Flying high

Mighty Sparrow swoops into town

by Alan Waters

Long before ragga or zouk or dancehall or digitalized soca or any of the Caribbean's other high-tech sounds, there was calypso -- Trinidad's infectious and lilting music of social commentary. And the towering figure of modern calypso is undoubtedly the Mighty Sparrow, who comes to Symphony Hall as part of the Bank of Boston Celebrity Series this Saturday.

For those who associate calypso with Harry Belafonte ballads and lounge exotica, Sparrow is a whole other deal. His is a big-band sound, full of punchy rhythmic horn lines and politically charged lyrics. The calypso has been part of West Indian culture since the 19th century, when it developed as an art form designed to address the struggles and woes of average people in everyday life. Borrowing cadences and polyrhythmic phrasings from West Africa, singers used satire and double entendre to vent the popular feelings of the day, on topics ranging from economics and politics to sexual morality and social hypocrisy.

Born Slinger Francisco in 1935, on the island of Grenada, Sparrow and his family relocated to Trinidad and Tobago in 1937, where his father was working as a carpenter. He began singing as a schoolboy, though he was mostly confined to ballads and other innocuous songs, since the calypso style was deemed too controversial. But then in 1956, with his hit song "Jean and Dinah," he won the Carnival Road March competition in Port of Spain, and this launched his career as one of the West Indies' pre-eminent entertainers.

After four decades of performing and recording, with upwards of 60 albums and numerous awards and honors to his credit, the Mighty Sparrow now divides his time between New York and Trinidad. On the phone from New York he describes some of the issues he's dealing with in his newest compositions. "I am concerned about the royal divorce in England"; he explains that this is relevant to Trinidad as a Commonwealth nation and as a former British colony because the entire calypso movement -- with its "kings" and "monarchs" and "lords" -- has been shaped by the grandiose imagery and aura of the British royalty.

He adds, "I am also singing about O.J. Simpson. In fact, I've got two compositions on this topic. The first one is called `The Juice Is Loose,' and the second one is called `The Juice Ran Out.' The first one seems a little bit unnecessary now, and I am midway in composition of the second one." Another recent song called "Neurosis of the Rich" proposes "that the wealthy have grown perturbed about the attention that poor people are getting these days," and concludes that "the rich are jealous of the poor for this very reason."

The rhythmic pulse of calypso underwent a dramatic change in the late 1970s with the introduction of faster tempos, disco-oriented drum patterns, and an increasing reliance on synthetic, programmable sounds. This led to the hard-driving, up-tempo style of soca exemplified in Arrow's 1983 megahit "Hot, Hot, Hot." Some purists complain that calypso has been taken over and ruined by this simpler, less subtle party music. The Mighty Sparrow has stayed the course through these stylistic shifts; he can even claim to have initiated some of the changes himself. Back in the early '60s, for example, his "Ten to One Is Murder" departed from the normal mid-tempo format with a surprisingly rapid vocal delivery.

"Quick tempos are nothing new to me. People were telling me in 1961 that I was singing too fast because I was the one who introduced the hot tempo into calypso." But unlike so many of today's soca productions, Sparrow keeps his focus on the words. "I can keep up with the best of them, and in addition I try to be as articulate as I can in the song so people can get the very fast tempo and still understand every one of my lyrics. My lyrical content remains solid."

The Mighty Sparrow performs regularly with his 10-piece Troubadours band while simultaneously pursuing a heavy recording schedule. He and the Troubadours' musical director, Don "Sunshine" Diaz, are planning a tour that will include Japan and South Africa. They'll visit Ghana this spring following Sparrow's just-released Soca Lover on the West Indian Ice Records label.

Sparrow is clear about his direction for the future: "What we are doing now is to take the calypso as far as we can, all around the world." And he'll continue to apply his comic sense and wry intelligence in "dealing with the issues of the day and with the concerns of ordinary people."

The Mighty Sparrow and his Troubadours perform this Saturday, March 1, at 8 p.m. at Symphony Hall. Also on the bill is Trinidad's leading steel-band ensemble, Panazz Players. Call 266-1200.