My ‘Superior’ experience

THE EDITOR: Recently, in Mayaro, I happened to mention to my brother that I never knew that one of my favourite calypsonians came from Rio Claro, and so was our neighbour. My brother was very interested and was anxious to know who he was. I said, “Lord Superior.” That gave him a hearty laugh, being so surprised that I did not know that. He said, “He may have come from Rio Claro but for years, as a young man, he lived right here in Mayaro.” That was exciting news. I did not have to wonder, for long, as to why I never knew this because all this had taken place while I was abroad, which was from 1954 to 1970. I told my brother that one of the calypsoes I will never forget, and it was a calypso that brought Superior’s name to me, was That San Fernando Carnival. It was one of the most beautiful calypsoes I’ve ever heard. My brother, who is 93, knew that calypso, of course, for it was sung just about a decade ago. But my brother was more interested in recalling the adolescent Andrew Marcano, and acknowledged he was a little superior to most calypsonians. He described the exact Mayaro house that Andrew lived in and at one point he asked me, “About how old Superior is now?”

“Eighty,” I told him. I was sure about it for only about three weeks ago I had attended Superior’s 80th birthday party. My friend Earl Lovelace was at that party and in a speech he spoke so highly of Superior that I asked him how he came to know this fine calypsonian.

He said, “When I was working at Rio Claro. That was in the 1970s.” That capped it. The year might have been 1978 when I passed in to see Earl at his office in Rio Claro.

So I was telling a friend last week of my “Superior” experience and about the melodious and lyrical That San Fernando Carnival.

This friend said, “Supie was always sweet. It had another feller, you mightn’t know him. And he and Supie was friends. His name was Lord Zandolie?” No. I did not know that, but it had now come home to me.

MICHAEL ANTHONY via e-mail