The earliest calypsonians reign

Part II

SOMEWHERE between 1897 and 1900 Phillip Garcia, who sang under the sobriquet of Lord Executor, appeared on the calypso stage. The dates differ between calypsonian Atilla the Hun (Raymond Quevedo) and theatre historian Errol Hill, but most importantly, as calypso historian and ethnomusicologist Dr Hollis “Chalkdust” Liverpool writes in Calypsonians to Remember, Lord Executor revolutionised calypso by being the first calypsonians to sing in English.

Chalkdust says Executor also revolutionised calypso by “moving from a single tone and cemented the eight-line minor key that Atilla later described as the oratorical pattern in song.”

Chalkdust tells us Executor injected wit into calypso. For the first decade of the 20th century he won nearly every calypso contest.

He says, “Executor understood above all, the suffering of mothers who lived in a society where poverty among blacks and East Indians was the norm.” Atilla called Executor a humanist.

“Executor seemed to have had a great love for human beings and a disgust for human suffering,” says Chalkdust.

He sang social commentary and addressed the subject of murder. He was educated at St Mary’s College, and his lyrics were rich in vocabulary.

Liverpool says, “He knew poverty, sang of poverty and died in poverty in the early fifties at the house of refuge.”

Chieftain Walter Douglas is credited with organising the first calypso tent in 1921, “but what is perhaps even more important than that innovation is the fact that Douglas consolidated in a special way the swing to the major key in calypso and cemented the topic approach,” says Liverpool.

Railway Douglas’s appearance on the calypso scene Liverpool tells us, “threatened to overthrow the old regime of Inventor, Executor, Pharoah (sic) Norman LeBlanc and more.” Douglas, Modern Inventor and Executor ruled the day until Atilla emerged in 1926.

Calypsonians credit Railway Douglas with modernising the calypso tent. He even brought gas lamps to the tents. His innovations to music were notable but so was his ability to tell a story. Railway Douglas is credited with making calypso the voice of the people.

“Before Douglas, calypsonians engaged in a lot of vicious personal picong, attacking eachother’s reputation on stage. Douglas did not like this practice,” says Chalkdust.

“Because of his love for the art: because of his high ideals in terms of dress and general deportment; because of his good morals and respect for decent family life, Douglas strove throughout his career to live the calypso and succeed in carrying it to heights hitherto unknown.”

An interesting early calypso character to emerge on the scene in the 1920s was Patrick Jones, who sang as Chinee Patrick. In his Anthology of American Folk Music, Lance Ledbetter describes Chinee Patrick as a “pyrotechnician, political gadfly, human rights campaigner, anti-colonialist, Carnival band-leader and raconteur extraordinaire, an unsung master of calypso.”

He had Chinese roots and was well educated and involved in Chinese politics. Jones identified with the Trinidadian masses and felt they suffered some of the same economic hardships of Chinese peasants.

Chalkdust tells us that Wilmouth “Houdini” Hendricks “learnt from an early age the art of extemporaneous improvisation.” Houdini helped to popularise calypso in the US.

Much of the information we have about early calypsonians comes from Quevedo – Atilla the Hun – who documented the early history of calypso in his book A Short History of Trinidad Calypso, written in the 1950s.

Quevedo’s career began in 1911. As a chantuelle. The early chantuelles often sang in Carnival bands.

He sang with Chieftain Douglas and King Radio. His main contribution, Chalkdust says, is that he made calypso “more respected and admired.”

While many people saw calypso as “an art-form peculiar to the lower class, Atilla, through his education, through his occupations, through his intelligent lyrics and his behavioural pattern, raised the calypso to heights hitherto unknown,” Chalkdust says in his book. “He lifted the artform from the beauty of his lyrics.”

He entered politics in 1946 and won a seat on the Port of Spain City Council.

Egbert Moore, Lord Beginner, began as a chantuelle between 1920 and 1926 and represented south in many calypso competitions.

Together, these early calypsonians laid the foundation for calypso today.