Edric Connor
Edric Connor (1913-1968) was a Trinidadian folklorist, singer and actor who became well known in British theater, television, movies, radio and recordings. In 1943 he delivered a lecture-recital in Trinidad on Caribbean folksongs and dances, which was one of the first times that steelband and limbo were presented in a concert setting. He migrated to England in 1944 and immediately began presenting calypsos and Caribbean folksongs on BBC radio. In 1951 he organized a variety of performances for the Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra (TASPO), while they were in London for the Festival of Britain. Connor recorded albums of Jamaican and Trinidadian folksongs, as well as calypsos. He gave many concerts, acted in various West End plays and appeared in Shakespeare's Pericles at Stratford-upon-Avon.
Among the feature films in which Connor acted were Cry, The Beloved
Country (1952) Moby Dick (1956), Fire Down Below (1957)
and King of Kings (1961). He also became a filmmaker himself: he
shot one of the first documentaries on the Trinidad Carnival and was working
on a film in Africa before his untimely death. Connor's wife Pearl was
also prominent in the arts. Originally a dancer with Beryl McBurnie's
troupe in Trinidad, she established a booking agency for Caribbean, African
and Asian artists in England in 1956.
