The best bit of pre-carnival news to reach us is that the Honourable Chief Minister Osbourne Fleming was released from a Miami Hospital where he had undergone a successful kidney transplant operation and that he was doing fine. And all of us were glad to hear his voice, over Radio Anguilla, saying that his doctors had advised that they needed to keep him under observation for a month. After he had spoken, I said to myself that his voice sounded as powerful as it sounds when he is on his political campaigns and that he seems well on the way to a speedy and complete recovery.

We all know that Osbourne is anxious to get back to work and I got the impression, from his brief remarks over Radio Anguilla, that if the doctors did not tell him that they had to look at him for a month, he would have been on his way to Anguilla. One thing about him, he never allowed his health problem to keep him away from his official duties. During those months when he was receiving dialysis treatment, he worked late into the afternoon.
Our people’s prayers have been answered and we will soon have our Chief Minister back to continue doing the people’s work. I was just about to say he will miss the excitement of this year’s carnival, including wining to Panther’s tune, We jumping and waving, but then I quickly recall that he had returned to the fold of the Seventh-day Adventist Church some months ago. Before then, Osbourne loved a bad carnival and I can still see him wining – bogeying down – as his troupe, among others, paraded through the Valley, year after year. I doubt that we will have the pleasure of ever seeing him in a carnival troupe again because he takes his conversion seriously.
Right now, though, it is their carnival preparations which the majority of Anguillians are taking seriously. Carnival is upon us. I remember learning at Sunday School that, Advent tells us Christ is near, Christmas tells us Christ is here. Same way, calypsos tell us carnival is near. And calypsos tell us carnival is here. Like carols are to Christmas, calypsos are to carnival. We have been serenading carnival’s arrival for the past several weeks through calypso. I heard Mervin Saunders saying over one of the radio stations, the other day, that “calypso is the belly of carnival.” That’s true. There can be no carnival without calypso. Without calypso, carnival would be like a wake: a sad event. And it would be like Anguilla pea soup without corned-pork seasoning. It is calypso which gives carnival its seasoning – flavour. It is calypso which gives carnival its life. Its spirit.
I applaud the recent efforts of JeLeCour Productions towards uplifting the standard of calypsos and improving the quality of judging. The workshop, conducted by the Mighty Chalkdust (Chalkie), was most valuable. Its impact is very evident in this year’s calypsos. For example, the Mighty Gossip’s Spin the Ball was inspired by Chalkie who told him to produce good lyrics:

Spin dem balls, Gossip
Don’t bowl dem to too quick
When yer bowling dem, Gossip
Give dem balls a twist
Bowl dem from de back of de hand
Leg-break, googly and Chinaman.

Sunbeam’s Recipe was also a result of Chalkie’s inspiration. He sings that Chalkie gave him a few hints on how to hold on to his calypso crown:
He asked me quite pointedly
How did I plan to preserve de monarchy
When he realized that I had no clue
He said he’d tell me what to do
That was when King Chalkie
Gave me this recipe...

He said while good lyrics and melody are key
And while you should have good diction and clarity
It’s important to remember
In order to be a winner
You got to have an impact
De audience needs to react...
Try this and you will see
You could retain de monarchy...

Incidentally, I like the calypso war presently brewing between Repeater and Sunbeam. It’s good for the art form and could lead to improvements in standards. Repeater seems hell bent on ripping the crown off Sunbeam’s head. Up to this day his fans cannot understand how Sunbeam beat him because, for example:

They say it could never be in melody
Because Repeater you more sweeter than he.

Repeater is convinced that judges ganged up against him and is claiming:

...They change the points when they went back stage
And if you are in doubt
I got that from the horse’s mouth.

For the all of the foregoing reasons Repeater is on a mission to put out Sunbeam’s light and stop it from shining. Listen to him:

No sun ain’t goin shine tonight
This rain cloud goin out that light
No sun ain’t goin beam tonight
Tonight I goin out that light.

Sunbeam, on the other hand, is telling Repeater not one damn. That he can’t stop de sun from shining again. He sings:

...Ah don’t know why you think they robbed you last year
When it was clear
You were beaten fair and square
And why you believe you so mighty
That you could proclaim openly
No sun ain’ go shine again in this country

Chorus

Brother you can’t stop de sun from shining again
I feel your pain
But de fact remain
That you can’t stop de sun from shining again...

How the war will end is a matter for the judges on Wednesday night 9th August.

That aside, calypsos in Anguilla, over the years, have been mainly social and political commentary representative of the views of the grassroots – of the voiceless. Hotshot agrees. Calypso, he says, is the:

Voice of a people
[The] eyes of an eagle.

Indeed, calypsos are generally reflective of rumblings from below.

A few years ago some political commentaries attracted the wrath of the Government and Chief Minister Fleming went as far as to tell the House of Assembly that he was planning to enter the calypso competition to counter the accusations that some calypsonians were levelling against his Government. We were denied that pleasure of seeing him alongside Repeater, Splinter, Gossip, Springer, Hotshot, I Spy, Lord Anything, Splinter, Pontiques and others, because he has gone back to his church. These days he likes singing:
I have decided to follow Jesus
No turning back
No turning back.

