Afrobella (Free subscription) | 07/12/2008
A rare Saturday post from me… I just flipped to CNN and saw that the most interesting program will be airing this weekend. Tonight and tomorrow night at 6 and 11 p.m., CNN will be airing Daughters of Legacy, conversation and remembrances by daughters of MLK, Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Johnnie Cochran and Sidney Poitier. [...]
Top Stories (Free subscription) | 07/03/2008
Most popular is song “Barack the Magnificent” by Trinidadian Calypso legend Mighty Sparrow.
The Gowanus Lounge (Free subscription) | 06/26/2008
Here are the lineups for two other significant Brooklyn summer concert series, one of which will feature shows by Jill Scott, Erykah Badu and Patti LaBelle. The other will have Micheal Bolton, Liza Minelli and others, which isn’t our thing, but is sure to appeal many as well, even for ironic hipster kitsch. (Brian Wilson [...]
Brooklyn Vegan (Free subscription) | 06/23/2008
The 26th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series performances are held Monday nights 7:30 pm at Wingate Field, entrances on Brooklyn Avenue (Rutland Road and Winthrop Street.)2008, Wingate Field, Brooklyn, NY July 14 - sweet summer soul w/...
Rock and Roll Daily (Free subscription) | 06/20/2008
Every Tuesday Single Minded highlights new tracks hitting stores (or the Web) this week. On Fridays, come back for rarities, remixes, mash-ups and more. The Ting Tings, “That’s Not My Name” [Kasper Bjorke Remix] Brit sensations get spit-shined and lasered-up in this shivery electro remix. Cody ChestnuTT, “Afrobama” [Campaign Song] Clawing his way out of obscurity, Cody ChestnuTT goes [...]
Advertising & marketing made easy (Free subscription) | 06/12/2008
It was Lord "Ras" Shorty's 1974 album Endless Vibrations that put soca on the international music map. Other calypso singers, including the biggest star of them all, the Mighty Sparrow, jumped on the soca bandwagon, and Shorty continued to deliver innovative recordings like "Om Shanti," a song based on a Hindu chant that was even covered in India itself and became a hit there. Keep up with the "inspired'...
Zero G Sound (Free subscription) | 06/08/2008
, Temperature is still high, so it´s time for some more soca... This irresistibly sun-drenched compilation includes some soca tunes from one of the world´s biggest street parties - Mas´ or Carnival. Tracklist: 01. Superblue - Bacchanal Time 02. Duke - Soca Have Me Tu Tul Bay 03. Mighty Sparrow - The More The Merrier 04. Black Stalin - Sundar 05. Barnett 'Preacher' Henry - Jump Up And Wave 06. Calypso...
Trinidad Express (Free subscription) | 06/07/2008
For the unwary The new Hyatt Hotel in Trinidad is in the old Port of Spain, along the docks where once upon a time and perhaps even now there was a "Gaza Strip", an area of bars and brothels that comprised a no-man's land populated by ladies of the night. I remember a bar with the sign, "Seamen and Seawomen Welcome". Monica Doo-Doo, a calypso by the Mighty Sparrow, has Monica explaining the departure...
Afrobella (Free subscription) | 06/03/2008
Say or feel what you will about Barack Obama’s race for the White House — it’s undeniable that his candidacy is inspiring not just to a variety of Americans, but to a vast range of cultures around the world. Especially in my neck of the woods. Talk to Caribbean people these days and you get [...]
OPEN ANTHROPOLOGY (Free subscription) | 05/17/2008
Slowly I have seen the emergence of Caribbean musical tributes to Barack Obama, something one ordinarily does not see happening with US presidential candidates, most of whom I would argue inspire indifference, resignation, or plain hostility in the English-speaking Caribbean which, without a language barrier, and with significant family connections, and blanketed by US media, [...]
GUYANA (Free subscription) | 05/16/2008
Governments would do well to employ a certain type of mama to negotiate with the *enemy* for them. It might be a’ unfair battle though. The *enemy* ain't got a chance. With just a few well-chosen words, these mamas gon make the *enemy* repent, give up in no time at all. Problem done. Trouble does only happen when these mamas produce daughters just like they selves…daughters who want to wrest sweet...
Trinidad Express (Free subscription) | 05/15/2008
Byron Lee must be very low for him to have asked the Mighty Sparrow to say a prayer for him and for Sparrow to relay that wish to the thousands at Randy Glasgow's Mother's Day concert on the weekend, Clarissa's son noting the night by singing his trenchant "Mother'' song, every calypsonian in his heart wanting to better Destroyer's "Mother's Love'', one of those calypsoes that have passed into legend,...
Trinidad Express (Free subscription) | 05/10/2008
"Soccer" and "sucker" are homophones. A homophone is not an electronic apparatus containing a receiver and transmitter connected to a telecommunications system and used exclusively by someone who is sexually attracted to members of the same sex. It is a word that is pronounced in the same way as one or more words but is different in meaning and sometimes spelling, like "male" and "mail". Soccer is...
Public Diplomacy (Free subscription) | 05/08/2008
Senator Obama has inspired yet two other musical cultivations, both coming from the Caribbean. The Mighty Sparrow, a Caribbean-American of of Grenadian/Trinidadian origin known as the “Calypso King of the World,” composed a song praising Obama. In the song, titled “Barack the Magnificent,” Sparrow sings: “Barack! Barack! He is fighting for openness and honest government. [...]
growabrain (Free subscription) | 05/08/2008
Nobody tells the truth Mighty Sparrow, Jamaican calypso king endorses Obama. (Click to listen) Previously posted: Cocoa Tea’s reggae tribute. Many more (92 as of now) songs written for, or about, Obama from all over the world The ObamaCorn Vote...
