Sparrow and Aaron Duncan's Legacy

Slinger “Mighty Sparrow” Francisco and Aaron Duncan have teamed up to create Legacy, a new single by the duo and Sparrow’s first in years.

The song, a blend of calypso and soca, aims to introduce a younger generation to the beauty of calypso. It will be released today.

Duncan said he contacted Sparrow in April, but it was something he had wanted to do since 2017. It was also important to him to release the song during Calypso History Month, observed in October.

For Duncan, the reasons were manifold, including helping to draw the interest of younger generations to calypso.

Asked if younger people were receptive to calypso, he said, “I don’t think people of my generation understand how important the calypso is to them.”

He added that this might be the fault of older generations, and thinks more needs to be done to teach calypso in primary and secondary schools.

“The youth are drifting from their culture because we are not pushing it as we should. I think the most I could do is try my best with my voice and my following to show them this is still relevant and still important,” he added.

It was also Duncan’s dream to work with Sparrow. Now 19, he first met Sparrow, 87, when he was six and first performed with him in 2012.

After contacting Sparrow in April, he wrote the song and sent it to him, and was so passionate about the project that he bought a plane ticket and flew to New York to shoot the video with the calypso legend. Understanding the singer’s health constraints, Duncan brought the studio to Sparrow’s New York home.

Duncan wants to ensure the song is viewed and heard by as many people as possible, so it will be widely available, particularly on streaming platforms. This is one way he hopes to drive interest in the song and genre. He said calypso is not as widely available on streaming platforms as soca.

The song is three minutes and 30 seconds long, which Duncan hopes will make it more appealing to a more youthful audience, some calypsoes, he said, were long and difficult to remember. He thinks they need to be shorter now.

He explained that the song describes their respective legacies in calypso.

Sparrow decided to work with Duncan because “he was always making some sort of overtures in the media and I think he was fit for doing something good.

“I like to see him perform,” Sparrow said with a deep laugh in a phone interview. He said Duncan reminded him of himself “400 years ago.”

Sparrow said the song was nice and was not a traditional calypso. He too thinks it has what it takes to attract a more youthful audience to calypso. That was why he said ''yes'' to Duncan.

He said recording the song was fairly easy.

“He did his thing and he sent it to me. I listened to it and put my stuff in it. It was a working pleasure.”

Duncan said he was close to crying when he saw Sparrow record it, as that had been a dream of his for years.

Sparrow said Duncan was a “great youngster” and added that one day he and Duncan would have to come up with a true "bacchanal calypso."

Sparrow was baptised last month in New York in the Seventh-Day Adventist faith.

Asked if he would still do a “bacchanal song” even though he had been baptised, Sparrow said one of his songs spoke to that.

“I used to be a sinner. Is used to be. When was time for sleeping, I was somewhere creeping, wallowing in sin, But no more," Sparrow said, quoting the lyrics from the song I Used to Be a Sinner, released in 2003.

“People will say he don’t sing this and don’t sing that. I can guarantee, for those concerned, I am not going to do anything that is not fitting to the situation,” he said. “I used to be a lot of things, you know.”

Asked if there were going to be more collaborations, Sparrow said, “Sounds like it might happen, but you have to ask Aaron.”

Duncan said the joint recording was one of the greatest experiences of his life and if he could repeat it, he would.

Sparrow said people can look forward to hearing more music from him.

“I would like to say the supreme, serenading calypso king of the world, the Mighty Sparrow, is ready for action.”

He is hoping to be in Trinidad and Tobago for next year’s Carnival, God willing and depending on the state of his health.

“Contrary to certain statements and so on, the bird with the word is still here with us, ready for action,” he declared.

Duncan hopes one day to perform the song alongside Sparrow.