Slinger Francisco[1]ORTTCMOBE (born July 9, 1935), better known as Mighty Sparrow, is a Trinidadiancalypso vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist. Known as the "Calypso King of the World",[2] he is one of the best-known and most successful calypsonians. He has won Trinidad's Carnival Road March competition eight times, Calypso King/Monarch eight times, and has twice won the Calypso King of Kings title.
Slinger Francisco was born in the fishing village of Grand Roy, Grenada, West Indies on July 9, 1935. He moved to Trinidad as a one-year-old with his mother,[1] his father having relocated there in 1937.[3][4] He grew up in Port of Spain.[citation needed] He began singing as a small child, but his love of calypso was discouraged while at Newtown Boys Catholic School, where he sang in the choir.[3][4] At the age of 14 he joined a steel band comprising neighbourhood boys, and performed with the band at Carnival.[3]
He received his performing name "Little Sparrow" during his early career,[1] as a result of his energetic stage performances:
Your calypso name is given to you by your peers, based on your style. In the old days they tried to emulate British royalty. There was Lord Kitchener, Lord Nelson, Duke. When I started singing, the bands were still using acoustic instruments and the singers would stand flat footed, making a point or accusing someone in the crowd with the pointing of a finger, but mostly they stood motionless. When I sing, I get excited and move around, much like James Brown, and this was new to them. The older singers said "Why don't you just sing instead of moving around like a little sparrow?" It was said as a joke, but the name stuck.[5]
—Mighty Sparrow
After a couple of years he changed his stage name to "Mighty Sparrow".[3][6] On leaving school he began working for the government Control Board, but continued to perform calypso, which became the better paid of the two, and his residency at the Lotus Club made him a star locally.[3]
Calypso King
His first performance as a carnival singer came in 1954 with "The Parrot and the Monkey". In 1955, Sparrow made his first recordings "Missing Baby (Ruby)", "High Cost of Living" and "Race Track" for Vitadisc, which were included on the Royalties of Calypso Kingdom compilation a few years later. In 1955 and 1956, he also recorded "Give The Youngsters A Chance", "Family Size Coke", "Goaty", "Clara Honey Bunch" and "Yankee's Back Again" for GEMS, "Jean And Dinah" and "The Queen's Canary" for Kay, and "Sailor Man" for Veejay Special Ace.
In 1956, Sparrow won Trinidad's Carnival Road March and Calypso King competitions with his most famous song, "Jean and Dinah"[1] (also known as "Yankees Gone", a song celebrating the departure of US troops from Trinidad).[7] A live performance of "Yankees Gone" was included in the album Jump Up Carnival in Trinidad.[7] His prize for winning the Calypso King title was $40.[7] In protest of the small sum (the winner of the Carnival Queen beauty contest won $7,500), he wrote the song "Carnival Boycott" and attempted to organize other singers to boycott the competition.[7] About half of the singers followed, including Lord Melody.[5] Sparrow claims credit for succeeding improvements in the conditions of calypso and steelband musicians in Trinidad, as well as the formation of the Carnival Development Committee, a musicians' assistance organization.[8] Sparrow refused to officially participate in the competition for the next three years, but he continued to perform unofficially, even winning another Road March title in 1958 with "P.A.Y.E." He did perform at the 1957 carnival in the Young Brigade Calypso Tent, where the four songs he performed were recorded and later released on the album Calypso Kings and Pink Gin.[7]
Sparrow went on to have local hits in 1956 and 1957 with singles such as "Jack Palance", "No Doctor No", and "Sailor Man", before beginning a musical slanging match with Lord Melody, each releasing singles attacking the other.[9] The rivalry went on for several years.[9] In 1957, Sparrow recorded his first album, Calypso Carnival 58, released the following year on the Balisier label.[9]
He again boycotted the carnival in 1959, choosing instead to tour extensively, and early that year released the album Sparrow in Hi Fi before signing a deal with RCA, for whom he recorded eleven albums between 1960 and 1964.[9]
Taking calypso abroad
Calypso music enjoyed a brief period of popularity in other parts in the world during the 1950s. Trinidadian expatriate Lord Kitchener had helped popularize calypso in the United Kingdom, and Sparrow also found some success there. In the United States, interest in calypso was sparked largely by Harry Belafonte's 1956 album Calypso, the first LP to sell over one million copies.[10] In January 1958, Sparrow, along with longtime rival Lord Melody, travelled to New York City seeking access to the American music audience.[11] Sparrow had already been recording with Balisier and Cook Records, and with Belafonte's help[12] he also began to record for RCA Victor. He did not achieve the success he had hoped for; he said in a 2001 interview, "When nothing happened for me, I went back to England and continued on with my career."[12]
In 1960, Sparrow returned to the Calypso Monarch competition, winning his second Kingship and third Road March title with "Ten to One Is Murder" (an autobiographical song about an incident in which Sparrow allegedly shot a man)[13] and "Mae Mae". He also began recording for his own label, National Recording.[5] He won the Road March title in 1961 with "Royal Jail" and won his third Calypso King title in 1962 with "Model Nation" and "Sparrow Come Back Home".[9] He won further titles in the 1960s and 1970s and continued to enjoy great popularity in Trinidad. He recorded prolifically, with forty albums released in the 1960s and 1970s.[9] In the latter half of the 1960s his recordings began to be released in the United Kingdom.
