BARBUDA'S FIRST CARIBANA - Antigua & Barbuda

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Calypso profile Shelly Tobitt Calypso Writer Extraordinaire Shelly Tobitt, one of Antigua and Barbuda’s most celebrated Calypso writers, who has written extensively for Sir McLean “King Short Shirt” Emanuel, as well as other artistes from Antigua and Barbuda and the wider Caribbean, was contacted for the following interview. Question: When did you first become involved in Calypso in Antigua? Answer: I started writing at about age 6. In August of 1955, Emancipation Day, my older brother Roosvelt Tobitt, better known then as Lord Black Shirt, sang in the calypso competition organized by a local printer by the name of Foster. This competition was held at the local labor union hall in Point, at lower St. John's Street. Below the union hall was a rum shop and the singers sang from a window overlooking the south entrance where there was a deep gutter separating the road. My brother worked as a printer for Foster and he encouraged him to sing in the show, and my brother took me along with him. My brother went on to win the competition, received a couple shillings and a bottle of rum as his prize, and a cardboard crown painted with gold paint. I was so excited by it all that night. My brother had a beautiful singing voice and wore a long black gown when he “sang around”, a term used then by calypso singers, as they went from corner to corner singing extempore. My brother was well known then, and though I was always afraid of him in his long black gown, I loved to hear him sing and would follow him around. I can remember him singing in the cotton fields, while we all picked cotton back then and on the tractors in the sugar cane fields, as we packed them with the canes to be transported to the locomotives that would take them to the factory to grind. We sang a lot of Benna extempore back then and I quickly learned the art of composing calypsos. Question: For how many years did you write? Answer: I still write on occasions, so I guess the jury is still out on that. However, there was a period from 1970 to 1989 when I wrote at least 50 songs a year. Question: Who did you write for? Answer: I wrote for almost everybody who was anybody in music then, and not just in Antigua. If I were to begin listing names I would be listing into next week. In a real sense, as a songwriter I was really competing against myself. It’s easier to list the names of Antiguan singers I never wrote for than it is to include all I did write for. There were many years when my songs were 124567 or 134567 in the calypso competitions. There were also many years where I produced multiple record albums. Later when I began totally arranging my own compositions, I was constantly writing music. I have written for singers from Antigua, St. Kitts, St.Thomas, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad. Question: How many winning compositions did you write? Answer: I cannot count them because I don’t keep track of them. Although I wanted my songs to win in the competitions, it was not to win that I wrote. I wrote to make a difference. To effect change – not just in the art form, but changes in the life of the people who valued my work. Change in their relative understandings, their way of living and thinking, in their festive conduct and culture. To win was nice, but to evolve and progress in a real sense was the goal. Question: What is your favorite song? Why? Answer: My favorite song is not among the generally accepted better songs that I have written, but it’s a song I like a lot because it speaks to me. It’s a song I wrote to myself, for myself, but shared with everyone through a recording of it. It’s called “Time’s running out – what you gonna do?”, but the name was shorten to something else – I don’t even remember what that was. It was a time in my life when I was faced with choices I had to make. They were hard choices I’d rather not make but knew I had to. There were regrets and sadness, anger, complacencies – total paradox. But, I wrote it and I listened to it over and over again, then I walked away, not forever, but I walked away. A few years later, I really, truly walked away. I know this paragraph is cryptic, but the people who would show any interest in reading this understand. Question: How does it make you feel that so many of your calypsos, particularly the social commentaries, are still so alive & fresh and have become classics? continued on p68 come celebrate our golden jubilee
