Caribbean Beat — 25th Anniversary Edition — March/April 2017 (#144)

2 • Ariane rocket lifts off
from French Guiana
Summer 1992
Photo courtesy Arianespace
A Caribbean rocket
launch? Yes: since 1971 the
Centre Spatial Guyanais
in Kourou, French Guiana,
has been the major
launching site for the
European space agency,
thanks to its location near
the equator — where
the earth’s spin gives an
extra nudge to departing
rockets, allowing them to
carry a heavier payload.
3 • Trinidadian masman
Peter Minshall
Autumn 1992
Photo by Maria Espeus
4 • Fashion ensemble by
Shirley de Cabral
Winter 1992/3
Photo by Harold Prieto
David Rudder’s soulful portrait on the cover of our Spring 1994 issue introduced a profile by
writer Debbie Jacob, who tackled the question of whether and how the popular Trinidadian
singer would find an international “breakthrough.” Twenty-three years later, Jacob looks back
at Rudder’s career in music:
9 • Trinidadian calypsonian
David Rudder
Spring 1994
Photo by Abigail Hadeed
When David Rudder graced the cover of
Caribbean Beat in 1994, he’d already been
a defining voice of Trinidad and Tobago
Carnival for eight years. At that pivotal point
of his musical career, calypso fans could look
back on the bluesy, soulful soca singer from
Charlie’s Roots who in 1986 became the first
lead singer from a brass band to capture the
national calypso monarch title with “The
Hammer”, a tribute to the late, great pan
arranger Rudolph Charles, and the “Bahia
Girl” with her bouncy Baptist beat. In that
moment, he had redefined the calypso stage
in much the way the Mighty Sparrow did in
Rudder is a performer who carved an
original place in calypso history
the 1950s, making it a daring display of rich,
lyrical social commentary with an upbeat,
jazzed-up, soca beat.
By 1994, Rudder had penned “Rally
’Round the West Indies”, which would
become the theme song of the West Indies
cricket team. He had songs featured in the
Hollywood movie Wild Orchid. And the hits
kept coming: “Haiti”, a lyrical lament for the
Caribbean nation; “The Engine Room”, a
tribute to the percussion side of a steelband;
and “Calypso Music”, a joyful history of the
art form. By 1995, he had become bolder
and more political by offering the album The
Lyrics Man, with his distinct brand of calypso
rap, including stinging political irony in
“Another Day in Paradise”.
By 1998, Rudder had climbed to the
pinnacle of success with the album Beloved.
Projecting a strong sense of history, Rudder
crossed musical boundaries and injected a
sense of spirituality into Carnival with “High
Mas”, a collision of puns that stretched from
the Roman Catholic church’s sacred liturgies
to the profane street theatre of Carnival. The
celebratory experience of Trinidad culture
culminated in the title song “Beloved”, a
nostalgic look at the island’s soul-filled
sense of community. The following year, he
addressed the growing ethnic rift perceived
by many people in politics and society with a
calypso reminding Carnival revellers of their
ethnic roots, represented by the rivers that
define their history: “The Ganges and the
Nile”.
Rudder’s career took a new direction
when he married and moved to Canada in
2002. That experience would manifest itself
the following year in “Trini to the Bone”,
a celebration of those roots that ensure
Rudder’s connection to Carnival and elevate
him to the role of calypso ambassador.
Distance has not eroded the legacy of his
lasting voice: he’s destined to be remembered
as a performer who carved an original place
in calypso history.
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