Will the current ban of the top ten calypsos in this year’s Republic Anniversary celebration competition succeed in putting the final nail in the coffin of this genre of music, for which the death knell had begun to sound some years ago?
This is not the first time calypsos have been banned or not granted airplay on the government-owned radio stations, Geoffrey Phillips―the Mighty Rebel, one of Guyana’s veteran calypsonians—has had many personal experiences with this; so much so that he ceased to be involved in competitions after 2010. However, this is the first time that all of the calypsos in the finals have been effectively denied airtime in one fell swoop. It speaks to the perceived power of the person behind the ban.
The ban has also closed an avenue of expression, effectively adding one more muzzle to the idea of free speech, which unfortunately, many are obliged to accept. The spread of technology notwithstanding, radio is still the medium with the widest reach in Guyana. And despite the issuing of licences last year, NCN, which operates the government-owned radio stations, has access to the most homes in the country.
Calypso, perhaps the oldest genre of Caribbean music, has been around since the days of slavery, though known back then as kaiso or ka isue. The late distinguished Guyanese linguist Dr Richard Allsopp held that it originated in West Africa, from where most of the slaves who populated the Caribbean were brought. It was a chant used to egg on official jesters who had licence to mock the ruling class, particularly when a new chief was to be chosen.
Dr Allsopp, who wrote the Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage (1996) and A Book of Afric Caribbean Proverbs (2005), said the slaves brought with them to the Caribbean, the tradition of ka isue and used it to make jokes at their masters’ expense. He noted that in the transfer of the tradition from West Africa to the Caribbean, the word was spelt kaiso. Interestingly too, he wrote that kaiso was popularised back then, by women, who mocked other women, including the planters’ wives, during carnivals and festivities, but was eventually shifted to men. Calypso, he said, is the anglicised spelling of kaiso.
Were kaiso sung in English back then, rather than the native tongue of the slaves, the planters may have done just what the government did last week, enforced a ban on its singing. In addition, the slaves, undoubtedly, would have endured brutal physical punishment for laughing at their masters.
Fast forward to the 21st century and here is calypso, ‘teking blows’ for the past decade. An art form, generally produced only once a year for the celebration of Republic (Mashramani), calypso has watched its audiences dwindle and its sponsors wane over the years as its lyricists write songs that tend to bruise the egos of politicians and make them hot under their collars.
A form of satire, calypso speaks to our collective social conscience and calypsonians, who tend to come from the grassroots, always have an ear to the ground. They know what the hot-button issues are, because they have either had personal experience or have heard them discussed among friends and relatives or at various watering holes. They know how their small audiences will respond to the political and social issues they comment on through this medium even before they put music to their lyrics. What they don’t seem to digest is that while the powers that be will ignore what is being said at the rum shops and informally, they will not tolerate having it played in their ears on radio stations under their control.
Sponsors in the private sector have also distanced themselves from local kaiso, not just because the quality recently has been poor, but because they would prefer not to be seen as supporting something that is critical of the government, some members of which are known to be spiteful and vindictive.
Despite statements to the contrary, government is not interested in reviving calypso. If it were, it would have invested, long before now, in workshops that would offer calypsonians a means of developing and producing a more refined version of what is currently available. And its members would endeavour to walk a straighter path, while developing a much thicker skin and learning to live and let live.
