Calypso rhythms can be outlined back to the arrival of the first African slaves brought to work in the sugar plantations of Trinidad. Prohibited to talk to each other, the African slaves started to sing songs. They used Calypso, which can be found back to West African kaiso, as a means of communication and to mimic the slave masters.
Colonized by the Spanish, Trinidad received large numbers of French immigrants, and they were ruled by the British later on. With this vast impact, Trinidad developed of Calypso. Many early calypsos were sung in a French-Creole dialect called patois ("pat-was"). These songs, usually led by one individual called a griot, helped to unite the slaves.
Calypso singing competitions, held annually …show more content…
The first Calypso recording was made in Trinidad in this year, by a chantwell Julian Whiterose, known as the Iron Duke and famous calinda stick-fighter.
The first calypso tents appeared in the late 1920s. Originally, calypso tents were actual tents where Calypsonians would practice before Carnival. Today calypso tents are stages where the new Carnival music season are presented.
An impressive and unforgettable calypso music were made in the late 1930s, by the extraordinary Calypsonians: Atilla the Hun, Lord Invader and the Roaring Lion. They became the first Calypsonians to record internationally, taking with them the genre out of the West Indies and into pop culture.
In the 1940s, Lord Kitchener turned into a respect figure and dominated the Calypso scene until approximately the 1971; therefore, he continued to mark everybody with his hits until he passed way in 2001.
In 1944, the Andrews Sisters did a cover version of Lord Invader's hit Rum and Coca Cola. Since the whole world identified Calypso with the Caribbean.
Harry Belafonte released his great and well known Calypso album containing the famous Banana Boat Song ("Day-O"), In 1956. Selling approximately or over a million