First-ever calypso day hailed a success while organizers plan Calypso festival

Reigning virtual Calypso monarch and mastermind behind the first-ever calypso day,  Daryl ‘The Bobb’ Bobb has expressed satisfaction over the inaugural day celebrated on May 27, and says plans are in place for bigger things to come.

The observance of the genre of music which is typically popular during the carnival season, commenced at midnight, to create or regenerate the consciousness of the people in calypso and understanding calypso.

For the entire day, radio stations were asked to promote the artform by only playing calypso music. Online news outlets and the public were encouraged to post as much as possible to social media about the genre.

The day culminated with a grand Calypso Extravaganza, which featured some of the best of the best at the Old Mill Cultural Center, including veterans, Sye, Checko, Observer, Karessah, Hunter, The Bobb, Daddy Chess, Sour Sour, nine-time king Dice, reigning monarch Jay Dee and first-ever female monarch Tasha P.

Speaking to Dominica News Online (DNO) the Bobb made known that while he wished many more fans could have been in attendance, overall  he is satisfied with the event.

“The crowd who was there did have a very good time they kept begging for more so it just encourages me that I have to ensure that we get the team together so that we can continue working on more events, summer event, and going down to November and so on because calypso has to live on and it will do so as long as the people stand behind it and continue doing the work that is necessary,” he stated.

According to the virtual King, he devoted his reign to ensuring that there are more activities of that nature and is committed to fulfilling the request of the patrons who yearn for calypso shows outside of the carnival season.

The executive of the Dominica Calypso Association (DCA) which Bobb forms part of has also commenced discussion for the staging of a calypso festival in 2022, similar to the World Creole Music Festival (WCMF), which will be launched in November.

“We realized that so many people want to have events for the same day and it is not a very practical thing,” he disclosed. “We would like everyone to have an equal opportunity  to benefit from the activities because calypso is a people’s thing, so we realized that one day, one evening is not enough, especially in light that we exit in a very constrained environment  economically and also our population is pretty restricted, that means we have to try and extend the day or the whole festive  spirit of the calypso day into other days.”

The activities the calypsonians informed will commence on the Thousand and end on Sunday, while every day will feature various aspects of the genre, fringe events and end nightly with a grand concert.

“So in 2022 that will be the vision, so it gives all the other promoters who wanted to do stuff an equal opportunity to choose a day when they can do so.”

The association is also planning the staging of several activities during the summer and during the independence to decentralize the calypso genre, a few of which will be held outside of the city.