In 1968 he recorded the album Sparrow Meets the Dragon with Byron Lee in Jamaica.[9] Their version of "Only a Fool Breaks His Own Heart" (written by Norman Bergen and Shelly Coburn) gave them an international hit in 1969, earning a gold disc upon its re-release in late 1977 igniting a #2 hit record in 1978 in the Netherlands.[9][14]
He had his greatest success internationally in the 1970s, starting with the album The Best Of, featuring live recordings in Brooklyn, New York of Sparrow favorites.[15] In 1974, with Van Dyke Parks as producer, he recorded the album Hot and Sweet for Warner Bros. in Miami, and the following year reunited with Byron Lee for the Sparrow Dragon Again album.[9] He had a big hit in 1977 with "Crawford", a tribute to sprinter Hasley Crawford, and that year embarked on a tour of West Africa, during which he was given the honorary Yoruba title Chief Omo Wale of Ikoyi.[16] In 1978 he recorded the album Only a Fool in London for Trojan Records.[16]
Sparrow recognized the advantages of using New York as a base for recording and international touring, and by the mid-1960s moved his operation and family to Jamaica, Queens. He became a fixture in Brooklyn’s Labor Day Carnival, regularly appearing at the big Dimanche Gras show at the Brooklyn Museum. He wrote a number of calypsos about life in New York, bookended by his 1969 classic "Mas in Brooklyn" and his provocative 1991 "Crown Heights Justice."[17]
As soca began to supplant calypso in popularity in Trinidad and Tobago during the late 1970s and early 1980s,[5] Sparrow embraced the hybrid of calypso and soul fused with the local chutney music.[16] In 1984 he won his eighth Road March title with the soca-influenced "Doh Back Back". Also around this time, he began to spend at least half the year in New York City, finding an apartment in the West Indian neighborhoods in Jamaica, Queens.[5] In 1985, he performed at the carnival's King of Kings show alongside The Mighty Swallow, Blue Boy, Scrunter, Blakie, Mighty Duke, and Black Stalin, taking the "King of Kings" title and the US$10,000 first prize.[16] He would later win the title for a second time.[18] His last major title came in 1992, with "Both of Them" and "Survival" winning him the Calypso Monarch title.[19] He made an appearance at the Reggae Sunsplash festival in 1993.[16] Although less active since the mid-1990s, Sparrow continued to perform, and tour into the 21st century;[20] in a 2001 interview he mentioned that he had been singing and performing a "Gospel-lypso" hybrid.[12] In 2008, he released a song supporting Barack Obama's presidential campaign, "Barack the Magnificent".[21] He also did a remake of his "Congo Man" song with fellow Trinidadian Machel Montano on the 2008 Flame On album.
