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Chalkie: Put the craft back into smut

Michelle Loubon
Published: 5 Jun 2009
http://guardian. co.tt/features/ entertainment/ 2009/06/05/ chalkie-put- craft-back- smut

Dr Hollis Liverpool, fondly known as Chalkdust,
is best known for his cleverly crafted satire in
kaiso. In 2009, My Heart and I gave him his
eighth Dimanche Gras crown. Recently, Liverpool,
who is also Associate Professor of History at the
University of T&T, gave another glimpse into his
character. Liverpool showed his appreciation and
knowledge of smut. It took the form of a
lecture—Smut in Calypso: From Immorality and
Jamette Behaviour to Creativity and Craft—at
Nalis Library, Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain.

Before launching into smut, Liverpool remembered
his days as a student at St Mary's College,
Pembroke Street, Port-of-Spain. He said a priest
told the class, “History is for big people. This
lecture is history and it is for big people.” He
defined smut as a term given to songs, that,
devoid of the figures of speech to hide the
sexual content that is contained within the
lines, may be considered to be obscene and even
immoral. The gist of Liverpool’s paper was while
smut started off as lyrics equated with
immorality and jamette behaviour, calypsonians,
in time, turned the lyrics into a genre of
calypso that was characterised by creativity and craft.

He said one of the chief reasons for people’s
aversion was “smut deals mainly with sex and for
most people singing about matters of sex in
public is not in keeping with the dignity of the
human being.” “Sex itself is a very personal and
private act, designed by God for the reproduction
of the human race,” added Liverpool. Quoting
anthropologist JD Elder, he noted in the
pre-Emancipation era, women sang the smut and the
men concentrated mainly on songs of boast and
pomp. When he traced smut’s origins, he found
“most cultural traits of the enslaved African,
such as calypso, the stickfight and Carnival, can
be traced to the West African forefathers who
deposited such traits on the plantation during
the era of the African slave trade.”

Rejection of smut
More importantly, Liverpool discovered unless
smut calypso is craftily constructed, it would be
rejected by the calypso lovers of today. “It
would seem singers do not understand how to
create smut anymore. “Many of today’s singers
lack the craft needed for the creation of good smut,” added Liverpool.

He also shared Barbados Nation’s view that
today’s artistes “do not have a command of the
English language. It is a reflection of the
failure of the education system.” Liverpool
added: “The evidence suggests unless smut calypso
is craftily constructed, it will be rejected by
the calypso lovers of today.” But all was not
lost. “The answer lies in education,” he said. He
paid kudos for UTT’s plans to award performing
artistes with diplomas and certificates.

More evidence for smut decline
Chalkdust quoted Express columnist Raffique Shah,
who noted in 2009 the reason for the decline in
good smut was the fact that today’s singers
lacked the craft needed for the creation of good smut.
“Today’s singers lack the craft of leaving the
vice to the listeners’ heads and the melody,” he
said. Shah also suggested the quality of today’s
double entendre was below standard.

In the newspaper article Soca music and moral
decadence, Dr Kwame Nantambu made the point that
calypsonians who tried to sing smut were “lewd,
explicit and immoral,” and they exhibited
“vulgar, pelvic-gyrating behaviour.” He pointed
out that in Sparrow’s Mae Mae and Kitchener’s
Sugar Boom Boom, the women did not lose their
humanity. “They were treated with respect...when
you reach home gie yuh man some,” said Sparrow.
In 2009, Newsday columnist Marion O’Callaghan
also made the point, “in good calypsoes sex was veiled.”

I agree fully with Chalkdust.
There's nothing like a calypso or soca rife with sexual innuendos. Who can do that better than a Caribbean artist? But sadly, we have been losing the quality artists who were able to come up with such good smut. I listen to Sparrow, Kitchener and others of their era and simply marvel at these artists ability to sing about sex or sexual organs and yet present it in a family-friendly manner. Sparrow has a tune called "When it bald it better". Da one real badd! lol.
Like Chalkdust said, the decline of our education system or probably more so, our apathy towards education is at the root of our inability to come up with great soca and calypso in general and not just good smut. Our vocabulary has shrunk so how can we write lyrics like these guys. With poor vocab you simply present everything raw as it is which is what a lot of the artists are doing.
Our Caribbean artists and musicians need to go back to the fundamentals of producing good soca and calypsos including smut and take time to learn from the ladies and gentlemen who were great in this art form.
Bless up

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Ahhh Lord Blakie was a master himself, Hold De Pussy Cat. Each time I listen, I laugh as if I'm hearing it for the first time.

__________________
When two people cussin, they doh tell each other that they pretty or they nice.


-Meh Granny say so.

i have to agree with you. There is a lot of songs i knew and sang as a kid but never knew the real meaning until i grew older. I have a thread with a few of them songs, i'll have to give it a bump.

Yeah, share with us.
Bless

__________________
Get more guitar instrumentals at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/chappahx
http://www.myspace.com/chappahx