Tag Archives: Calypso

Business, Carnival, Entertainment, General T&T, Music, Politics

Death of calypso tents

2 Comments

By Raffique Shah
January 30, 2018

Raffique ShahThey looked pathetic, three of the leading calypsonians in the country—Chalkdust, Sugar Aloes and Pink Panther—as they begged the Government for a “mere half-a-million-dollars” to operate the Calypso Revue tent over the three-week Carnival season. Admitting that they had already received $100,000 funding that was woefully inadequate, the top bards invoked the name, memory and legacy of the great Lord Kitchener, who founded the Revue 55 years ago. For Kitchener’s sake, they pleaded, grant us the half-a-mil.
Continue reading Death of calypso tents →

Carnival, General T&T, PNM, Politics

Funding culture vultures

4 Comments

By Raffique Shah
January 11, 2018

Raffique ShahThe Government missed a good opportunity to impress upon the population the gravity of the country’s economic circumstances, and consequently the dire need for all segments of society to make sacrifices on the expenditure side of the equation, when it capitulated by doling out millions of taxpayers’ dollars to fund private promoters whose sole interest in Carnival is to profit off it.
Continue reading Funding culture vultures →

Entertainment, General T&T, Music

Interlude with Rudder and Tanker

1 Comment

By Raffique Shah
January 02, 2018

Raffique ShahSerendipity often steals upon you in strange ways. I was about to shut down my computer last Wednesday night when, in my e-mail inbox, I saw a post by Lasana Liburd alerting me to a video interview he had conducted with David Rudder. I respect Liburd for maintaining high standards on his Wired868 blog, and for me, Rudder is a peerless trailblazer who attempted to usher in a new era in calypso music in 1986.
Continue reading Interlude with Rudder and Tanker →

Culture, General T&T

Taking calypso to the next level

5 Comments

By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
October 26, 2015

Dr. Kwame NantambuAs the Trinidad/Tobago United Calypsonians Association (TUCO) is currently celebrating “Calypso History Month”, it became supremely imperative for this writer, albeit lover of the calypso art form, to pen a few thoughts about the need to take the art form of calypso to the next ultimate international level.

Now, for the past umpteen decades and counting, the calypso genre has been posited within the local myopic confines of the Ministry of Arts and Culture.
Continue reading Taking calypso to the next level →

Culture, General T&T

Kaiso, boy!

7 Comments

By Raffique Shah
February 15, 2015

Raffique ShahI waited patiently for Calypso Fiesta, the Mother of all Calypso shows, which featured 41 of the top calypsonians for this year. I did not trust the 20-plus radio stations in the country since those that feature local music kill us with pumping, jarring noises accompanied by voices that all sound hoarse as if the artistes are stricken with sore throats, that they tell me is soca.
Continue reading Kaiso, boy! →

Entertainment, General T&T, Media, Music

Bunji Garlin and Fay Ann Lyons on 106 & Park

2 Comments


Bunji rocks ‘106 and Park’

By Leiselle Maraj
May 02 2014 – newsday.co.tt

Host of BET’s 106 and Park, Bow Wow (Shad Moss), did his research before interviewing local artiste, Bunji Garlin, and his wife, Fay-Ann, on the show’s episode that aired yesterday, questioning the two about their boycott of the recently concluded Tobago Jazz Experience.
Continue reading Bunji Garlin and Fay Ann Lyons on 106 & Park →

Complaints, Culture, Gender, General T&T, Religion, Sex

Feast of the flesh

4 Comments

By Raffique Shah
March 09, 2014

Raffique ShahThat Trinidad Carnival is today mostly a feast of the flesh in its most carnal manifestation should surprise no one. We have worked very hard, over decades, to get here. Now that we have reached the pinnacle—a sea of near-naked bodies gyrating and simulating sex acts that put the Kama Sutra to pale—we should rejoice.
Continue reading Feast of the flesh →

Culture, Entertainment, General T&T, Music, People's Partnership

Sparrow alive, calypso dead

2 Comments

By Raffique Shah
February 23, 2014

Raffique ShahThe Mighty Sparrow’s resurrection from a coma seems to have awakened many a dead, although the miracle I hoped for most, breathing new life into calypso, appears to be beyond the Birdie’s prowess.

Ever since calypso’s most iconic practitioner fell gravely ill, no pun intended, I assumed that the Government had quietly funded his medical expenses. After all, here’s the world’s greatest calypsonian in his winter years encountering not-unexpected health challenges, and his country, the land of calypso that he helped brand, enjoying a healthy economy, so much so that the authorities award millions of dollars every year to artistes of relative Lilliputian stature, you would think….
Continue reading Sparrow alive, calypso dead →