When politics and calypso collide

Culture Matters

The Government food distribution

Has reached a scandalous situation

If they just give me authority

I’d settle this matter immediately...

And then I’d appoint a board

What to do?

To control the Control Board.

– Calypsonian Executor

I REMEMBER talking with my grandmother about food rations during the Second World War. It would seem that even distribution of much-needed food supplies was seen as an opportunity by the colonial government to favour one group of people over another.

The first calypso was recorded in 1914, so by the time war broke out in 1939, the genre was already well entrenched as an important voice of the people, or newspaper of the poor, as it was called. When it was suspected that the allocations favoured the elites over poorer members of society, calypsonians wasted no time exposing the corrupt practices through their caustic lyrics.

Apart from Executor, calypsonians Radio and Atilla also sang about the unfair practices of the Control Board.

“Complaints by the public...about the corruption practised by board members caused the acting Governor Andrew Wright to appoint a commission during the war to investigate. The commission found that part of Atilla’s claim was indeed true.”

Watching the recent flare-ups in Parliament, I thought of the old-time calypsonians like Tiger, Executor and Atilla. I wondered what they would think about the performances in the chamber. Importantly, Prof Liverpool notes that the Theatres and Dance Halls Ordinance of 1934 was used to censor calypso from 1935-1950.

Atilla, who won a seat on the Port of Spain City Council and eventually became deputy mayor, used his influence to achieve an amendment of the bill in 1951. The changes helped to reduce the targeting and even imprisonment of calypsonians for singing about the conduct of people in authority.

Even if the law had not been amended, I don’t think that would have forced calypsonians with names like Destroyer, Lion and Viper to stay silent. Atilla the Hun’s Treasury Scandal dealt with a topic common in the 21st century – missing funds from the treasury: “In the books of the Treasury something went wrong/200,000 could not be found/and every clerk say it ent they fault/so it must be a spirit what open the vault.”

Apart from their determination to bring about social justice through calypso activism, the very nature of the music demanded a level of irreverence to authority.

It has been shown that calypso is rooted in the storytelling tradition of the griots or gawlo of West Africa. Griots were feared and respected, even by royalty. When the tradition was brought to our country through enslavement, its potent nature survived. Often, patois spoken by the ordinary members of the community was used to mask the true meaning of the songs.

It may be argued that after 1962, the focus of calypsonians on the behaviour of politicians intensified. The 1979 Kicksin’ in Parliament by Explainer still resonates: “Food stock have a shortage daily/Business places burning in the city/Before they watch these things seriously/They only think it’s a comedy/...Whilst they having a good time/We ketching we royal behind/...Whilst the Speaker speaking, in Parliament they kicksin’/They kicksin’ kicksin’ all the time/They blowing everybody mind.”

And today, the phrase “ah ’fraid Karl” from Mighty Chalkdust’s brilliant 1972 political satire is still used to reference politicians who flaunt their power: “Doh ask me, ah ’fraid Karl, ah ’fraid Karl/ They say government pass the Divorce Bill so that Eric could get his own at will/But I keeping out of that, ah ’fraid the Sedition Act.”

In other parts of the world, people are marching for good governance. Violent pro-democracy agitation in Hong Kong, anti-corruption protests in Lebanon, and for the sixth week, Haitians blow their vuvuzelas as they demand an end to the current administration. At home, we write, dance and portray pain through our art forms. Mighty Duke described calypso as “...an editorial in song from the life that we undergo/ that and only that I know/ is true calypso.”

But is it enough? Brother Valentino’s powerful Life is a Stage lamented the constant playacting: “So this honourable this/And this honourable that/Is a part all them people playing/...The acting is greater than on Broadway.”

In 2019, we are still grappling with the issues addressed by Atilla and the other bards of his day – inequality, crime, poor governance. I agree with Valentino that the “show must go on,” but I also say that it is time for the kicksin’ to stop. Ah not ’fraid.

Dara E Healy is a performance artist, communications specialist and founder of the NGO, the Indigenous Creative Arts Network – ICAN