00:00As the carnival season heats up and new soccer music fills the airwaves, Bokas Litfest has introduced a new series titled Kaiso 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 calypsoian, but rather a storyteller with social observation always at the heart of his work.
00:34In my very early songs from the 60s and 70s, 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 the 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 rants.
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 lander of a melody?
01:45And does the rhythm tell you, come, come, come, come, come? Does your spirit do and 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 discovery?
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 parries its own message.
02:35There's another song called Control, where I was talking about two people coming to the first slide.
02:43And on the flight, on the Caribbean Airlines flight, the attendants whining.
02:48So they're kind of watching on.
02:50And 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 immigration.
03:06He said, but, and he 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, that's what 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.
03:32Charlotte Kisto, TV6 News.
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