00:00As the carnival season heats up and new soccer music fills the airwaves, Bokas Litfest has introduced a new series titled Kaizo Conversations, dedicated to the craft of calypso writing and its rich creative traditions.
00:14The series explores calypso as a storytelling medium, examining its role in social commentary and cultural expression. Cultural icon David Rudder was the first featured guest. He said he never viewed himself solely as a calypsonian, but rather a storyteller with social observation always at the heart of his work.
00:34Even my very early songs from the 60s and 70s were social bent it. So it's from that platform that I developed. It's my own style, but the whole heart of it, the soul of it, is calypso. It's the best way to tell a story.
01:00Rudder also shared that much of his inspiration comes from everyday life and ordinary people.
01:06So sometimes a lot of people I listen to are people who are not well known. And it's like, I think that's the reason why I pick up a lot of vibes when I'm going to talk. A madman might say something.
01:20That madman rant.
01:21Yeah, somebody might say something and they're gone. And I say, but, you know, nobody else didn't say that.
01:28The calypso legend then treated the audience to his 40-year-old hit song, Calypso Music.
01:34Can you hear a distant drum bouncing on the laughter of a melody?
01:45And does the rhythm tell you, come, come, come, come, come? Does your spirit do a dance to this symphony?
01:51Does it tell you that your heart is a fire? Does it tell you that your pain is a liar? Does it wash away all your uncertainty?
02:07Well, are you ready for a brand new discovery?
02:14Calypso, calypso, calypso music, yeah, yeah.
02:23Rudder said songs like Calypso Music, Madman Rant, and Control came to him naturally, adding that while not every song is intended to make a statement, each carries its own message.
02:35There's another song called Control, where I was talking about two people coming to the first time, and on the Caribbean Airlines flight, the attendants whining.
02:48So they're kind of watching on, and they say, somebody said, at the end they said they lost something, but I can't understand what they said, but they lost something.
02:56So when they got to take immigration, people rolling their backside and building their immigration, they said, but, and they said, the country lost, the country lost, the country lost, and things, right?
03:12And only to finally end the day, what they lost, what they lose, what we lose, we lose so much, what we lose, control, right, so we lose.
03:22Kaiso Conversations continues as part of Bokas Lit Fest's mission to celebrate and preserve the storytelling tradition at the heart of calypso music.
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