Shadow to be remembered at Little Carib Theatre

The Little Carib Theatre continues its celebration of icons and their musical children, with the show, A Bassman in Meh Head, featuring the music of Shadow, performed by his son Sharlan “Dread Wizard” Bailey. Shadow's 12-year-old granddaughter Innesha Bailey will also perform and Mistah Shak will make a guest appearance.

The show will be held on July 16 from 6 pm and will be hosted by actress Cecilia Salazar.

Considered a calypso legend and an icon in Caribbean music, Shadow (Winston Bailey) was born in 1941 and died at 77 in 2018, following complications from a stroke. Born in Belmont, Shadow grew up with his grandparents in Les Coteaux, Tobago, a village much associated with the African spiritualism colloquially referred to as obeah, the influence of which could be heard in his music, a media release said.

In a five-decade career during which he made more than a dozen albums and ran his own Master’s Den calypso tent, his arsenal of hits include Tension, a statement on alleged corruption in the soca business; Poverty Is Hell; and Bassman, the song that brought him to widespread national and international attention and won him the 1974 Road March title. Shadow would go on to win the Calypso Monarch in 2000 with What's Wrong With Me and Scratch Meh Back and the Road March in 2001 with Stranger.

He is a recipient of many awards throughout the Caribbean and its diaspora. He was awarded The Hummingbird Medal for his contribution to the arts in 2003. Shadow died shortly before he was due to receive an honorary degree from the University of the West Indies, which was then conferred posthumously.

Asked how his father would have felt about this tribute, Sharlan said, “I think he would have felt pleased and honoured. The whole mission was about the music, reaching people and connecting with them in a positive way. I can see him reflecting on his career, because his mission wasn’t just making good music, but good calypso music. To see a taste of some of his works celebrated in a tribute show makes me think that ‘pleased and honoured’ would be the right adjectives to describe how he would have felt.”

Tickets are available at the Little Carib Theatre box office, corner White and Roberts Street, Woodbrook.