It should be named after Stalin not Popo

SAN FERNANDO Mayor Junia Regrello said if he had his way, the auditorium of the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts (SAPA) would not have been named in honour of late chutney legend Sundar Popo, but rather, calypso veteran Leroy “Black Stalin” Calliste.

Regrello made the statement on Monday night during a steelband concert titled Hello, This is the Year For Love, put on jointly by steelbands CAL Skiffle Steel Orchestra and BP Renegades. September 24, Republic Day, also marked the 77th birthday of Calliste and the two bands incorporated his music in their repertoire.

Calypsonian Ainsley ‘El Drago’ Mayers also joined Skiffle on stage to perform Black Man Feeling to Party as a birthday tribute to Calliste who viewed a ‘live’ stream of the concert.

The captains of the two bands, Candace Andrews-Brumant of Renegades and Brandon Babb and Joshua Regrello of Skiffle, also presented Stalin’s wife Patsy Calliste with a framed painting of Calliste as a token of their appreciation while First Citizen’s Bank’s head of Brand and Marketing Manager Larry Olton, made a financial contribution to the Calliste family.

Regrello said while Sundar Popo was a pioneer and icon, he was not San Fernandian. He said when SAPA, which he said is really NAPA South, was being built, he was the MP for San Fernando West at the time. Regrello said he made the recommendation that the main auditorium should be named in honour of Black Stalin , a San Fernandian in commemoration of his contribution to culture. However, by the time the facility was opened, governments had changed and the People’s Partnership government which was in power at the time, named the auditorium after Popo.

Olton in presenting the cheque to Patsy Calliste, said it was with a profound sense of pride and respect on the 42nd anniversary of Republic Day and Stalin’s birthday, the bank was recognising his contribution to the social development of TT, the wider Caribbean and across the diaspora of Caribbean people worldwide.