A Brooklyn-based calypso group has honored “five top legends” in the art form.
Three Star Productions honored the “legends” at a pre-Father’s Day show and awards ceremony at the Three Star Juice Lounge on Utica Avenue in Brooklyn.
They comprised calypso greats the Mighty Sparrow, Calypso Rose and Lord Nelson, and record producers Granville Straker and Rawlston Charles.
The ceremony also featured, among others, Winston Soso, Frankie McIntosh, Miles McIntosh, Glenda Ifill, Mikey Jarrett, Princess Pat Muko and Singing Dianne.
Sparrow, the Calypso King of the World, last week received the Carlos Lezama Lifetime Achievement Award from the Brooklyn-based West Indian American Day Carnival Association (WIADCA) at a gala reception at Giando on The Water Catering House in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.
The late Lezama, who was born in Venezuela and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, was the founder and fist president of WIADCA. The group was formed in 1967.
Sparrow, 78, whose real name is Slinger Francisco, was born on July 9, 1935 in the rural fishing village of Grand Roy in Grenada.
He moved to Trinidad and Tobago with his mother when he was only a year old. His father had relocated there in 1937.
A calypso singer, songwriter and guitarist, Sparrow won the Calypso King or Monarch title in Trinidad and Tobago 11 times – more than anyone else – and the Road March title eight times, also more than anyone other than the late Lord Kitchener, who was considered the grand master of composition and rhythm. Sparrow has more than 75 albums to his credit, WIADCA said.
Photo by Nelson A. King
