“The fact is that almost all the calypsoes that are deemed sexist are calypsoes which, in one way or another, express the power of women over men. Growling Tiger’s “Money is King” (1935) says: ‘If you have money and things going nice/Any woman will call you honey and spice/If you …
Read More »Dear Editor: Authoritarian or authoritative? Are calypsoes more poetry than reliable history?
“Sparrow literally put words in Dr Williams’ mouth to great effect. “Since Dr Bird—thankfully!—is still alive, I am sure that he would be eager to tell journalists/researchers what statements in his calypso ‘Get to hell outta here’ and, for that matter, his other calypsoes were historically accurate and where he simply used …
Read More »Is Greatest Show on Earth not far from finished? Best’s 2017 Carnival post-mortem
A litany of whoa! But we jamming still! Bacchanal, synonym of and the default rhyme for Carnival, has been part and parcel of the national festival for donkey’s years and controversy and comess have been its consistent companions. But this year was ‘diss’ year; everywhere you looked in 2017, it was disaffection, …
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