Calypso Before And Now

The Short History

1996 Calypso King the "Hurricane"!

1989/90 Calypso King the "Wizard"!

1991/92 Calypso King the "Scrunter"!

"Young Bull"!

"Brakes"! 1997 Finalist

"Ghost"! 1997 Finalist

"Senator"! 1997 Finalist

The songs and music were the backbone of masquerade. The mimicry and redicule of the costumes were matched by the satire of the songs. The words were full of double meaning and innuendo. The calypsonians have carried on the tradition by disguising the true meaning of the lyrics.

The calypso has become, since the 1950's the source of street music at Carnival time. It is part of the Caribbean creole mix with its home base being Trinidad. Although it has much the same roots as the folk songs of the Windward and Leeward Islands, it owes alot more to the Spanish influence of Venezuela. Like the Samba of Brazil and the Rhumba of Cuba, the Calypso beat is much more that of Afro-Latin America than are the folksongs of the eastern islands.

In Dominica, Calypsonians were appearing on stage at variety shows by 1946. By the end of the 1950's calypso shows were formerly part of Carnival celebrations. In the followind decade the calypsonians and his "road march" became the strongest force in Carnival so that today the success of each year depends heavily on their contirbutions.

An Association to manage the business of Calypso was formed in the 70's with an executive body which ran their shows and tents for some time. The organising of the calypso show was later taken over and ran by the then Carnival Organising Committee, but out of protest in 1978, the Calypso Association was revived and up to this date is being run by the Calypsonians.

Get A Feel Of 1997 Local Calypsoes

If You Don't Have A Sound Card, Then You Will Be Missing Out On A Lot...Calypso Clips Are In Real-STEREO-Audio...We need to let you hear the song with the best quality possible, so the files are a little big! You also need the RealAudio Player.

King Hurricane will have to defend his Crown against the following calypsonians on the big night : Spider (1), Senator (2), Bassey (3) Brakes (4), Hunter (5), Scrunter (6), Ghost (7), Intruder (8), Observer (9)!

Veteran Calypsonian the Mighty Spider, one of this year’s finalist, is the Calypso King of the Unity calypso tent. The veteran who failed to make it to the finals in recent years, rocked the crowd singing his 1997 song "All That I Have". And for the Stardom King of the tent, first time finalist "Senator" from the village of Mahaut, is the king of that calypso tent. It has been an impressive run by Senator for this calypso season, and its his first crown at that level. At the quarter and Semi finals, his rendition "I’m In Charge" went down as one of the leading calypsoes for the year. On Wednesday night, Senator brushed aside a field of 13 heavy weights to collect the first prize of EC $1200. Bassey singing my "Honourable" earned him the second place with the brakes third, Nathy (two time king of Stardom tent) fourth and Hunter 5th. Last year’s King of that tent the Young Bull did not defend his crown because of his role as an organiser of the Stardom Calypso Tent.

Some Past Kings		Road March Monarchs
1978	Zeye	1978	Spider - Sechey Ferdinand
1979	Shakey	1979	Mico - Come down Jesus
1980	Spider	1980	Spider - Sanky
1981	Tronada	1981	DBS - Don Don Don
1982	Ency	1982	Ency & Tronada - Bombers from Sout /?
1983	Ency	1983	Dyno - Dyno (how I love you so)
1984	Rabbit	1984	Ency - Humble servant
1985	Ency	1985	Rabbit - Marry the girl Charlie
1986	Venturer	1986	Rabbit - Solomon & Super L-Fight them
1987	Venturer	1987	Ency - Watch your bottom
1988	Ency	1988	Scrunter Catholic & Cauliflower Pressure
1989	Wizard	1989	Rabbit - You Follow
1990	Wizard	1990	Hurricane - Utility Pressure
1991	Scrunter	1991	Lagoom Spirit - Carnival is bachanal
1992	Scrunter	1992
1993	Hurricane	1993	Rabbit - Wang Fang Cho
1994	Hurricane	1994	Sour Sour - Kool Pipe
1995	Scrunter	1995
1996	Hurricane	1996
1997	Brakes	1997	Intruder - Pull String
1998	Hunter	1998	Hunter - Carib Bacanal
1999	Brakes	1999
2000	Hunter	2000	Brakes - Workers
2001	Daddy Chess	2001	Observer - Spirit of we Carnival
2002	Observer	2002	King Pawol - Osama Say
2003		2003

"TOWARDS IMPROVING CALYPSO"
Written by R.B. Francis (1983)

The merry monarch - the king carnival - has just made his exit once more. So too has another calypso season. The aim of this article is not to explore carnival per se, but to focus particularly on calypso and to offer some suggestions for its improvement.

It is not easy to get a consensus of opinion on the quality of calypsoes this year, particularly among those who have been following this art-form in the state recently. However I would like to join those who have followed calypso in the last two decades and say that the standard was quite low. From what I have heard in the preliminaries and the finals, I think there is a lot to be done if we are to seriously challenge other Caribbean countries in this art. It can be said that a myriad of problems at present bedevil the development of this noble West Indian art-form here and are responsible for the low standards. I would like to discuss what I take to be the most profound issues affecting the present quality. These are organisation, standard and the marking system.

