When I heard of Lord Blakie’s passing I was listening to one of his calypso hits of yesteryear “Sparrow Loss.” In that tune Blakie took offense at the manner in which Sparrow responded to his loss of the calypso monarch to calypsonian Bomber and the response from the judges. It was Sparrow’s second loss. The first loss was to calypsonian Dougla. Before those losses Sparrow never lost a competition. So, Sparrow was upset. Some even reported that he threatened Bomber. So, Blakie used his calypso “Sparrow Loss” to inform the ‘respectable’ authorities that their favorable treatment of Sparrow would lead to their downfall. He felt that if it was he (Blakie) who had expressed the unseemly behavior that Sparrow expressed the ‘respectable’ authorities “…. would have put have put an X next to my name and no matter how good I sang I would not win the competition.” Blakie was one of the few calypsonians who was not intimidated by Sparrow. As a matter of fact his disagreements with Sparrow led to his opening his own calypso Tent called Victory. At that time the Brigade had all the calypso stars singing in their Tent. But, Blakie was able to draw a few of the young calypsonians to his Tent and did a pretty good job the first year. But, its tenure was short due to mismanagement and other infighting. He was the first calypsonian to break from Sparrow’s Tent, the Original Young Brigade.
click for full story
When I heard of Lord Blakie’s passing I was listening to one of his calypso hits of yesteryear “Sparrow Loss.” In that tune Blakie took offense at the manner in which Sparrow responded to his loss of the calypso monarch to calypsonian Bomber and the response from the judges. It was Sparrow’s second loss. The first loss was to calypsonian Dougla. Before those losses Sparrow never lost a competition. So, Sparrow was upset. Some even reported that he threatened Bomber. So, Blakie used his calypso “Sparrow Loss” to inform the ‘respectable’ authorities that their favorable treatment of Sparrow would lead to their downfall. He felt that if it was he (Blakie) who had expressed the unseemly behavior that Sparrow expressed the ‘respectable’ authorities “…. would have put have put an X next to my name and no matter how good I sang I would not win the competition.” Blakie was one of the few calypsonians who was not intimidated by Sparrow. As a matter of fact his disagreements with Sparrow led to his opening his own calypso Tent called Victory. At that time the Brigade had all the calypso stars singing in their Tent. But, Blakie was able to draw a few of the young calypsonians to his Tent and did a pretty good job the first year. But, its tenure was short due to mismanagement and other infighting. He was the first calypsonian to break from Sparrow’s Tent, the Original Young Brigade.
click for full story
You need to be a member of When Steel Talks to add comments!
Replies