Family, friends: 'Joker' Devine will be missed

He will be missed.

That was the prevailing sentiment at the funeral for Winsford “Joker” Cooper Devine at the Church of Nativity, Crystal Stream, Diego Martin, on Tuesday. He died on June 22 at the age of 77.

Daughter Allison said Devine's name was indelibly inscribed, not only in the history of TT but in Calypso’s Hall of Fame.

“He was born in Morne Diablo on August 15, 1943. The name “Joker” as he was fondly known was bestowed on him by his friend and mentor Mervyn Ross, who was known to the calypso world as Bullong.

"With music all around him, Joker noticed that the music was also within. As he grew, he realised that melodies and lyrics were exuding out of himself. It was Bullong who discovered and nurtured the unbridled and, at the time, untapped talents of Joker, as a tenor pan player and as a writer."

She said that "penmanship" blossomed into writing over 600 songs sung by the likes of Slinger Francisco, Machel, Baron, the Mighty Trini, Crazy, Singing Francine and others.

Devine was the father of eight and grandfather of nine.

“My dad’s passion was my mom Theresa and his music, he would spend hours and sometimes days alone when he was writing.

"Even in the days prior to his passing, when he could no longer use the computer to type his compositions, he would often ask one of his grandchildren to do it for him.

"He was a prolific writer, a loving husband, a great father and grandfather and will surely be missed by us.”

Calypsonian Edwin “Crazy” Ayoung used an acrostic to give his tribute to Devine. He said the W in Winsford stood for “wordsmith par excellence; I – icon of sweet TT; N – never grew weary of his golden pen; S – slew of songs to scintillate, educate, entertain and compliment “Philanthropy”; F – friend of arts and culture; O – oracle of knowledge and music; R - rare insight, producing gems like Progress (King Austin), Survival (Mighty Sparrow), Baron (Feeling It) and In Time to Come (Crazy); D- doyenne among calypso writers.

“J – Joker from Morne Diablo and Patna; O – out of the box, editorials in song; K – keeper of oral and written history; E – eternally loved by his wife Theresa, sons Eric, Mervyn, Anthony, Joel, and daughters Allison, April, and Roxanne; R – raise a toast to Joker’s writing prowess.

“D – divine Devine entered into his destiny; E – eloquent expressions from kaiso elites like Sparrow, Sugar Aloes, Mighty Trini, and Machel Montano; V – vernacular and dialect added rich Trini flavour; I – irreplaceable void in the cultural and academic landscape; N – never forget how we chanted the hooklines to The Price of Progress is Too High, Capitalism Gone Mad, and Sexy Marajhin; E – excellent shaper of lyrics and melodies for masters of the calypso artform.”

Deacon Derek Walcott, in giving his sermon, said there was something in Devine that enabled him to share with people what he thought of God through his gospelypso, God is Love.

“God is love, when dealing with mankind in this world, God is love. If God is love, despite all the tribulations you go through, God is Love, what is promised to us trust in me, go to prepare a place for you, when I’m done I will return. God has said, Joker I will prepare a place for you. Almighty God has taken him to be with him.”

Devine was buried at the Carenage public cemetery off School Street.