Happy is 2018 Heritage Calypso Monarch

Giselle Fraser Washington performs at the 2018 Tobago Heritage Calypso Monarch competition at the Plymouth Hard Court on Friday. She placed second in the competition. Photos by David Reid
Giselle Fraser Washington performs at the 2018 Tobago Heritage Calypso Monarch competition at the Plymouth Hard Court on Friday. She placed second in the competition. Photos by David Reid

Gilbert O’Connor, 60, who goes by the sobriquet ‘Happy’ in the calypso world, is the 2018 Tobago Heritage Calypso Monarch.

His rendition of Murder in de Market took a look back at Scarborough first market, located up Burnett Street now the site of James Park, its move to downtown on Wilson Road next to Market Square, and now to temporary facilities at Shaw Park, all in the context of Tobago now importing most of its food, and likened to murder.

O’Connor told Newsday Tobago he never expected to win the competition but expected to entertain the audience and deliver a piece of his art last Friday evening at the Plymouth Hard Court.

“I thought it was a nice opportunity to capture that piece of history of the movement of the market and also Tobago moving towards being a huge importer of food. I saw this as a wonderful storytelling opportunity, so I captured it, capitalised on that idea and brought it forward,” he said.

“I linked the development of the market to a physical murder because of what we suffer these days in the market having to deal with importation, poor customer service from vendors, the weight you get for your money after you buy a certain quantity at the market, then when you get home and you weigh it, you are always short and sometimes you are over charged.

“These play a major role in the death of the Tobago market, not the inter-island transportation service but the mentality and changing culture.”

Gilbert O’Connor (Happy) performs his rendition, Murder in the Market at the 2018 Tobago Heritage Calypso Monarch competition at the Plymouth Hard Court on Friday night.

O’Connor said in the past, the market place was a community and customer service played a major role in its survival.

He said he took less than seven days to compose and edit his now winning song.

"A lot this this would have been from my personal memories, so it was just a matter of shaping it into the storytelling mode to present in the best way I can,” he said.

O’Connor, 60, a husband of 37 years and father to a 37-year-old son first entered the calypso arena in 1979, winning the Tobago Internal Self Governance Calypso Monarch title that year, and going on to win the Tobago Calypso Monarch title on four occasions.

A teacher by training and practice for some years, he eventually moved to working with the Division of Culture, the Division of Community Development and with the Festival Commission before retiring.

He said he never entered the Tobago Heritage Festival Calypso Monarch competition before because of conflict of interest.

He said for him entering calypso competitions has never been about capturing a title but to share his talent and ability. He said Tobago would be seeing a lot more of him as he now focuses of spending his retirement days on creating new calypsos.

“Expect happy calypsoes with a powerful story which I hope will have a great impact on the Tobago calypso arena,” he said as he advised aspiring calypsonians that the art was not a “part time love affair” but a love that can only be generated from deep inside through uniqueness and creativity.

Comments

"Happy is 2018 Heritage Calypso Monarch"

More in this section