calypso (trinidad)

it had to happen at some point in proceedings
thought it would have happened sooner actually
but in that sense i have been pleasantly surprised
every rhythm encountered in this 1 to 50 countthrough
has had a number of suitable and good quality clips on youtube
so a relatively quick exercise to pick one and link it in as an example
but today has seen a number of hours spent trying to uncover one for calypso
seen some very interesting stuff along the way
mostly confirming this resource by nature
can be all over the place
my theory is that the pure form of calypso
was born in the poorer parts of trinidad in an otherwise dull decade
before the advent of cheap film recording equipment
and definitely not in the hands of the fans of calypso
there's plenty of examples of calypso's descendent called soca
modernised, synthesized, homogenised? (the word fits)
and only a couple of listenable and watchable clips of the original
the one below is by the original hero of calypso lord kitchener
who apparantly took the sound to london in the 1950's
this clip was recorded in 1999 so he's been doing it for a long time
sorry about the quality (and the sponsor)
here's what songlines had to say
(8 of 50)

late 19th century african work songs co-parented calypso
and the earliest recordings (1914) feature tambour-bamboo drums with acoustic guitars
by the 40's, tuned steel drums (pans) carried the lightly syncopated springy rhythms
which support the calypsonians' improvised poetry
patois, slang and double entendre satires of topical subjects
(political scandals to cricket)
are wielded in the annual carnivale calypso monarch contests
calypso reached post-war london via lord kitchener and friends
and 50's superstar mighty sparrow was overshadowed
by harry belafonte's diluted million-seller 'calypso' in 1956
by the 80's, calypso was displaced by the soul/calypso fusion, soca