BARBUDA'S FIRST CARIBANA - Antigua & Barbuda

54
Calypso
profile
In 1962, a year before taking his
Senior Cambridge examinations
(the equivalent of today’s CXC) a
young school boy from Willikies
sauntered confidently onto a
Carnival stage for the first time.
He was driven home later that night
in a not so small car loaded with
gifts. He was adjudged the second
runner-up winner of the Calypso
competition. His sobriquet was
“The Mighty Swallow.”
Today, the Mighty Swallow,
although a humble, regular,
unassuming, friendly and downto-earth
“country boy” can boast
of a list of achievements which
should make every Antiguan and
Barbudan proud that he is a son of
the soil. He has been our musical
ambassador ‘par excellence.’ He
has captured the local Calypso
Monarchy four (4) times and the
Road March title five (5) times.
Mas
Music
F a n t a s y
Rupert King Swallow Philo
He has reigned as Caribbean
Calypso King with the added
distinction of capturing the Road
March title and the Calypso King
honor all in the same season. He
has three Sunshine Award
trophies in his possession
and has received national
honours in Trinidad and
Tobago, Grenada and
the Grand Cross of the
Most Order of Princely
Heritage here at home.
He has also served as
Ambassador-at-Large
and has performed
in countless cities
worldwide, while
holding the
distinction of being
the first calypsonian
to grace the Radio
City Music Hall
stage. He has
shared the stage
with and earned
the admiration
and respect
of every
calypsonian in
the business.
King Swallow’s illustrious career did
not follow any blueprint prepared
by him. He nurtured his singing
talent in the church and developed
his love for singing calypso in his
hometown with the encouragement
of his school friend, J.D. (Jerome
Ramsey). Swallow also spent a lot
of time listening to calypso records
from a juke box close to his school
in town. But, it was a decision to
terminate him from his job, because
he and other workers took industrial
action and maintained their
principled position that jettisoned
him into the entertainment field as
a professional calypsonian. The
year was 1976. With his ‘pink slip’
Bernard Percival
in hand he was convinced that he
could survive without the job he
was driving away from. He would
now return to his “Soca Kingdom”
fulltime.
During the more than thirty years
that have elapsed since Swallow’s
permanent change of careers,
his string of soca hits with their
vibrant, fiery and pulsating rhythms
have created frenzy whenever and
wherever he performs. This has
resulted, in some measure, to the
overshadowing of his mastery of
the political or social commentary
as evidenced by classics such
as “Dawn of a New Day,” “One
Hope, One Love, One Destiny,”
“Rise, Antigua Rise,” and “Man to
Man.” But when we add hits that
mesmerized the crowd like “Don’t
Stop the Party,” “Party in Space,”
“Subway Jam,” “Satan Coming
Down,” and “Soca Kingdom,” we
complete the definition of a ‘master
at work and the “ruler of his soca
kingdom.”
Apart from Swallow’s fierce
competitive attitude, buttressed
by the overwhelming support
from the “followers” from the
East, the fighting spirit of his long
standing friendly rival, the Monarch
(King Short Shirt), contributed
significantly to some of the biggest
crowds at the Carnival City for
any Calypso Competition. Those
moments on stage, according to
Swallow, were the most satisfying
of his career. But, he also found
great satisfaction in establishing
and managing, with the assistance
of a number of long standing
calypsonians and some corporate
sponsors, Antigua’s oldest and
most consistent calypso tent,
“Swallow’s Calypso Pepperpot,”
the ‘university of calypsos.