JENSEN LA VENDE
Senior Reporter
jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt
Family, friends and admirers of Calypso King of the World Slinger Francisco, better known as the Mighty Sparrow, celebrated the man behind the legend at a memorial service in New York yesterday.
His daughter Gina Francisco reflected on her father’s final years, recalling how the man who once travelled the globe eventually relied on others to carry him, yet never complained.
The service at Linden Seventh-day Adventist Church drew fellow musicians, politicians, diplomats, clerics and supporters from across the Caribbean diaspora.
Francisco said her father treated those around him warmly and deeply valued his family. She joked that, with 14 children, she could not remember all their names. One of his greatest lessons, she said, was humility.
“The greatest thing that I think that he did, because it was a very humbling experience to watch my father being carried. He couldn’t walk. He had to be carried, and he was very uncomplaining.”
She added: “I’ve seen my father change over the years. He was very uncomplaining, and his world became smaller and smaller and smaller. You’re looking at a man who travelled the world, and then he’s kind of limited to where he is, and he never complained.”
Francisco said sharing her father with the world sometimes frustrated her and her siblings, but she eventually came to appreciate his impact on generations of people.
“He taught me how to be at peace with whatever God gives you,” she said.
Among those paying tribute was New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who described Sparrow as a giant of Caribbean culture whose influence extended far beyond Trinidad and Tobago.
“This is obviously a sad occasion,” Williams said, adding that Sparrow’s death at 91 also provided an opportunity to celebrate a remarkable life.
“I just want to thank the family because I’m honoured to come to speak about a 91-year-old who lived an amazing life.”
He invited mourners to applaud the late calypsonian.
“The Calypso Monarch Emeritus, no one can beat him. What he did for our culture is simply amazing and cannot be overstated.”
Williams recalled that Sparrow’s name was regarded as “royalty” in his household and in countless others across the Caribbean diaspora.
Yves Abel of Haiti’s legendary band Tabou Combo also paid tribute, recalling Sparrow’s support for Caribbean artistes and his commitment to regional unity.
“It is an honour for me to be invited to the celebration of the life of Mr Mighty Sparrow, one of the greatest calypso men in the world,” Abel said.
He recalled that Sparrow had helped the group in its early years by securing performances at major New York venues.
“When we were 22 years old, 19 years old, playing music in Brooklyn, Mighty Sparrow invited us to some of the greatest venues in New York. He took us to Madison Square Garden, he took us to the Lincoln Center, he took us to Carnegie Hall.”
Abel said Sparrow understood that Caribbean people were united by culture despite their linguistic differences.
“Sparrow knew that although we speak different languages based on our colonial backgrounds, we carry one music, and it’s from Africa where we all come from.”
During the service, Brother Don Enoch Mohammed of the Nation of Islam played an audio recording of a conversation between Sparrow and the organisation’s leader, Louis Farrakhan.
In the recording, the two men prayed for each other and exchanged jokes. Farrakhan urged Sparrow to write a song for him, and Sparrow suggested that Farrakhan provide the melody. Farrakhan replied that it would become “the biggest calypso ever”.
“I recall telling my mother that if there is no calypso in heaven, then I don’t want to go,” Farrakhan said in the recording.
Sparrow will be accorded a state-assisted funeral. A date for the ceremony has not yet been announced.
