Calypso Awakening, and: Lord Invader: Calypso in New York (review)
2003; University of Texas Press; Volume: 24; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/lat.2003.0007
ISSN1536-0199
Autores Tópico(s)Music History and Culture
ResumoThese collections of recordings from the 1940s and 1950s are culled from two different Folkways collections. Calypso Awakening, compiled and annotated by Kenneth Bilby and Keith Warner, consists of recordings made in Trinidad by Emory Cook between 1956 and 1959, many of them live performances in calypso tents. At the heart of the collection are a group of songs by Lord Melody and the Mighty Sparrow, and one of the pleasures of this compact disc is the repartée, or picong as they call it in Trinidad, between these legendary rivals. Not only do they respond to one another's insults in separately recorded songs (e.g., Melody's "Cowboy Sparrow" or Sparrow's "Reply to Melody"), but the compact disc includes a marvelous recording of an improvised picong duel between the two, performed for a live audience. Another recording of note here is the live version of Sparrow's "Jean and Dinah" (or "Yankees Gone," as it is titled on the compact disc) from the 1956 Calypso King competition, a performance that marked the beginning of Sparrow's fame and dominance as a calypsonian. Besides ten tracks by Melody and Sparrow (out of twenty-one), the compact disc [End Page 161] includes delightful calypsoes by Small Island Pride, Commander, King Fighter, and Wrangler, and is also important for two rare recordings of live carnival dance music: The John Buddy Williams brass band playing riffs over what Trinidadians called the "syncopation" chord progression (what jazz musicians know as rhythm changes), and an unnamed steelband playing Sparrow's "Jean and Dinah" on the road, both performances complete with singing and shouting revelers. Due to its exceptional audio quality and tasteful song selection, this compact disc is not only an important cultural document but a great listen as well.
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