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Soul Jazz Records’ Calypso – Musical Poetry in the Caribbean was first issued in 2014 and has been out of print for nearly 10 years.
On its release ‘Calypso’ was voted one of the year’s best 50 reissues in Rolling Stone magazine and received glowing reviews in Pitchfork, The Guardian, Songlines and many more.
This new edition has been fully remastered and comes as a one-off limited-edition double vinyl pressing on translucent green vinyl complete with bespoke inners featuring extensive sleevenotes, notes on all the artists and songs featured, and original artwork and photography. The album is also available in a new card-edition CD package also with complete notes and text.
Featuring Lord Kitchener, The Mighty Viper, Count Zebra, Lord Flea, Lord Hummingbird, King Fighter, Lord Growler, Lord Byron, Lord Ivanhoe and other members of Calypso’s aristocracy and aristocrats, the album features the music of Calypso in its many styles.
Calypso is one of the most exciting and enduring forms of musical expression that first emerged atthe beginning of the 20th century - swinging, persuasive rhythms, brilliantly expressive melodies, and lyrics of great humour, wisdom and wit.
Here you will find music from Trinidad, birthplace of Calypso, other Caribbean islands including Jamaica and the Bahamas, as well as sounds from the style’s subsequent onwards journey including Britain, Panama and the United States.
Calypsonians songs play out a role in society similar to the storytelling Griots of West Africa (and the corresponding music of Kaiso); with their own tales about popular and incredible news items, modern life, local politics all mixed up with sexual innuendo, one-upmanship, comedy and more.
At its source, Calypso is intricately and inextricably bound to the social history of Trinidad and its myriad of traditions, beliefs, folklore and fables. As the music spread around the world, both from the diaspora of many of its performers, as well as its commercial success, the subjects of songs similarly took on local topics.
The most notable singer of Calypso in England was the Trinidadian Lord Kitchener, who came to Britain in 1948 on HMS Empire Windrush, along with fellow Calypsonians Lord Beginner and Lord Woodbine.
The songs here vividly capture the popular news stories and fashions of the era – ‘The First Man On The Moon’, James Bond’s ‘Pussy Galore’, ‘Bed Bugs’, ‘Voodoo’, ‘Love in Cemeteries’, as well as West Indians in England, Bossa Nova, the Iron Curtain, and the story of a white man who had a black heart transplant operation.
This album celebrates a criminally unsung and under-documented art form in the modern age.
Tracklist
1 Lord Cobra y Los Pana Afros - Man On The Moon
2 Young Growler - Pussy Galore
3 Lord Hummingbird - Teenage Bossa Nova Girl
4 Lord Byron & Orquesta Nueva Alegria - Yes Parssin
5 Cyril Diaz & His Orchestra - Voodoo
6 Lord Flea & His Calypsonians - Out De Fire
7 Brownie - The Bed Bug Song
8 Count Zebra and The Seasiders - Cat-O-Nine
9 Carlos Malcolm & His Afro Jamaican Rhythm - Elena
10 Azie Lawrence and The Carib Serenaders - West Indians I
11 Lord Cobra y Los Pana Afros - Negro Heart
12 Lord Kitchener - Love In The Cemetery
13 Charlie Binger & His Quartet - Jamaica Is The Place To
14 Mighty Dougla - Exchange No Robbery
15 Viper - Dog Better Than Man
16 Lord Kitchener - Jamaican Woman
17 JB Williams Band - Gee Bongo Lady
18 Lord Ivanhoe & His Caribbean Knights - Lift The Iron Cu
19 King Fighter - People Will Talk