Calypso at Midnight! (1946)

Here's a wonderful recording by Alan Lomax of a concert performed on 21 December 1946. The performers include Lord Invader, Macbeth, and The Duke of Iron - all outstanding Calypsonians. Preceding every song is an introduction or dialogue by Lomax and each artist - greatly informative and highly entertaining. If you were at all interested in the previous post's citation from Lyotard, you'll love this. Lomax and the Calypsonians spend a lot of time discussing the importance of folk traditions and how they serve to share knowledge among Caribbean people. Definitely check out "Do Lai Do", a traditional Trinidadian work song. Sadly, I cannot find the original liner notes, but if I find them I will post them.

Great bit of trivia: Lord Invader's song "Rum and Coca-Cola" was never played on an American radio station, despite its popularity, because of Coke's claim that Invader was infringing on their copyright of the word "Coca-Cola". However, the song was made insanely popular by The Andrews Sisters. It's a great version, but very very "white".

Get it here: Calypso at Midnight!

Lord Invader & His Trinidad Caribbean Orchestra - Calypso (1955)

Recorded by Moses Asch in New York 1955. Lord Invader (1914-1961) was arguably the most prominent Calypsonian of the genre's early period. Recognition is deserved from his vocal style alone, however the subject matter of his songs are equally impressive. Ranging from politics and race to light-hearted social songs like Rum and Coca-Cola, this is easily one of the most impressive styles of 20th Century's legacy of folk music.

When listening to Calypso I can't help but recall Jean-Francois Lyotard's description of the role of rhythm in the transferring of narrative forms of knowledge:

A fourth aspect of narrative knowledge meriting careful examination is its effect on time. Narrative form follows a rhythm; it is the synthesis of a meter beating in time in regular periods and of accent modifying the length or amplitude of certain of those periods. This vibratory, music property of narrative is clearly revealed in the ritual performance of certain tales: they are handed down in ceremonies...in a language whose meaning is obscured by lexical and syntactic anomalies, and they are sung as interminable, monotonous chants....

...[Narrative knowledge] exhibits a surprising feature: as meter takes precedence over accent in the production of sound (spoken or not), time ceases to be a support for memory to become an immemorial beating that, in the absence of a noticeable separation between periods, prevents their being numbered and cosigns them to oblivion. Consider the form of popular sayings, proverbs, and maxims: they are like little splinters of potential narratives...In their prosody can be recognized the mark of that strange temporalization that jars the golden rule of our knowledge: "never forget".

- The Post-Modern Condition: A Report on Knowledge

Get it here: Lord Invader & His Trinidad Caribbean Orchestra - Calypso & Liner Notes (PDF)

London is the Place For Me Vol. 2 - Calypso Kwela Highlife from Young Black London

(This collection has some of the best album art, period)

"Truth is, there are no standout tracks here. It's all wall to wall magic and beauty and loose-limbed dance rhythms. But Campbell's percussion only "Ashiko Rhythm," a mellow hand drums, thumb piano, and gong-gong workout on the basic shave-and-a-haircut/two-bits beat, and the Rhythm Brothers' delicate and lullaby-like closer "Sing The Blues," can't go by without mention.

Musical value aside, London Is The Place For Me 2 is also an acutely timely reminder of the glory that is London's multicultural mix—something we cannot allow to be destroyed by the psychopathic death cult behind this month's bomb outrages in the city. One love."

-Chris May at All About Jazz (2005)

Get it here: London is the Place For Me Vol. 2

London is the Place For Me - Trinidadian Calypso in London (1950-1965)

Travelling with their own core audience, the Trinidadian calypsonians brought with them the vocal music of Carnival. Traditionally this ranges from social satire to sexual double-entendre, from voodoo to the most pressing issues of the day, from sporting events to competitive insult. The experiences of Britain’s growing Caribbean population were to be fabulously rich in raw material. 


Here's Stuart Hall's review in The Guardian: ".. a witty and joyous testament to the creative power of popular culture and a document of more innocent times. It constitutes one of the best starting points for that rich, unfinished history of the black British diaspora and its intricate interweaving with British life that remains to be written."

Get it here: London is the Place for Me