What Is Calypso?  


Calypso is a concept that represents many different things to many traditions, cultures and philosophies.

Astronomically: 

Picture
Calypso is one of the named moons, or natural satellites, of Saturn. Calypso co-orbits Saturn with two other moons, Telesto and Tethys. Calypso along with Telesto are two of the smallest moons in the solar system.

To the Greeks:

Picture
 Calypso was a nymph, the daughter of Atlas, in Homer's Odyssey, who lived on the island of Ogygia where she entertained Odysseus for seven years, offering him immortality if he chose to remain. Calypso can bring immortality to you, should you accept its offer.

Botanically:

Picture
Calypso is a terrestrial orchid (Calypso bulbosa) and is native to northern temperate regions, it blooms a rose-pink flower with an inflated pouch-like lip, coloured white, purple, and yellow.

Calypso Music:

Picture
has been defined as a style of Afro-Caribbean Music originating in Trinidad and Tobago, and whose roots are embedded in the soil of West African traditions fertilized by French cultural expressions.

 
The Role of Calypso.
Calypsoes chronicles to us a stunning legacy of our civilisation. They build for us monuments of wonder and archaeological maps of our pilgrimage. The calypsoes over the last seventy-five (75) years, consist of predictions about the world. They contain realistic historical re-creations of events as they occurred in society.

Who or What is a Calypsonian?
An artsite who sings, composes and performs Calypso music is considered a Calypsonian. Calypsonaians represent the chroniclers of time and events; they are the voice of the voiceless, prophets and naysayers, entertainers, messengers and advocates. Calypsonians possess an innate ability to read the unspoken language of the people, and to translate their subliminal codes, into an audible harmonic language, that expresses the known yet unknown, the seen yet unseen, the silent yet loud cry of the people.

The Calypsonian in a traditional context is apolitical, and holds no inclinations towards any political ideology. The neutrality of the Calypsonain is established by the expectations of the people, that the Calypsonian shall be their voice, to say what they want said, when they want it said. The Calypsonian is to be as a balance wheel, providing new insight, as to how calypso can be a medium to curb further decline of the morals and values of our society.

Obligations of a Calypso Monarch.
A monarchy was an important aspect of the cultural and political history of a nation. The monarch was a living representative of generations of rulers, and was treated as a figure of reverence. The primary obligations of the monarch were to care for and attend to the welfare of the people. 

So too, today, the Calypso Monarch is a living representative of the generations of Calypso Kings, Calypso Queens, and of all Calypso Monarchs who reigned before. The Calypso Monarch is the “Guardian of the rights of Calypsonians” and protector of the artform. The monarch’s role is critical to the continued existence of the calypso realm.The role of the Calypso Monarch may be considered ceremonial by many. However, the Monarch is the Chief Ambassador, primary advocate and custodian of the codex and principles that characterises the nobility of the art.

Questions of Calypso.
Does calypso in its manifestation represent a confluence of cultures? Does it not represent a conversation of Africa, France, Greece, Spain and Britain? Is it not an innovation of the confluence of cultures? Does it not position Trinidad and Tobago as the laboratory that custodians this culture? Did the calypso culture spawn, Reggae, Soca, Rapso, Chutney Soca and other derivatives? 

Was it not and is it not the calypsonians who were and are the great composers, who write the scores that provide for the infectious rhythms of the steelpan, which still is the only musical invention of the 20th and 21st century?

Is the steelpan and its relationship to Calypso key innovations emerging from Trinidad and Tobago? Will history not therefore acknowledge our Calypsonians as the Mozart, Chopin and Beethoven of the new dawn?