In 2010, Sparrow left the stage in a wheelchair after a performance in Trinidad, and later that year was hospitalised after suffering an inguinal hernia while performing in Maryland.[21][22] He made a full recovery and continued to tour internationally.[21] He has been hospitalised several times with complications of diabetes.[23] In September 2013 he was due to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Trinidad & Tobago consulate in New York, but was admitted to a New York hospital where he fell into a coma for two weeks before regaining consciousness.[23][24][25][26]
He returned to public performance in January 2014 with a forty-minute set at a bar in Brooklyn, New York.[27] At the end of the year he was voted "Express Individual of the Year 2014" by the Trinidad Express.[28]
In 2020 he released Live at 85!, a recording of a show at Joe's Pub in New York City in December 2019.[29]
Lyrics
Sparrow's lyrics are famous for being witty, ironic, and ribald. He sings flirtatiously of the attractions of Hispanic women in "Margarita", and of East Indian women in "Marajhin".[30] He tells some outrageously frank tales of sexuality in "Mae Mae", "The Lizard" and "Big Bamboo". And there is humorous commentary on West Indian culture to be found in "Obeah Wedding" and "Witch Doctor". Robert Christgau called his controversial song "Congo Man" "a wildly perverse piss-take on African roots, interracial revenge, interracial sex, male-female relations, and cannibalism".[31] The 1965 song was criticized for its attitudes toward women and Africans, and banned from radio airplay until 1989.[32]
Sparrow also frequently comments on social and political issues in his songs.[33][34] During his early career he was a supporter of Eric Williams and his People's National Movement (PNM),[13] which formed in 1955 and led Trinidad and Tobago to independence in 1962;[35] songs such as "Leave The Damn Doctor Alone" and "William the Conqueror" mentioned Williams directly, while others such as "Federation" (blaming Jamaica for the breakup of the short-lived West Indies Federation), "Our Model Nation" (celebrating Trinidadian independence), and "PAYE" (supporting the PNM's pay-as-you-earn tax system) echoed PNM positions. Sparrow did express discontent in 1957's "No, Doctor, No", but it was comparatively mild, and aimed at holding PNM politicians to their promises rather than replacing them. Sparrow cleverly combined political criticism with sexual innuendo in his mid-1960s song "BG Plantain", which decried the ban levied by PM Williams on imported plantain from British Guiana (BG); plantain, a large banana-shaped vegetable, is a staple of West Indian cuisine, and Sparrow praised the BG plantain as larger, sweeter, and superior to the home-grown Trinidadian variety.
One of his most famous hits, "Dead or Alive" (1979), which achieved international acclaim, addressed the tyranny of rulers like Idi Amin, the Shah of Iran and other leaders of the era.
His tongue-in-cheek humor is best expressed by his 1970 hit "Sparrow Dead", which addressed the premature rumors of his death, which persist to this day. Amongst the lyrics of the song:
"I hear he have cancer
I hear he have yellow fever
Something in the bladder
And a double dose of leukemia!"
Two gossip mongers gossipin'
I stand in a corner listenin'
Before I could ask who dey talkin' about
A newspaper boy started to shout
"Extra! Read all about it! Paper!"
"Who killed the Sparrow - nobody know . . . "
Well big mouth Lillian
Say de funeral was on television
She picky head cousin say that the coffin cost twenty thousand
In more recent times Sparrow continues to incorporate social issues into his music. "Crown Heights Justice" is a plea for peace and understanding in the wake of the 1991 Crown Heights Riot in Sparrow's adopted home of New York City. The themes of peace, tolerance, and concern for the poor show up repeatedly in songs such as "Human Rights" (1981), "Capitalism Gone Mad" (1983), and "This Is Madness" (1995).
↑ Rohlehr, Gordon (2005). "First Flight: Early Calypsos of the Mighty Sparrow". In First Flight: Early Calypsos from the Emory Cook Collection. CD liner notes, p. 8. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.
↑ "Chart history of "Only a fool" (song writers Norman Bergen and Shelly Coburn)". Top40.nl. credited to The Mighty Sparrow with Byron Lee & the Dragonaires in the Dutch Top 40; the record spent 30 weeks on the hitlist, however not in a single run: it entered in June 1969, spending just 3 weeks on the charts peaking at #31, and upon re-entering in the last weekly chart of 1977, it spent another staggering 27 weeks in the charts, peaking at #2 for 5 consecutive weeks in the spring of 1978
Soca music is a genre of music defined by Lord Shorty, its inventor, as the "Soul of Calypso", which has influences of African and East Indian rhythms. It was originally spelled "sokah" by its inventor but through an error in a local newspaper when reporting on the new music it was erroneously spelled "soca"; Lord Shorty confirmed the error but chose to leave it that way to avoid confusion. It is a genre of music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the early 1970s and developed into a range of styles during the 1980s and after. Soca was initially developed by Lord Shorty in an effort to revive traditional calypso, the popularity of which had been flagging amongst younger generations in Trinidad due to the rise in popularity of reggae from Jamaica and soul and funk from the United States. Soca is an offshoot of calypso/kaiso, with influences from East Indian rhythms and hooks.
Calypso is a style of Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago during the early to mid-19th century and spread to the rest of the Caribbean Antilles by the mid-20th century. Its rhythms can be traced back to West African Kaiso and the arrival of French planters and their slaves from the French Antilles in the 18th century.
Lord Melody was a popular Trinidadian calypsonian, best known for singles such as "Boo Boo Man", "Creature From The Black Lagoon", "Shame & Scandal", "Jonah and the Bake", "Juanita", and "Rastaman Be Careful". Melody's career spanned forty years, from the beginnings of popular calypso music to his embrace of the more dance oriented Soca style by the late 1970s.
Aldwyn Roberts HBM DA, better known by the stage name Lord Kitchener, was a Trinidadian calypsonian. He has been described as "the grand master of calypso" and "the greatest calypsonian of the post-war age".