STANDARD The standard of calypso has progressively declined over the years. Historically, it appears that every other year there is a high standard of carnival and so too calypso. Since 1960, the standard has been exceedingly good, 1963, 1968, 1972, 1976, and 1982. In looking at calypso in Dominica vis-à-vis our "chante mas", the late Cissy Caudeiron concluded that "we have not yet produced a 'lasting calypsonian'" (see Our Island Culture).. Those were prophetic words, for although these sentiments were expressed in the early 1960's, save Spider, there is no one who has done yeoman service to calypso in Dominica.

Bearing in mind Spider's continuous contribution to the development of calypso in Dominica and present policies on cultural development, this artist should be singled out for a national award for such hard work. Awards have been made in this area in the past.

The present standard of calypso is very much the product of the marking system. The fall in the standard in my view, has been due to continuous changes in the marking system, which has shifted emphasis from high priority to low priority areas. For example, up to 1979, crowd response was incorporated into the marking criteria. This was a totally irrational aspect which could only mislead judges.

Towards the improvement in the standard and quality of calypsoes here, it is imperative to restructure the present system of evaluation. In the next part, I shall discuss the marking system and offer a set of elements which I consider can enhance the standard in general and the judging in particular.

ORGANISATION. The creation of the Dominica Calypso Association is to a large extent the greatest achievement of calypsonians here. This landmark actually brought the organisation and management of calypso under the control of calypsonians for the first time. It is indeed rather pathetic that calypsonians have not been able to transform this breakthrough into a position of strength. The best illustration of this is the calypso monarch competition itself. Unfortunately it turned out to be a "battle" in which except for a few, they all cast aspirations against each other. It is sufficient to note, that 10-15 years ago with no "Association", friendship and co-operation among calypsonians was tremendous, The great contradiction of warring exhibited in the contest, was a strong appeal by one of the contestants soliciting the "help" of the public. Should the public really help when disorder among calypsonians themselves is absolutely rampant? After this sickening episode, one can only exhort calypsonians to put their house in order and get on with the development of this art-form.

THE MARKING SYSTEM. The present marking system is totally inadequate and requires immediate reform, if the standards of calypso is to be improved. In order to appreciate the argument being put forward here, one must have a feel of the existing system. According to the marking criteria, marks are allocated accordingly.

          Lyrics         25   points.
          Melody         20   points.
          Presentation   10   points.
          Total          55   points.

The present system is arbitrary and without firm basis. Based on the quantity of marks allocated, one may ask why 55 points. Why not 60, 75, or 100?

As can be seen from the figures, the difference between lyrics and melody is only 5 points. In my own judgement, the gap between these two should be more pronounced, Lyrics should actually command the points distribution. Most calypsonians rely on a tremendous amount of melody and give little or no attention to lyrics. If one is to go back to the just completed contest, one finds that out of 18 songs, there were no more than 6 with reasonably good lyrics.

But this is not the only flaw in the present system. No provisions are made for coherence, articulation, diction, or stage personality to cite some crucial criteria items.

Coherence is one area which is flouted mercilessly. Too often contestants digress from their topic without any warning, in search of rhyme. Whilst on this, I want to note Alwyn's comment on last Sunday's confrontation programme about the high incidence of blank verses. Too often we listen to a number of blank verses and find ourselves at pains to ascertain what the song is about.

Articulation is another important criteria which should be a consistuent of any future system. Some calypsonians have been able to excel in this department over the years. A classic example is Picki. Articulation would certainly lead to a much improved calypso, in the sense that the lyrics would become very clear.

The encouragement of diction would certainly lead to better compositions and ultimately a higher standard of calypsoes. A call for good diction would not be asking too much from calypsonians but would allow them to deepen their thoughts on calypso.

Lastly, I want to suggest the inclusion of stage personality in the marking system. It may be argued that this is built into the 10 points on presentation. If this is so, it leaves a judge with very little move for manoeuvre, considering the heavy emphasis placed on the acts and dressings by contestants.

In offering my ideas for an improvement on the marking system, I suggest a review of the present system. Instead of the allocation of marks over 55, I would like to see marks awarded over the conventional 100 points system. Having said this, I submit here under a marking system, which I consider most plausible.

          Lyrics                   30   POINTS.
          Melody                   15   POINTS.
          Diction                  15   POINTS.
          Articulation             10   POINTS.
          Coherence                10   POINTS.
          Presentation on stage
          (Personality)            10   POINTS.
          Spirit of Carnival       10   POINTS.

A change of the present marking system is likely to result in the production of better songs locally. Given the right economic setting, it could lead to expansion in the music industry. This obviously means that artists must try to produce work which could be consumed on the regional market. It means shifting the theme of calypsoes from a purely Dominican to a more generalized context. A fine example of this is Ency's "Give and Take".

It is my feeling that a review of the marking system could augur very well for the future of calypso in Dominica.

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