68 continued from p67 Answer: Truth is a very powerful point of view. It lasts forever. If you are honest and your objectives are noble, it will outlive you. Style and a desire to be unique, a quest to be better, to be original, to be different; to never settle for mediocrity, enhances and make for a work of art, beauty and longevity. I always strived to do more and more than I did before. To create a stock recipe and keep using it because it worked once was not me. Taking chances that the listener may not get it, or like it, is what I do, even though I very well knew how to write something they would instantly love, I refrained from doing so in favor of extending their sense of appreciation and learning. It often takes my listeners a while to grasp my work, even if it’s ecstatically pleasing. And, as time passes they become more adept at being able to comprehend the fullness. That’s art. I love it. Question: How does it make you feel to know that your name is a household name, indelibly etched into our cultural history book? Answer: I didn’t ask for this. I did not begin writing to achieve this. Nothing I have ever done have been predicated on being acknowledged, or iconize. I simply wanted to write better, more articulate, intelligent songs about the society in which I lived. I wanted to raise the standard of the art form to one of respectability (from where it was, then), and legitimacy. I wanted to get people of affluence, class (much as I hate that word – it exists), and religious persuasion involved in Benna and Calypso, the music I love. Calypso was not a popular genre then. It was the music of the underclass, the wretched and desolate. Along with Steelband, it was their war cry. A way of saying I am somebody, I mattered. Those voices needed to be heard. That’s what I tried to do. If I succeeded I am happy. Mas Music F a n t a s y Question: Where did the motivation to write come from? Love of the art form? Love of country? Combination? Something else? Answer: I have a vivid recollection of a very passionate confrontation with Mr. Marcus Christopher – one of the great writers and cultural icons of Antigua. He wrote a lot of songs back then, still do to this day I believe. I went to a calypso show he produced and I believed he wrote many of the songs at that show. I thought they were horrible! I hated them! I was cussing mad! After the show I went backstage to see him. I said, “Did you write all dis (cussword, cussword) calypsos. They are awful!” He said, “Do you think you can do better?” I said, “I can, and I will.” ….and the rest is history. My father always wanted me to be a writer. That’s why he called me Shelly. He had this book of poetry by Percy B. C. Shelley, which he loved. When I was born he wrote my birth date in it and nicknamed me “Shelly”. I grew up reading and writing poetry. Writing calypsos became a natural pursuit. I began experimenting and exploring the excellence of the art of songwriting. Before long I was good at it. Question: Did you have any other community involvement? Answer: On the street where I was born, lower Bishopgate Street by the bakery, we had several community groups that I got involved with. One of significance gave birth to Outlet, which started out as a black cultural magazine (Black Power), and the ACLM – Afro Caribbean Liberation Movement. The early organizers and participants were Barry Stevens, Lesroy Merchant, and Henderson Bass (who played the guitar while I sang my songs). Jeffers and I, and a few others (please forgive me for forgetting names), encouraged me and they were my co-conspirators in the early days of my writings. Later, Tim Hector also became involved. The Outlet magazine was just that, an outlet for our talents, short stories, poetry, recipes, and other cultural tidbits. A period of oppressive politics and corrupt practices led to the politicizing of the Outlet as a newspaper, and the mouthpiece for ACLM, now renamed Antigua Caribbean Liberation Movement. A few years later I wrote a musical for Christmas at the request of Rev. Hodge called “The Nativity”. It was put to a production by Dorbrene O’Marde, and performed by Harambi. I spent a year teaching at Pares Secondary School, and after agreeing to a transfer request by the Director of Culture, Mr. Reginald Knight, I spent the next 14 years at the Cultural Department. As Musical Officer in the Department of Culture, I directed many cultural projects. Listing a few; I worked with the Department of Education and Mrs. Rosetta Ettinuff producing “Songs of our land” (I worked on many projects with Mrs. Ettinuff) I worked with several Schools on their school songs and national projects. I worked with the National Choir teaching sight singing. I directed the Junior Calypso program in Schools. I worked with the Antigua and Barbuda Police Band to produce music for the Junior Calypsos and some special functions. I arranged and directed the PMS Steel Orchestra in Independence Celebrations performance. I taught several after school classes in musical theory. I held several community classes in musical theory. I held several community classes in singing, compositions, and arrangements. I worked with local music studios to improve local recordings. I produced several Cultural Shows for the Cultural Department cultural celebrations. continuedon p70
Page 1 and 2: 38 King Goldie First Caribana King
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Page 9 and 10: 46 As far back as I can remember, a
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BARBUDA'S FIRST CARIBANA - Antigua & Barbuda

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