The music of Trinidad and Tobago is best known for its calypso music, soca music, chutney music, and steelpan. Calypso's internationally noted performances in the 1950s from native artists such as Lord Melody, Lord Kitchener and Mighty Sparrow. The art form was most popularised at that time by Harry Belafonte. Along with folk songs and African- and Indian-based classical forms, cross-cultural interactions have produced other indigenous forms of music including soca, rapso, parang, chutney, and other derivative and fusion styles. There are also local communities which practice and experiment with international classical and pop music, often fusing them with local steelpan instruments.
The Carnival Road March is the musical composition played most often at the "judging points" along the parade route during a Caribbean Carnival. Originating as part of the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, the term has been applied to other Caribbean carnivals. There it was and is still viewed as a musical genre.
The Growler was a Trinidadian calypsonian. Growler recorded 36 record sides (78-rpm) during the 1930s and 1940s, making him among the most prolific recording artists in the golden age of calypso, with only Roaring Lion, Growling Tiger, King Radio, Attila the Hun and Wilmoth Houdini exceeding his output during this period. Lord Kitchener, one of the most important figures in the later development of calypso, acknowledged Growler as one of his influences.
Byron Lee and the Dragonaires are a Jamaican ska, calypso and soca band. The band played a crucial pioneering role in bringing Caribbean music to the world. Byron Lee died on 4 November 2008, after suffering from cancer for a sustained period.
Fitzgerald Henry, better known as the Mighty Terror, was a Trinidadian calypsonian.
Calypso Rose or Linda McCartha Monica Sandy-Lewis is a Trinidadian calypsonian. She started writing songs at the age of 13; over the years, she has composed more than 1000 songs and recorded more than 20 albums. Considered the "mother of calypso", Rose was the first female calypso star and her lyrics frequently address social issues like racism and sexism. Her influence over the calypso music genre forced the renaming of the Calypso King competition to the Calypso Monarch instead. In addition to writing songs about social issues, Rose is also an activist and was given the title of UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for former child soldiers along with performing at numerous events for social change. She has received every award available to living artists in the Caribbean.
The Calypso Monarch contest is one of the two major annual calypso competitions held in Trinidad and all English speaking Caribbean islands, as part of the annual carnival celebrations.
Machel Jesus Montano is a Trinidadian soca recording artist and record producer. Known for his high energy, fast-paced, and often unpredictable on-stage performances, he is one of the genre's most popular artists.
Trinidadian and Tobagonian British people are citizens or residents of the United Kingdom whose ethnic origins lie fully or partially in Trinidad and Tobago.
Mark Antonio Jiminez, better known by his stage name Ataklan is a Trinidadian singer-songwriter and performer primarily of the modern rapso tradition. Ataklan has been referred to as "Trinidad's answer to Beck" and a "fiercely independent songwriter and singer and arguably the most original artist to have emerged on the island since David Rudder". Since his emergence in 1993, Ataklan has released tracks including "Flambo", "Naked Walk", "Flood on the Main Road", "Shadow in de Dark", "Soca Girl" and "Caribbean Swagga", among numerous others.
Kade Simon, better known as Lord Brynner, was a Trinidadian calypsonian who won the Trinidad and Tobago Independence Calypso Contest in 1962. He also had a number of Ska hits in Jamaica during the mid-1960s.
Percival Oblington, better known as Mighty Striker, or simply Striker, was a Trinidadian calypsonian who twice won the Calypso King title.
Cletus Ali, better known as Mighty Dougla, was a Trinidadian calypsonian who won the island's Calypso King title in 1961.
Mighty Cypher aka Lord Cypher was a Trinidadian calypsonian who won the Calypso King title at the 1967 carnival.
Adolf Hitler is a calypso written and performed by Clifford Morris, better known as the Mighty Destroyer, winning the Calypso King competition at the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival of 1941, the last one before the end of World War II due to the danger of German submarine attacks in the Caribbean.
References
Broughton, Simon, et al. (2000), World Music, The Rough Guide: Latin and North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, Rough Guides, ISBN978-1858286365
Thompson, Dave (2002), Reggae & Caribbean Music, Backbeat Books, ISBN0-87930-655-6
Further reading
De Four, Linda Claudia (1997), Gimme Room to Sing: Calypsoes of the Mighty Sparrow, 1958–1993: a Discography, University of the West Indies Press, ISBN978-9768104687
Johnstone, Graham (1988), The Mighty Sparrow: Calypso Catalogue, Grenada Music
Kwamdela, Odimumba (2006), Mighty Sparrow, Calypso King of the World, Kibo Books, ISBN978-0941266321
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