Gypsy: Extempo keeps me young

AT 71, Winston “Gypsy” Peters credits the extempo calypso art form with keeping his brain nimble.

He was speaking to Newsday on Thursday after beating a field of eight rivals, most of whom were a few decades younger than him, to win the 2024 extempo crown.

The finals took place on Wednesday night at Kaiso House, Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain, before a small but enthusiastic audience which including President Christine Kangaloo and her husband Kerwin Garcia.

Newsday asked how he felt having won. “Well, I feel good. I feel good. But this is the 14th time I am winning that, you know.”

Asked how he kept his brain so energised to be the best at extempo, he replied, “Well, doing this kind of thing keeps your brain energised.”

He confirmed his age. “I am 71 years old, yes.

“I feel very good. I just know I am 71.

“I don’t feel any different, to all I am accustomed feeling.”

Newsday asked to expect on Sunday when he competes for the National Calypso Monarch title at the Dimanche Gras show.

“Well, on Sunday I will just go and do a performance like I am accustomed doing. This is the thirtieth-something time I am going there.

“The only person who went there more than me is Chalkdust.”

Newsday asked about his controversial song, Ungrateful, in which he chides an errant young man who is abusive to his mother, and whether he expects to add any new verse to conclude the story he is telling, such as the youngster getting his comeuppance or finding the Lord. He had said the song is based on a real-life scenario. Peters replied, “In time God is going to give it to him. God is going to give him his just dues.

“That is why I said, ‘Let him await his retribution, That ungrateful son of a bitch.’ That is exactly where it is going to lead.”

Peters said the real-life character on whom the song was based would ultimately face divine retribution.

“This is a serious story, you know.

“This story is about a real person and a real person that all of Trinidad and Tobago knows, unfortunately, who suffers in silence at the hands of her son.”

He said he had written the song but had masked the names of the mother and son, as he was supposed to do.

“But this is a real person, going through real trouble, with a real son. That is what is happening here now.

“The unfortunate thing is it is a real person that all of Trinidad knows and if Trinidad and Tobago knew exactly whom I am singing about, I think the song might have had even more significance.

“Some people think it is just a trivial song and that I am trying to curse and use some obscene language or some kind of craziness, but nothing could be further from the truth. It is a serious song.”

Newsday asked if he would add a new verse on Sunday, but he said no. “There is no need for a new verse. I am saying exactly what needs to be said in the song.”

Again saying no addition was needed, he quipped that any new verse might have meant him having to start calling the names of the relevant individuals.

“This is a serious song with serious implications for a real person that has done and given so much to Trinidad and Tobago and today is suffering that kind of abuse at the hands of her own son. It is a very, very serious song. It is more serious than most people will ever know. I am just sorry I can’t call the name.”

Newsday asked his reply to his critics, some disliking his song’s refrain (“your mother can’t”) and some saying he should not compete as he is National Carnival Commission (NCC) chairman.

Peters replied, “I have nothing to say about that. People are free to say whatever they want. That is what democracy is all about. It extends to everybody, including me.

“They have a democratic right to say what they want and I have a democratic right to say and do whatever I want as well, as long as I am within the law.”

Peters said he was used to being talked about by people.

He quipped, “The day people stop talking about you, that is when you become insignificant.

“It means I am a significant person and that is why they talk about me, so let them go ahead.”

Looking ahead to Sunday, he declared, “I am going to do my work, I am going to sing my song, I am going to do what I have to.”