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REVISITING VINCY CALYPSO HISTORY WITH CLAULDRIC FORBES
By Olsen 'Caribbean Pete' Peters

Before I continue to reflect and reminisce on the cultural performances and material which dominated the festivals of commonwealth countries in the Caribbean, I must with some measure of compulsion, relate my very recent experience of revisiting the realm of Vincy Calypso history for the benefit of Caldric Forbes, a former esteemed band vocalist in the now defunct Latinaires Orchestra which had made its presence felt on the musical entertainment scene locally, regionally and extra regionally during the period 1967-1974.
Forbes, who has bee residing in the USA for the past twenty-five years, visited his native country, St. Vincent and the Grenadines last December, not only to enjoy the Christmas season but also to gather information to write a book on Vincy Calypso history from the early 1940s to the late 1970s. I was chosen as one of his main source persons to provide the necessary information primarily because of my many years of involvement in the creative and performing arts and my experience as an exponent of calypso and other related forms of Caribbean music.
During his first visit to my home on Thursday December 29, 2005, Forbes gave reasons for embarking on the bold venture of writing a book on Vincy Calypso, noting that there was very little documentation available on the history and development of calypso on SVG. He hoped to pursue research in that regard and sought my help by giving him access to some of my newspaper articles which I had been writing over the years. He was particularly interested in the calypso contributions made by some of the calypsonians of the period designated.
After some discussion with Forbes, I decided to lend his copies of some of my newspaper articles which I thought should prove quite useful. Among them were those captioned Vincy Kaiso in Retrospect, Singing For the Pole, Art Kaiso, Calypso Bards of Social and Political Commentary, A Profile of Caribbean Pete, Black Consciousness and African Roots in Vincy Calypso, The Calypso Monarchy, Quality of Vincy Calypso of the 70s and 80s, The Role of the Calypso, Kaiso Pan and the French Connection in Barrouallie. These articles appeared in The News in the 1993-1994 period.

Sing for the Pole
Forbes was quite anxious to learn about the early kaisonians in carnival who were also band leaders. I referred him to Article No 3 “Vincy Kaiso in Retrospect” (2/4/93) which gives the relevant information and also to the follow-up article “Singing For The Pole” (9/14/93). I had received much information for this article from Clement ‘Baha’ Lawrence who had been one of the Kaisonians who competed for the wooden scepter called the “Pole” and who was a monarch three years in a row – 1951, ’52, ’53. During those years he was employed at Ju-C and did a good job of popularizing the drink in song.
After acquiring the various skills in the art of composing and singing in the late 1930s, Baha was able to feature successfully as its leader, kaiso ‘composer’ and ‘monarch’.
According to information given to me by ‘Baha’ Lawrence in March 1993, he used to frequent the practice tents in the few weeks prior to Carnival Monday and Tuesday in the pre-Lenten period. Each group of carnival revelers has its own kaiso singer like a chantuelle, who earlier sang extempore or sang songs already composed. He was the leader of the band and, singing songs made in the call and response pattern, got the rest of the group to sing the chorus or main part of it.
On Carnival Tuesday, costumed bands, dancers, musicians and kaisonians paraded up to Government House or the Botanic Gardens where the Administrator and his guests were entertained. The best kaisonian was given the “Pole”. It was wrapped in royal red, white, and blue. The winner also received a crown and the title of King of the Revellers. Other venues for competition in ensuing years were the Court House Yard, Youth Center and then Victoria Park in 1948.

Other outstanding kaisonians of the period (1940s-‘50s) as mentioned by Baha were Eric Dopwell, Victor Layne, Amos Cudjoe, ‘Darryl’, ‘Bellamy’ Allan Peters, Lowe and Trini-born King Wellington.

Not much has been said about kaiso women of that period. One female kaiso singer, Ada Bailey, from ‘Bottom Town’ seem to stand out as performing well against make kaiso giants like Darryl and Cudjoe.

