Calypso and VI culture | Flax-Charles calls for genre’s revival

Former legislator Shereen Flax-Charles has said there is a stigma around Calypso music in the community and has issued a call for a revival of the musical genre that had a stronger influence decades ago.

Just like reggae music, Calypso was used as a vehicle for social change and commentary when eastern Caribbean nations groaned under the weight of colonialism.

Flax-Charles, who is a Calypsonian, said because of the lyrical content, many persons have shied away from Calypso and a stigma developed where the genre was seen as problematic. However, she said the community must remember that Calypso is a vehicle for social and political commentary.

“We need to fix the stigma of Calypso being a negative thing. Because if you look at the history of where it came from and where we are today, fighting to come from under the fists of colonialism, Calypso played a major role in that and it has from the days of slavery,” Flax-Charles explained. “We also need to get into the schools and be able to have competitions, just to showcase. We need to have a writers’ group because that is the beginning — you need writers because not all artistes write their own songs. That’s where I think we need to go.”

Calypso is part of the culture

She said Calypso has been a part of Virgin Islands’ culture and should not be allowed to disappear. She further said corporate companies must support Calypso music, just like they did in the past.

“We spoke about corporate sponsorship. What I’ve found over the years is that some of them are not inclined to sponsor but in other countries, they (Calypso artistes) get full support from the corporate world,” Flax-Charles stated.

She also implored Calypso artistes to be confident in their craft instead of being deterred when their lyrics evoke responses from people.

“You have to be brave, you have to be confident because sometimes the temperature within the society might not allow for it but if we go back to our constitution, we have freedom of speech and expression and no one should fault you for expressing your opinion whether verbally or in song,” Flax-Charles stated.

 She also said there have been some challenges with getting more local Calypso acts to perform at the annual emancipation festival. But she said she believes the BVI needs to do more to revive competitions and events around Calypso in order to engender love among people in the territory.

“I think we need to make a concerted effort to get Calypso back on track. I remember when we used to have literally 2,000 people at a Calypso competition here in the BVI. I did mention that in other countries, corporate companies sponsor Calypsonians to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars for props, to make sure they have their music recorded and things like that,” Flax-Charles stated.