Performing Calypso
Part 1 | Part 2
Following white anti-black riots in Nottingham and Notting Hill (London) in 1958, Trinidadian Claudia Jones, editor of the local West Indian Gazette, organized an annual pre-Lenten Carnival celebration in London to reassert the presence of Caribbean people. The festival was held indoors in various London venues from 1959 until Jones's death in 1964. Among the artists featured over the years were U.K.-based calypsonian Mighty Terror and the Boscoe Holder Troupe and, direct from Trinidad, calypsonian Mighty Sparrow and the Dixieland Steel Orchestra, led by Curtis Pierre. During the latter 1960s, the Carnival was reorganized as an outdoor summer festival in Notting Hill. Though steelbands and calypsonians remained a part of the Carnival, the event increasingly centered around large sound systems, featuring Jamaican reggae and dancehall music.
The United Kingdom:
Calypso in Britain
Recording Calypso
Performing Calypso
Calypso on Radio, Film & TV
British Calypso Themes