The New Movement From Kaiso to Calypso

“The New Movement from Kaiso to Calypso” was the caption used for my 6th article in The News newspaper (23/4/93). It focused on the period of the 1950s-‘60s when there was a graduate revolutionizing of the calypso artform in St. Vincent. In the article reference is made to the impact on the Trinidadian society by two of the main actors in TnT at the time – Dr. Eric Williams as a politician, and Francisco Slinger (Sparrow) as a calypsonian of class. Particularly through the medium of radio, the new breed of Vincentian calypsonians of that era utilized the wealth of musical material coming out of Trinidad and Tobago and capitalized on the social, political and cultural life of SVG.
During Cauldric’s second visit to my home on Saturday December 31 we discussed some of the contributions made by outstanding calypsonians of the period. Among these were Mighty Skipper of Calliaqua who had won the calypso crown on a few occasions in the 1950s, and kings of the 1960s which include Young sparrow (1960), Young Wrangler (1961), Caribbean Pete (1962), 1963), Mighty Sheller (1964, ‘65, ’67), Mighty Leader (1966), Mighty Ringo (1968), Lord turkey (1969). Sheller went on to win 4 in a row – in 1970, ’71, ’72, ’73.
During that calypso information session on New Year’s Eve (2005) I gave Cauldric a taste of my calypso material of the late 1950s and early 1960s with much focus on my 1958 winner – a double entrendre composition “The Maiden Journey” and my 1962 bomb in social commentary entitled “Bacchanal in the World”.
I did not forget to mention my dual role as a teacher-calypsonian in the town of Barrouallie where I spend a 6-year period working as a Qualified Assistant Teacher in the Barrouallie Anglican School. During the last two years of my “bagga exile” I had composed and sung about 40 calypsos (including ex tempore material) for the community in the shops, in the highways and by-ways. My only backup music was played on an acoustic guitar by a big fisherman named Archibald Francis, occasionally supported by the faithful Wellington Williams and the singing of twins Tan and Dan doing background vocals. A kaiso disciple named Alban Martin, keen on learning the art of kaiso, also formed part of the troupe.
Also during our Old Year’s Day meeting at my home, Cauldric Forbes and I briefly recounted our dance band experiences in the 1960s and part of the 1970s. I had been a member of the Blue Rhythm Orchestra led by Syl McIntosh 1957-64. I took over leadership of the band from 1964 to 1969, after Syl had migrated to Canada. I t was out of that Blue rhythm situation that I developed as a songwriter and musical arranger and began experimenting in arranging music for calypsonians.
Forbes had been a member of the Latinaires Orchestra which operated with some distinction from 1967-1974. The band was led by Kerwyn Morris who, on his return to St. Vincent in 1967 as a graduate of the Sir George Williams University in Canada, was eager to make some input on the musical entertainment scene.

Forbes was well-known for his versatility as a vocalist in the band whose composition was similar to that of Blue Rhythm. During the years 1967 and 1968 there was a constant friendly musical rivalry between the two bands which were generally regarded as two separate, distinct musical institutions on the entertainment scene. Both bands had contributed much to the development of popular music in the Caribbean which of course includes calypso and its variants.

More detailed information may be obtained from my many newspaper articles in The News from the 1993 period. Much has been written about the calypso bards of the 1970s such as Sheller, Toiler, Becket, Hawke, Age, Exposer, Lifeboy, Sunblaze, Samaritan, Professor, Virgo, Messenger, Reality, Scakes, Gringo, Dread Condition (now Groovy Dreddy), Blakie. Some of these are still functioning as calypson artists. Others have gone on to greater or lesser things, while yet others have passed to the Great Beyond.
Let us wish Cauldric all the best in his attempt at writing a book on Vincy Calypso history – “Calypso Stories”.

So when is the book coming out?

Bump

I am WONDERING about the current STATUS of this BOOK by CAULDRIC