One thing the Regina Folk Festival does a great job of is bringing in elder statesmen (and women) and giving them a chance to reach a new audience. Sometimes that means recognizable names like Taj Mahal or Ramblin’ Jack Elliott or Utah Phillips or Bruce Cockburn; sometimes it means people that may have seen success in other parts of the world but have never had much of a chance to get known here.
Calypso Rose is probably in the latter camp. She isn’t a household name in Canada, at least not as far as I know. But she’s been composing her own songs since she was 15 years old and now, at the age of 73, has reportedly written over 800 songs in her lifetime. She’s originally from Tobago, a calypsonian whose early inspiration came from an unusual place, according to Wikipedia.
She composed her first Calypso in 1955 after seeing a man steal the spectacles off of a lady’s face in the Croisée, San Juan. In the song, she advises Tobagonians to stay at home, because Trinidad was no place for them.
That’s pretty badass.
So was her set on Saturday night. She has remarkable energy for a woman her age. The times I’ve seen someone like Mavis Staples, who is probably at a comparable age, she hasn’t quite had the wandering spirit of Calypso Rose. The septuagenarian can’t stand still; she may take very tiny shuffle steps, usually rhythmically, but she’s forever wandering around the stage, constantly traipsing about and making eye contact with different audience members. She bent fully forward at the hips a few times in a full bow, sustaining the position for an extended period of time while talking about a song she wrote in honour of senior citizens. She waves her arms, she gestures forcefully, and she smiles as though the world relied on her beaming to light the planet.
It’s fitting, since her music was by far the most spirited of the night. Her big band boasts everything from a full horn section, which she keeps incredibly busy, to a keytar. A KEYTAR, MIND YOU. I think I really love calypso; every song she played is up-tempo, which I like; the horn section was sassy and omnipresent, which I adore; she has a keen sense of wordplay, which I’m a nerd for; and she sings with the strength of a much younger woman, shrieking and holding notes and varying pitch and generally being totally commanding.
Her Caribbean sound is entirely her own; she told the crowd every song she played was written by her (though she did drop snippets of older songs into a medley or two that might be more familiar to a North American audience like “The Banana Boat Song [Day-O]“). The impossibly-catchy, ska-sounding “Israel By Bus” was a highlight, the new arrangement of an older song that saw bouncy and rhythmic horns perfectly matched with a bubbling bassline. She also played a calypso for senior citizens that she wrote when she was 65, saying that there ought to be a day dedicated to our elders, a song she introduced by saying she wanted Mr. Arthur Itis arrested for bigamy. Her sense of humour was pervasive; she later joked after introducing her band that any woman who wanted to take away one of her band members would have to go through her first.
Rose’s set was more than welcome and a great follow-up to Rah Rah’s. Saturday should be filled with party music and regardless of lyrical content her calypso certainly gets asses moving (even her own on the closing song, during which she removed her jacket, turned her back to the crowd, and wiggled her behind like a youngster).
I love a sassy old lady who can make things happen.
You can find Calypso Rose music on iTunes if nowhere else. I tried to find physical album links but I couldn’t! Sorry folks.