Lead Editor—Newsgathering
ryan.bachoo@cnc3.co.tt
Throughout its storied history, political commentary has been a mainstay of calypso music.
Calypsonians have stung the feelings of politicians, whom they have held to account through song and performance.
One such exponent, Kurt Allen, the 2010 Calypso Monarch, won the title with his rendition of Too Bright.
In its own humorous way as calypso does, the song explored how bright politicians “with degrees like peas from UWI and UTT,” were failing in their governance of the country.
“I will campaign till the very end for somebody who can’t count from one to ten,” Allen would go on to sing in his opening verse, in a reference to the fact that he would prefer to have someone who was dunce, since the so-called intellectual politicians were failing the country.
The song was an indictment on the nation’s politicians, who, for all their personal academic excellence, had fallen short in excelling in this country in various sectors. It also epitomised political commentary.
When it comes to this aspect of calypso music, few are better to talk to than veteran Weston Rawlins, who is more popularly known by his stage name The Mighty Cro Cro or the Mighty Midget.
For decades, Cro Cro has sung on politics and social issues. In February this year, the veteran calypsonian said he was prepared to pay damages as ordered by a judge to businessman Inshan Ishmael. The High Court found Rawlins defamed Ishmael in a 2023 song titled Another Sat is outside again. He was ordered to pay $250,000 in damages.
In response to the order, Cro Cro said he will now be singing “jump and wave” songs to avoid controversy. He sat down with the Sunday Guardian to reflect on political and social commentary during this Calypso History Month, celebrated every October by the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians’ Organisation (TUCO).
He recalled, “Commentary, generally, was how kaiso was born in the (slave) plantation to discuss and to fight pressures where we came from. It just trickled out into political commentary.
“Issues, that is how kaiso was born, on issues. The jump up and wine up that they have now, with all due respect, that was when slavery was abolished. However, kaiso was really born out of a story-telling something. Most times, saying something about an oppressive time or an oppressive person.”
David Rudder, who earned the triple-crown of calypso in 1986 with the Young King, Calypso Monarch (The Hammer and Bahia Girl) and Road March (Bahia Girl) titles, shares a similar view of the role of political commentary when it comes to kaiso.
He said, “What is the state of the nation? The music will tell you exactly where we are.”
Rudder went further in explaining his thoughts on the political commentary of calypso music, adding, “It has always been political in the sense that people won’t admit it, but they have their biases in the way they express their feelings. What has happened is that the Internet has restructured the whole road and I don’t know if political calypso is still as potent as it used to be. I think it’s holding on for dear life.”
However, there is a perception from calypso enthusiasts that the political commentary isn’t as hard-hitting as it once was when Dr Hollis “Mighty Chalkdust” Liverpool famously sang in 1989 that “it took a year for passengers to realise the new driver cannot drive,” when referencing National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) government and its leader ANR Robinson, which had won a landslide victory against the People’s National Movement (PNM) but soon ran into problems in the face of a declining economy and political infighting.
Such commentary requires courage and a command of the politics of the day, but Cro Cro feels modern calypsonians do not want to get on the wrong side of political parties.
He said, “They [calypsonians] just don’t want to get into serious things that could help the future and help the children because they don’t want PNM to vex with them and they don’t want UNC to vex with them, so they stay away from that.”
He then burst into a song which he says made some politicians upset with him, singing, “Hello Fitzgerald, the man would not take my call. Hello Rowley, you ain’t answer me. Why these friends of mine not answering, like they feel I scrunting or want to beg them for something. I keep calling them and they making a big fuss but I simply wanted to wish them a merry Christmas.”
Cro Cro says political victimisation because of calypsoes is a very real thing in this country. He went further in saying it stretches beyond politics, noting calypsonians can also be victimised by promoters and organisers.
The four-time Calypso Monarch (1988, 1990, 1996 and 2007) stated, “I’d like to see fairness. Stop the friend thing. It is mashing up the art form because you are picking people who are not ready yet and depriving the public of hearing good calypso, or the best.”
Cro Cro says the politics of the art form also jeopardises sponsorship.
When asked what he would like to see from corporate T&T with regard to its investment in the art form, he laughed while saying, “If you are not hearing anything, would you sponsor something that is not sounding good?”
He added, “How would you put your money into something that is vikey-vie?”
He further called for young calypsonians to be more patient in their pursuit of success in the art form. When asked about his advice for Calypso History Month, he said, “Go and learn to write kaiso and keep writing and stay at it and you will catch a form. If you are playing football, you start from school and catch a form and then you reach international. Anything you are doing, you are supposed to train.”
He urged upcoming calypsonians to work hard at their craft, reiterating a Bible verse he has often said, “By the sweat of thy brow, thou shall eat bread.”