August is here and it is high time to present the second part of DJ Philippe Noël’s wonderful mix of old time Trinidadian favourites. All scorching instrumentals this time. Kicking off with Norman Tex Williams, Continue Reading →
What’s in a name? Would that which I call calypso by any other name sound as sweet? Sure. But these days, Juliet, the problem is the reverse. If my eye ever spots a poster on Continue Reading →
For once, the AI algorithms suggesting clips in the side column on YouTube turned up something of value—in fact, something almost invaluable. It’s certainly not every day that you find a calypso performance from 1948 Continue Reading →
Trinidadian expat Martin Albino’s career in music spans an impressive seven decades—and it’s by no means over yet. At 76 he keeps himself regularly busy with the steel pan: playing it, recording it and teaching Continue Reading →
This time we’ll listen to Mighty Spoiler’s take on the old joke about the blind, the deaf and the naked man who all claim a dropped coin as their own, employing blatantly self-contradictory reasoning to Continue Reading →
This modern music’s got me confused To tell you, friends, I’m quite unenthused … Be-ah-ba-do-la, beep-bleep Blee-oo-blee-oo-blee-oo-blee Jam-jilly-a-bah Oo-pah-pa-diddle-oom-ah-ah George Browne, 1953 In the late 1940s bebop was enrapturing the jazz world. It was Continue Reading →
Duke of Alias, Lord Sobriquet, Mighty Moniker—some meta-jokey pseudonyms are still up for grabs if you want to embark on a calypso career. But the truly cool ones have all been taken. Or have they? Continue Reading →
This article was first published on excavatedshellac.com Theophilus Phillip was born March 23, 1926 in Princes Town, Trinidad, which was then under British colonial rule. He’s said to have been a clever boy and was Continue Reading →
Some people have asked me to post more musical examples of calypso music on the blog. So I entered my calypso kitchen, rummaged the shelves and cupboards and put what I found in the cauldron. Continue Reading →
I have often mourned the absence of calypso on the radio, on the DJ decks in the clubs and in the general consciousness of music-loving people. I have thought to myself, “Now here’s some great Continue Reading →
