RIP Calypsonian Rootsman (Yafeu Osei)

Reading Time 1 mins   By Clevil James Calypsonian Rootsman (Yafeu Osei) passed away from complications with diabetes on Friday August 20 at his home in Trinidad. Rootsman, born in Tobago 64 year ago, started singing as a student in elementary school, where he won a competition in 1967.  In 1976 he made the decision to fulfil his dreams and become a professional calypsonian. Rootsman, although skilled in calypsoes on social commentary, was better known for his soca numbers like Parkway Rock, Rach Meh-Rack Meh, Soca In The Palace etc. etc. Rootsman has received numerous honours from all over the world… Read More »RIP Calypsonian Rootsman (Yafeu Osei)

BDN Ajamu Interview [an update]

Reading Time 3 mins BDN Ajamu Interview [an update] Update: In light of his capturing the Calypso Monarch for an historic 9th times, Big Drum Nation went back to the maestro for an update with the single question: What contributed to your remarkable success in the 2015 Grenada Calypso Monarch competition? Ajamu [August 12]: What I think contributed to my success in this competition was experience and the will to not disappoint those who put their trust in me that I can get the job done. But most of all was knowing that my kids were really looking at me to be the best… Read More »BDN Ajamu Interview [an update]

BDN Editorial

Reading Time 2 mins“Universities are tuning out thousands of reporters. They are quite bright and they don’t have to rhyme.” – Slinger Francisco (Mighty Sparrow).   Big Drum Nation wishes to extend congratulations to the thousands of our cultural artists, performers of all stripes, administrators and revelers that have worked assiduously for many months in making a successful Spice Mas 2015. Our heartiest congratulations go out to King Man Ajamu on being our Calypso Monarch for the second consecutive year and for an unprecedented nine times. Special recognition also goes out to Rootsman Kelly (first runner up), and Baracka (the youngest participant and… Read More »BDN Editorial

Carnival: A Mass Plays Mas’  [Caldwell Taylor]

Reading Time 2 minsDraft: Not for Quotation, Citation or Distribution Link to part 1 THE JAB JAB AND COMIC LICENCES ? [Part 2 of 2] “The molasses Negro [Negre Molassi] wears nothing. His whole body and face is smeared with an atrocious mixture of soot and molasses”  – Lafacdio Hearn, after viewing Martinique’s 1887 Carnival. See Hearn’s “Two Years in the French West Indies” published in 1890. Jab in Haiti “A band of bare-chested horned men whose bodies are covered with sugar-cane syrup mixed with soot and charbon [charcoal] In Haiti these Carnival characters are called lanceurs de cord”. – Novelist Edwidge Dandicat in “After the Dance: A Walk… Read More »Carnival: A Mass Plays Mas’  [Caldwell Taylor]

Carnival: A Mass Plays Mas’ [Caldwell Taylor]

Reading Time 1 minsCarnival: A Mass Plays Mas’   [Part 1 of 2]  ***Draft: Not for Quotation, Citation or Distribution*** Carnival seeks to regain a lost Paradise ; it plays to recover the world that predated the Fall. Carnival reveals the two faces behind a wire-mesh mask :”the Agony of Exile”and the “Joy of a Certain Return”. Carnival is Wilson Harris‘ “infinite rehearsal”; it is calypsonian Lord Shorty’s “Endless Vibrations.” Carnival is the surfacing of the submerged! “Carnival is that time when every joke is allowed,” say the Italians.   “Life is a Carnaval”, sings Celia Cruz [1925-2003] in “La Vida es un… Read More »Carnival: A Mass Plays Mas’ [Caldwell Taylor]

A Carnival Story by M. Martin Lewis [part 2 of 2]

Reading Time 2 mins[Continued: Link to part 1 Like everything Shortknee their songs were just as much a mystery. Unlike Jab Jab songs, they were not created in any village on some moonlight night; no one claimed authorship, heck they were not even in our language. They seemed to have verses where chorus should be and they referenced things, places and people that were outside the known universe. There are Shortknee Q & A’s that have troubled me all my life. Why their sleeves were so big? And was there any significance to the colors of their costumes? Who made… Read More »A Carnival Story by M. Martin Lewis [part 2 of 2]

A CARNIVAL STORY by M. Martin Lewis [part 1 of 2]

Reading Time 2 minsA CARNIVAL STORY By M. Martin Lewis Note well: I’m not talking about this lovable cuddly Shortknee in New York that Val and company play every year, advertising in Carib News and lifting their masks to peer into NBC cameras on Eastern Parkway. As anything in New York, that’s the watered down version of my earliest fears. A real Shortknee’s face was never exposed; you guessed at who it was. Exposing the identity of the Shortknee was a no no. Not one part of a Shortknee body’s could ever be exposed, and therein lay the evil; how… Read More »A CARNIVAL STORY by M. Martin Lewis [part 1 of 2]