San Fernando pays homage to legendary Sparrow

RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

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The Mighty Spar­row may have passed, but the ca­lyp­so fra­ter­ni­ty is in­sist­ing that the art form he helped shape, pop­u­larise and car­ry around the world will live on.

As trib­utes con­tin­ue to pour in for Dr Slinger “Mighty Spar­row” Fran­cis­co, ca­lyp­so­ni­ans and cul­tur­al fig­ures across Trinidad and To­ba­go are us­ing his death to reaf­firm the en­dur­ing place of ca­lyp­so in the na­tion’s cul­tur­al iden­ti­ty.

Spar­row, who died on Sun­day at the age of 91, was re­mem­bered at San Fer­nan­do City Hall yes­ter­day, where a con­do­lence book has been opened for mem­bers of the pub­lic to sign.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia, San Fer­nan­do May­or Robert Par­ris said Spar­row’s pass­ing should strength­en ef­forts to in­tro­duce young peo­ple to the art form.

“Ca­lyp­so is the grand­fa­ther of hip-hop,” Par­ris said, stress­ing the need to ed­u­cate young peo­ple about its im­por­tance.

For TU­CO chair­man and vet­er­an ca­lyp­son­ian Steve Pas­call, bet­ter known as Ras Kom­man­da, Spar­row’s lega­cy demon­strates why ca­lyp­so can­not die.

“Spar­row was unique. He was a con­sum­mate en­ter­tain­er,” Pas­call said. “He was more than a po­lit­i­cal com­men­ta­tor. He was more than a so­cial com­men­ta­tor. He was an en­ter­tain­er.”

Pas­call said Spar­row’s death had giv­en added sig­nif­i­cance to Ca­lyp­so His­to­ry Month, which be­gins to­day.

He urged the pub­lic to en­sure the art form re­mained part of every­day life, en­cour­ag­ing fam­i­lies to lis­ten to ca­lyp­so and schools to teach its his­to­ry.

“By ca­lyp­so, our sto­ries are told,” he said.

Hum­ming­bird Gold na­tion­al awardee and Kaiso­ca Moko Jumbies founder Ju­nior Bis­nath said Spar­row’s name would re­main syn­ony­mous with the genre.

“When you talk about ca­lyp­so, you talk about the Mighty Spar­row,” Bis­nath said.

“There is no oth­er ca­lyp­son­ian, in my point of view, who can re­al­ly en­ter­tain like the Mighty Spar­row.”

Bis­nath said Spar­row’s lega­cy would live on “as long as there is ca­lyp­so”.

A 10-foot mu­si­cal note and a ban­ner doc­u­ment­ing Spar­row’s ca­reer, in­clud­ing his Road March and Ca­lyp­so King vic­to­ries, were al­so un­veiled. The ban­ner is to be dis­played at the Ca­lyp­so and Folk Mu­se­um on Hen­ry Street, San Fer­nan­do.

Mean­while, at Rhythm and Brews Cafe at Gulf City Mall, pa­trons al­so paid trib­ute through mu­sic, cel­e­brat­ing Spar­row’s voice, mu­sic and spir­it.

Joel John, who per­formed dur­ing the trib­ute, said Spar­row’s death should al­so serve as a re­minder to ho­n­our the coun­try’s cul­tur­al icons while they are still alive.

“We just need to learn to pay trib­ute to them while they’re still here,” John said.

He said Spar­row may be gone, but the mu­sic and the sto­ries he helped make part of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s cul­tur­al iden­ti­ty will con­tin­ue.