And neither is our calypsonians turning back in their quest to highlight the many social issues with which our island is confronted. These include gang violence, the abuse of illegal drugs and many problems among our youth population. Springer in We Coming To Take Back Anguilla Land is sending a strong message to the rude boys:

Step aside leh we take back we country
No little punk with guns going to stop we...
Yes we come to tek back Anguilla land
We coming to tek back Anguilla land.

Springer still has bitter memories of serious acts of hooliganism last year:

Last Queen Show Night was a burning shame
Look how they mess up Anguilla’s good name
Local and visitors huddled together
Coming to enjoy a taste of our culture
And before the queens could finish up their show
Gunshots start blasting out like in the ghetto...

The Adjudicator, in A Paradise Lost, has expressed similar concerns:

...From tranquility wrapped in blue
We now find ourselves in a stew...
All around us crime and violence
Robbing us of our innocence
Our lovely paradise
Is no longer peaceful and nice.

Chorus

We face de danger
Of going under...
We losing de battle as well as de war...
Hitting rock bottom can’t be very far
In our relentless pursuit of progress
We have made a terrible mess
For not having counted de cost
We’re left to face a paradise lost.

Jah Fire is in agreement with the Adjudicator’s conclusion that our social problems as a consequence of putting too much emphasis on economic growth and too little on social development. In Social Neglect, he names himself Anguilla who went to a doctor who advised:

Boy you suffering from a grave condition
Social neglect
Goin be your death
Social hypertension and dehydration
Dem parasites sucking you dry
Your primary focus is the economy
But I warn you, you dying internally.

Repeater is saying that with Anguilla in such poor health it is incumbent on him to sing a serious song rather than sing for fun:

How can I sing for fun
When so much wrong things are going on
In this land good principles are an illusion
There has been a comprehensive breakdown of morals and integrity
As a result we cannot socialise publicly
Remember last for de local queen show
Bullets were flying like in Iraq
To me, singing for fun is only condoning that
So until de gunmen get conscious
And take people lives more serious
And stop changing this land to a cowboy town
Believe me I can’t sing for fun.

Still on social commentary. Sunbeam’ Letter From Dad shows parental concern over the negative behavioural traits of our young people:

Dear Son:
I crave your attention
As a concerned dad
My heart is so sad.
Yes Son
My own observation
Has revealed to me
There’s need to worry...

The letter went on:

When I see you smoking ganja
Imbibing liquor
I feel ashamed...
When I hear you curse your mother
And contemplate murder
I feel ashamed
Yes I feel shame
For that’s the last thing I would expect
Since I taught you to show respect...

While several calypsonians have been bringing to the fore the many societal problems, reigning Queen B has been advising that the best way to solve them was to rearrange our children and rearrange our communities.

Make no mistake about it, the foregoing calypsos are serving a useful purpose in reminding us of the many societal problems for which we must find solutions. Truly, the voice of the calypsonian is the voice of the people.

I am a disciple of calypso. And I am in good company because Eric Reid, former minister of social services, is a disciple too. Many a time he missed the early Sunday morning service at St Mary’s because he was up late at a calypso show the night before. I hasten to make the point that there are good calypsos and bad calypsos just like, for example, there are good politicians and bad politicians and good Christians and bad Christians. I am a disciple of authentic, healthy calypso.
Calypso is a most wonderful art form. It is more than meets the eye or ear. It is more than a form of entertainment. It is spiritual. It is an escape valve for discontent. It is a tranquilliser – a social tonic – and is therapeutic. It is history, politics, literature, poetry and music. It is a medium of expression.

For such reasons, among others, calypso has a place in the life of our people. As a matter of fact, it is an integral aspect of our culture. It is an artistic expression of that culture. Calypso is also education and a medium of cultural transmission. It has its origin with the arrival of our African ancestors who were brought here as slaves to work on the sugar plantations. “Forbidden to talk to each other, and robbed of all links to family and home, the . . . slaves began to sing songs. They used calypso, which can be traced back to West African kaiso, as a means of communication and to mock the slave masters.”

While our calypso had its beginning with our arrival here as slaves, our carnival had its beginning in the celebration of the end of slavery in August 1834. Somewhere in the course of time we forgot the reason for carnival but thankfully calypso has remained to remind us of from whence we came. If only for that reason, it should be taught in our schools. It can be a useful tool in the teaching of music and musical compositions, poetry, writing skills and singing.

It is because of the contribution that calypso makes to our development that Hotshot is currently asking:

What’s the problem?
Who’s teaching it to the children?
Everyone know calypso important to we
Culturally, socially, economically...

Well said Hotshot. And I pray that our calypsonians continue to honour the memory of the old rugged cross which our forebears had to bear so that we could live. I pray further that they pass on the lessons of the old rugged cross by keeping alive the calypso art form for future generations. It is from our forebears we got it.

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