Total Kaiso in the dance

June 15, 2001

WITH The Mighty Sparrow, Black Stalin, 3-Canal, Roy Cape & the Kaiso All Stars, DJ Earl Crosby and the St James Tripolians as its music resource, Monday night’s Back in Time Kaiso Dance is all set to be one of calypso’s greatest celebrations ever.

New York-based Sparrow, whose first-class air travel home is fully sponsored by BWIA, brings with him five musicians. Drummer Anthony “Bugsy” Niles, trombonist Phillip Nicholls, saxophonist Dennis “Big D” Wilkinson, bassist and arranger Don “Sunshine” Diaz and ace trumpeter Errol Ince; who will supplement the Kaiso All Stars for Birdie’s 40 minute performance.

Like Sparrow, Stalin, a regular on the Roy Cape bandstand for the past 20 years, was up to this week trying to figure out which songs to exclude from his repertoire.

Event organisers, Dear Friends and Gentle People have stipulated that the night’s music must comprise exclusively, calypsoes from the period 1956 to 1990.

Rapso group 3-Canal, one of the acts donating its performance to the dance’s deeper cause, is in with a single song, Merchant’s “Um Ba Yao”, a remake of which is included in their 2001 album Heroes of Wha?

In addition, DJ Earl Crosby has come out of his recently announced retirement to supervise the spin, which will include titles selected by nine Celebrity DJs from catalogues of the period.

Express Editor Keith Smith has among his ten selections the little-heard “Bassman” by Nelson. Smith promises to release a second listing.

Columnist BC Pires remembered Bally’s “Shaka, Shaka”. Guardian Entertainment Editor, Peter Ray Blood dug deep for “Carnival Coming” by Count and Daily Editor Andy Johnson came up with a number of gems, including Fitz Vaughan Bryan’s “Tan Tan”, King Shortshirt’s “Tourist Leggo” and “Soca Pressure”.

From Mirror Editor Ken Ali we have Byron Lee’s “Tiney Winey” and Kitchener’s “Sugar Bum Bum” among his ten, TTT Dateline presenter Allyson Hennessy revived “Miss Tourist by Kitchener and had at number two, “Woman on the Bass” by Scrunter.

TV6 Head of News Maxie Cuffie went way back for Becket’s “Ah Comin’ High”, agreed on “Sugar Bum Bum” and gave Merchant and David Rudder two picks each.

Imij & Co manager George Ng Wai jumped into the fray with some vintage sing-along songs, including “Santa” by Jackson, Explainer’s “Lorraine” and “Husband and Wife Business” by The Hawk.

Comedian and calypso historian Sprangalang is instructive in his choices. He tabled “Party Fever” by Scorcher, Bro Idi’s “The Pump”, “Nah Do It” by Protector and Squibby’s “Iron Man” as part of his bag.

And don’t think because no one selected songs like Brigo’s “Limbo Break”, Wellington’s “Miss Mc Carthy Party” or King Austin’s “Progress”, those songs will not play at the dance.

Dear Friends and Gentle People has requested the services of the Colonial Life Insurance Company (Clico) to do the actuarial design of what is essentially a contributory health plan and undertake ongoing management of the portfolio.

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