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Donald R. Hill | Oneonta, NY USA | 12/12/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My rating is self-serving since I am one of the co-authors of the book and co-compilers of this set. However, it is getting great reviews from calypso fans and from West Indians.



HISTORIC CALYPSO AT ITS VERY BEST

The ultimate classic calypso anthology! Return with us to Port of Spain, Trinidad during Carnival in 1938, '39, and '40. In 1938 Decca Records in New York shipped recording equipment to Trinidad, giving producer Ralph Perez carte blanche to record what is now acknowledged as the greatest library of calypso music ever recorded! New calypsos, old calypsos, topical songs, dance bands, Shango and shouter Baptist hymns, carnival chants, stick-fighter songs, and much more. The quality, variety, depth and breadth of what Perez recorded was so impressive that Decca financed return trips in 1939 and '40. In all over 267 performances were recorded, and all surviving masters are included complete here on 10 CDs.

35 unissued masters are featured, many not released at the time because of restrictions imposed by local censors who became nervous when calypso bards turned to controversial and political topics; but calypso always thrived on scandal, and told the truth to those in power. And so these songs document sensational labour riots and the political fallout, together with songs that document the gathering storm that led to World War II. Closer to home, calypsonians addressed and described adulterers, local politicians, sportsmen, thieves, gossipers, peeping toms, prostitutes, and a bevy of colourful street brawlers with names like Joe Laugher, Greasy Pole, Gumbo Lai Lai.

Titles include: LORD EXECUTOR: Seven Skeletons Found In The Yard; The Censoring Of Calypso Makes Us Glad; We Mourn The Loss Of Sir Murchison Fletcher; RALPH FITZ SCOTT: Why I Killed Winifred; ATILLA THE HUN: The Banning Of Records; West Indian Rhythm; The Governor's Resignation; The Horrors Of War; THE TIGER: Civil War In Spain; KING RADIO: Matilda; Sedition Law; THE GROWLER: Hitler Demands; LORD BEGINNER: Chamberlain Says Peace; LORD INVADER: My Intention Is To Join The Volunteers; Hitler Demanded Trinidad; GORILLA: Brambroocoo Dance; THE LION: The Invasion of Poland; Lion Oh: -- featuring the first recording by a Steel Band; Suzi Qu; ... and many, many more!





About the book:



There is so much appeal to vintage calypso and its story that one hardly knows how to comprehend it. The music is broad in scope, ranging from North American jazz-like orchestrations, to Venezuelan waltzes, to West African chants, to strictly Trinidadian instrumentations. As a description of the human condition the best of the calypso lyrics are biblical and in lexical richness, Shakespearian. Songs of wars and rumours of wars; of fidelity and infidelity; of quests, rewards, and punishments; of glory, pain, and redemption; of God and gods; and of the virtues of mother and the treachery of women - it is all here. We hear words upon words: wanga and watchikong; malkadi and mamaguy, totolbay and talkari, and give fatigue and how the France. You hear standard West Indian English, Eastern Caribbean and Guyanese Creole English, and words in Creole French (Patois), Yoruba, Lingala, Spanish, French, Latin, Yankee English, British English, Hindi, Bulpari, and God knows what else.

Lion, Tiger, Growler, Caresser, Atilla the Hun, King Radio, Lord Executor and their colleagues each have distinct personae that inform the scenarios and world views they share with us. The challenging and colorful Carnival names they adopted convey the power they sought and vindicated the recognition these records brought them -- first during their own time and, with this reissue, in ours. As observers, they chronicled and created contemporary history; as artists, they have become part of history themselves.

This work represents research of senior scholars whose study of calypso and phonograph recordings, adding each scholar's adult lifetime study of calypso to the other's, adds up to more than 210 years of classic calypso investigation! Because of its sumptuous layout this `encyclopedia' is a feast for the eyes, just as the recordings you will hear are a `feast' for the ears. We've tried to make this work a carnival for the mind and heart, as it carries you back to Carnival and Christmas revelries over the centuries, and focuses on the turbulent history of the 1938-40 era documented by these recordings that have miraculously survived the seven decades that followed. This is the definitive study of the calypso of this era.

The book is written by the "Classic Calypso Collective" (Dr. John Cowley, Dr. Donald R. Hill, Richard Noblett, and Dr. Lise Winer, Editor), with John Cowley as Executive Editor, Dick Spottswood & Richard Weize as Re-Issue Producers, and with a Preface by Dr. Hollis "Chalkdust" Liverpool. An essay by Denis Malins-Smith, only living participant in the recordings, is included.

BOOK CONTENTS (WITH ESSAYS, SIDEBARS, ENDMATTER, & OVER 700 ILLUSTRATIONS)

Non Compos Mentis: Why You Should Enjoy This Music and Read This Book Donald R. Hill

A Note On Sound Restoration

Editorial Note

Preface Hollis "Chalkdust" Liverpool

Calypso and the Trinidad Carnival Tradition John H. Cowley

Lyrics (with full transcriptions), Essays and Notes to the Songs

The Music, the Instruments, and the Songs Donald R. Hill

Sidebar: Netty, Netty: Newspaper Articles on the Excursion to Grenada 1937

Sidebar: Spanish in Trinidad Lise Winer

Sidebar: Who Was Butler? Dick Spottswood

Sidebar: Doing the Suzie-Q, Some Popular Contemporary Dances

Sidebar: Hideous Discoveries and Monstrous Crimes

Dance Music of the Past: The Harmony Kings Orchestra Denis Malins-Smith

Sidebar: The Censorship of Records, 1937 John H. Cowley

Calypso, Magic, Religion and Folklore Donald R. Hill

Sidebar: Sophia Mattaloney, Court Cases 1905-1909

Sidebar: Buy Me a Zeppelin Lise Winer

Sidebar: The Visit of the Normandie

The Lead-up To War 1935-1939 Richard A. Noblett

Sidebar: Haile Selassie, Ras Tafari Dick Spottswood & Lise Winer



Decca's Guyanese Recordings Richard A. Noblett

Sidebar: Murder at Fyzabad



Recording for the Decca Dick Spottswood

Vainglorious Appellations Donald R. Hill & John H. Cowley

Sidebar: Alien Peddlers



The Musicians Donald R. Hill & John H. Cowley



Lord Caresser in Guyana Richard A. Noblett

Sidebar: Lucky Lindbergh

Sidebar: The Lambeth Walk Richard A. Noblett

Sidebar: Fire Losses in Port of Spain

Sidebar: The Panama Canal Lise Winer

Sidebar: Charming Trinidad Albert Gomes

Sidebar: The Fight of the Century: Louis vs. Schmeling Lise Winer

Sidebar: Big Film Losses

Sidebar: The New Shop Law John H. Cowley



Calypso And The Portuguese Connection John H. Cowley, Donald R. Hill & Lise Winer

Sidebar: Gumbo Lai Lai "Promulgates"



"Germany Invade Poland": War Calypsos, 1940 Richard A. Noblett

The Muttoo Brothers Orchestra Richard A. Noblett



Sidebar: Cavalcade of Leggos John H. Cowley

Sidebar: An Ode to Sir Lennox O'Reilly



Canboulay, Carnival and Calenda John H. Cowley

Glossary of Words and Phrases

People, Places & Commercial Establishments

Discography

Title Index

Artist Index

Acknowledgements

Bibliography

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