By Indranie Deolall September 29, 2016
Spectacular Lord Shorty was ironically anything but little. Standing an imposing six feet four inches tall the musical genius boldly experimented and created the sensual soca, with his exploratory “Indrani” song in the early 1970s, the consummate classic “Endless Vibrations” album of 1974 and the international hit “Om Shanti Om.” An original Trini “saga boy” or dashing dandy with a particular passion for beautiful women and hedonistic living, Garfield Blackman seamlessly merged the eastern sounds of the dholak, tabla and dhantal from the mostly Indian village, Lengua where he grew up in the southern part of the island, with the symphonic steelpan and catchy calypso music he also loved.
This national soul of calypso originally abbreviated “sokah” as he first spelt it to reflect the oriental influence, later became simply “soca” – a new musical genre that has continued to enchant, evolve and encompass ever exotic elements ranging from kadence, funk, soul and zouk to Punjabi bhangra, chutney, parang, ragga and dance beats.
Tagged “The Love Man” for another favourite pastime, the Lord also enjoyed drink and drugs in equal abandon. Shorty’s epiphany came in 1977 when he lost his house, his close friend, fellow calypsonian and composer Maestro died in a car crash, and he became so disenchanted with the sybaritic style that a few years later he fled deep into the far-off forests of wild Piparo with his wife, Claudette, and nearly a dozen offspring. In an extraordinary transformation, the swarthy soca songster discovered religion and monogamy, converted to Rastafarianism, grew dreadlocks, altered his name to Ras Shorty I and swapped the expensive, fancy designer threads for spartan white cotton robes, and stringy sandals or bare feet. Small wonder that stunned Trinidadians wondered whether he had gone raving mad.
Replies