"Cent, five cents, ten cents, dollar." are the words of a famous calypso song. The Oxford dictionary defines calypso as a "West Indian song with improvised, usually up to date words." Calypso rhythms can be traced back to the arrival of the first African slaves brought to work in the sugar plantations of Trinidad. Forbidden to talk to each other, and robbed of all links to family and home, the slaves began to sing songs. They used calypso, which can be traced back to West African Kaiso, as a means of communication and to mock the slave masters.
Calypso singing competitions held annually at carnival time grew in popularity after the abolition of slavery by the British in the 1830s. It was the French who brought the tradition of Carnival to Trinidad. The griot later became known as the chantuelle and today as the calypsonian.
The year 1914 was a landmark in the history of calypso. This was the year that the first calypso recording was made. The late 1920s gave birth to the first......
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