The Crotchet and the Quaver

Classic calypso in 2016.  Original (ca. 1944): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB159Ac7sh0

Lloyd Simmons - "She's Got Freckles on Her, But"

Duke of Iron - "I Left Her Behind For You"

I feel like a dolt for only hearing this now.

(via S West)

A longer version of the video I posted last week. This cut (from the Minneapolis Public Library) contains more footage from Trinidad.

Pete Seeger Family Short Films: How to Make a Steel Drum

Further explorations into the East Asian penetration of West Indian music.

I was wondering if I could find any other East Asian calypso tunes after discovering Grace Chang's "Oh Calypso." The first thing that came up is this Chang Loo version of Nat King Cole's "Calypso Blues." Earlier this year I tried finding every version of that song (admittedly, not a calypso) and I did not come across this decent little freakbeat, so a happy find, even if it's not within this Tumblr's normal purview.

Same Grace Chang version of "Oh Calypso" from yesterday's post, but this one overlaid with a pantomime from the Taiwanese film The Hole.

Grace Chang - Oh Calypso (from The Air Hostess, 1959)

For a much more scholarly take on calypso off-Tumblr. I definitely feel guilty that I don't take more time to read everything this guy writes.