Bacchanal calypso tent opens on Saturday in Delaford

THE BACCHANAL Calypso Tent launches its 2024 season at the Delaford Community Centre, Tobago, on Saturday from 7pm.

The tent, which was established in 1985, boasts of having a dynamic cast, comprising Mackey, Mr Brown, Harro, Bushy, Hannibal, Unjust, Lady, Shi’vel, among others.

As its name suggests, patrons can expect a variety of bacchanal offerings, along with humorous ditties and thought-provoking social commentaries.

PRO Walter Coppin told Newsday the tent has also invited some of its cultural stakeholders to perform during its opening night.

They include the Tobago Drama Guild, led by Tabithi; Lady IB, leader of the Entertainers’ calypso tent; Rheon Elbourne; and several other Trinidad-based artistes.

Coppin said the show features a ballroom dancing segment, led by Anthony James, whom he described as an excellent exponent of the artform.

The event is also expected to feature an appearance by the nine finalists in the Miss Tobago pageant, scheduled to take place on March 3 at the Shaw Park Cultural Complex.

He said the tent has survived despite its challenges over the years.

“We don’t get funding from TUCO (Trinbago Unified Calypsonians’ Organisation). We have had to make our own money. But we are appealing to the authorities this year to support our venture. We not in the business of begging, but we say we are creating a product.”

Towards this end, Coppin said the tent has invited the Tobago East Chamber of Commerce to participate in the venture by hosting a night market at the show.

“The chamber has a proliferation of businesses and they would support us with a night market. So people could come around and support us in that night market and make something happen in the Delaford district in this Carnival, cultural festive season.”

Noting that Bacchanal is the only tent that is based in east Tobago, Croppin said there are no immediate plans to shift its location.

“The area is a kind of low economic district and an almost forgotten part of Tobago. Everything happens in the western side of Tobago.

“But we have opted to do the show in the country(side) because this is more like a community event and we want to encourage life in the eastern part of the island.

“If you look at Delaford from an aesthetic point of view, it is a dark place with a slow kind of social environment. So what we are trying to do is make sure we have activities in the east.”

He said the tent also plans to host shows in Charlotteville, L’Anse Fourmi, Speyside, Castara and other far-flung communities during the season.

Croppin said since its inception, the performers at Bacchanal Calypso Tent have always been accompanied by the Aquarians Brass at the band’s base on Louis D’or Local Road, Delaford.

But he said within recent times, the band, which is still regarded as the pride of the east, is “somewhat on a slide because some of the men are getting older.

“So we have initiated the Windward School of Music out of that forum to train young artistes and on the night of the show we are going to highlight some of its achievements there also.”

Coppin said the Bacchanal tent’s shows were held initially at the Delaford Anglican School, which was the go-to venue for dances when there were limited recreational spaces in Tobago.

He said over the years the cast has held its own against many of the heavyweights in the artform.

“We have produced people like the late Calypso Prince (Henson Wright), a three-time Tobago monarch, who died in 2019, Shurwayne Winchester and a whole heap of other artistes have passed through our tent over the period of time.

“Most of our people have either won the Tobago monarch and Young Kings titles or they have been to Skinner Park (for Calypso Fiesta) multiple times.”

Coppin said there is a “clash of ideas” in relation to the October carnival in Tobago and the national festival.

“There is a dichotomy. So what we are trying to do this year is to highlight the fact that carnival is not just about the government authorities saying we will fund this or that.

“If you study carnival studies in the University of Trinidad and Tobago for example, you would realise that this is an academic concern – that carnival is about a tradition that came from slavery, post-colonialism and it defies some of the factors of neo-colonialism. So it is an artistic expression.

“In the Tobago scenario, we are trying to maintain the idea of one national carnival but we also appreciate the fact that we have a Tobago carnival, which gives our artistes much more expression. So this is the dichotomy that we are caught in.”

Nevertheless, Coppin, one of the tent’s headliners, believes the future of calypso in Tobago is in good hands.

He said the current crop of young calypsonians can emulate the work of several of the island’s veterans, including Calypso Rose (Mc Cartha Sandy-Lewis) and Shadow (Winston Bailey).

“Tobago has produced some of the best calypsonians historically. We could go from the 1930s to the 40s right up to the present day. Just name it.”Coppin added Tobago, owing to its folkoric moorings, has produced a unique oral tradition that has impacted significantly the national and international stage.

He believes calypso will never die.

“It is African praise in song. Out of calypso came soca and reggae. Without calypso you would not have Bob Marley today. It would not have Harry Belafonte (American calypsonian).

“So we cannot look at calypso as some kind of small thing that fellas in a rum shop just kind of sing. We have to look at kaiso for what it was.”