdue.
“He (Sparrow) and (Calypso) Rose should immediately be called icons and effectively the State should take care of whatever their needs are until they pass away,” Campbell said.
Regardless, Campbell said, Sparrow’s legacy was secure, that as a performer his voice was unmatched, especially since calypso was a genre where not being a great singer was no barrier to success.
“He actually sang on pitch,” Campbell said.
The University of Trinidad and Tobago’s Dr Krisson Joseph agreed. The programme coordinator at the university’s Academy of Arts, Letters, Culture and Public Affairs called the veteran calypsonian “the greatest to ever do it.”
Joseph said Sparrow made singing seem easy.
In terms of his best songs, people have their favourites. Merrique called Education and Mae Mae. There may be video evidence of him performing the latter for an online competition. Campbell named How Yuh Jamming So? and Joseph cited Good Citizen as a song that endures. Sparrow’s signature song Jean and Dinah, however, was hailed by Joseph as one of the more important calypsoes of the modern era.
