Caribbean Beat — January/February 2018 (#149)

Sandy-Lewis)’s 1977 hit “Tempo” forever ended the
Sparrow-Kitchener axis with a Road March that
was all about melody, and a chorus that echoed
the percussiveness of “Bass Man”. Rose became
the first female champion of the road, singing
triumphantly over a music bed that made liberal
use of modern synthesiser technology.
Kitchener, who understood music in a particularly
deep and profound way, would put his stamp
on the young people’s soca music, by then the
dominant form in play at Carnival parties and on
the road, with 1978’s “Sugar Bum Bum”, but would
have greater success developing complex musical
ideas for the steelband, most notably with “The
Bee’s Melody” and “Pan in A Minor”.
The “revenge”
Road March
The story of the Road March after “Bass
Man” and “Tempo” is a narrative of conflict
between the traditional calypso art form
and soca, its funk-influenced derivative, alongside
the rising importance of the disc jockey as the
preferred delivery mechanism for the music of the
road, eventually overwhelming the role of the live
performing band.
Soca’s hypnotic beat was cemented as the
commanding presence in the Road March between
1977 and 1990, but in 1991 the freshly rechristened
Superblue — born Austin Lyons, and formerly
known as Blue Boy — would introduce the lyric-ascommand
to the road mix with the urgent chorus
of “Get Something and Wave”. In the twenty-seven
Shadow’s 1974 Road
March, “Bass Man”, was
a game-changer for
Carnival music
The Calypso Monarch
competition once
required finalists to sing
two songs for a marking
system that encouraged
the performance of a
“serious” calypso and
a party number. In
1974, Sparrow won the
competition with a pair
of songs tailor-made
for the requirements of
the competition, “We
Pass that Stage” and
“Miss Mary”. That year,
Shadow performed
“Bass Man” and “I Come
Out to Play”, two songs
popular in parties. From
J’Ouvert on Carnival
Monday, it was clear
that masqueraders were
intent on redressing the
Calypso Monarch judges’
verdict, demanding “Bass
Man” for two days and
making Shadow’s vertical
prance the dance of the
festival.
“That wasn’t revenge
as much as it was
pure street justice,”
recalls Gordon Rohlehr.
“There is an element of
mischievous fun in the
Road March.”
mark lyndersay/lyndersaydigital.com
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