Austin Lewis, 73, known in the calypso world as King Austin, died yesterday, Sunday, morning at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital.
Austin’s son, Marvin King, said his father had been battling with Alzheimers for many years and added: “I was taking care of him but then it became too difficult for me to do so so I put him in a home. He fell ill there and was warded at hospital.
Having sang Winsford “Joker” Devine’s Progress in 1980, King Austin was regarded as an icon in calypso and placed second to Relator in that year’s National Calypso Monarch final. A modest and unassuming man, in one interview King Austin said: "I love every human being very much. It doesn't matter where you are from. I love all the people.” He subsequently sang Who Guarding the Guards, a calypso which also enjoyed much critical acclaim.
King Austin actually began in the calypso arena in 1976, singing with the CDC calypso tent. He subsequently performed at other tents rubbing shoulders on the casts with bards like Mighty Sparrow, Lord Melody, Lord Nelson, Bro Superior and Chalkdust.
Highly acclaimed songwriter Winsford “Joker” Devine said he is further saddened by King Austin’s passing as he was unable to see him before he died. He said: “I have been meaning to pass and check and check Austin where he used to lime on the Promenade. I met Austin through Keith Smith from the Express. I had written Progress for Sparrow but he didn’t sing it. Keith Smith introduced me to Austin and, from the time Austin heard Progress he loved it. I sent him to Semp Recording Studio where it was recorded. From the start Progress was an instant hit, winning six encores the first night Austin sang it in the tent.
National Calypso Monarch multiple title-holder Dr Hollis “Chalkdust” Liverpool said: “Blakie brought him (King Austin) to The Regal Tent and we accepted him. I remember King Austin to be a very humble, quiet and respectable human being. I remember him always smiling with his gold teeth shining.
“King Austin really loved Laventille and always used used to boast about Laventille and its people. He was committed to Laventille and would let everyone know that he was from there. Austin had a unique voice, one that will be missed in calypso.”
After the popularity of Progress and Who Guarding the Guards, other calypsoes recorded by King Austin included The World Today is a Ball of Confusion, Special Loving, The World Today, Time is Not Easy in the City, Soca Taking Over, Changes of Man, You Can't Please The People and Keep It Coming.
In a Trinidad Guardian feature three years ago, calypso composer/arranger Alvin Daniell hailed King Austin as a philosopher by stating: “King Austin’s 1980 calypso classic Progress (Austin Lewis) sang to man’s quest for development posing very philosophical arguments as to what constitutes development.”
In a survey published by Kaisoca International in Toronto, Devine/Austin’s Progress was listed number one in the Top 100 Calypsoes of the 20th Century, ahead of Mighty Sniper’s Portrait of Trinidad and Slave, sung by Sparrow.
http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2016-09-03/calypsonian-king-austin-dies-age-73
Replies
One of the best by test and most by toast. Deepest condolences and sincerest sympathies to family and friends and may his eternal soul RIP...
R.I.P. May God be with the family.
Let us honor him be writing Calypsoes that can be placed next to PROGRESS.
RAF
Rest in peace Sire! Good innings!
Yes Progress is really one of the greatest calypso ever
This is a masterpiece. Poetry in song. May he rest in peace.
Saturday morning as the original article said!!! Did you think that PROGRESS is one of the greatest calypsoes ever?
My sincerest condolence's to the king family, I would always remember him singing that calypso on demarche gras and up to this day could not understand how he did not win the crown that night, may his soul rest in peace.
King Austin - Progress
Nicolas Elias... Possibly the greatest calypso ever made... Thanks to Winsford "Joker" Devine for the excellent composition....
This song is just as relevant now as it was then and we as a people should heed its message before it is too late....
Enjoy brothers and sisters....
"Today as I look around in the
world what do I see?
I see.
Footprints that man has left
On the sand
While walking through time.
I see,
Fruits of our ambitions
Figments of our imaginations
And I ask myself
When will it end
When will it end
It is plain to see
Universally,
This land is not bountiful as it was
Simply because
In his quest for success
Nothing stands in man's way
Old rivers run dry
Soon the birds won't fly
The mountains will be no longer high
And I wonder why?
I see
Charity deplored
Equal rights
Totally ignored
Wisdom and ingenuity
working in accord
Simply to afford such inventions
As thermonuclear warfare
And environmental warfare
And I wonder now
Where do we go from here
Prophets everywhere
Gaze upon the horizons
And declare that judgment will come
As the savage hands of
unscrupulous men
Defile everything passing by
Time is running out
As we eat and drink
Species on the brink
Of being extinct
And I think
No one can deny
The price of progress is high
I see consciousness abate
As today,
We live recklessly
Money
Makes egos inflate
And, thereby, creates,
A turbulent state.
I see a struggle
Between the sexes
New hang-ups and old complexes
Now the question is
Right in context
What shall be next?
I have already seen
The world has become divided
Between race, colour, creed and class
And some of the things
The scriptures predict
Truthfully come to pass
Soil that wouldn't bear
Children making children
To be part of this growing mass
And I ask
If this is progress
How long will it last?"