Many honours and titles have been conferred upon the undisputed King of Calypso, the Mighty Sparrow (Slinger Fransico), but last Wednesday night in San Fernando, delivering one of the “If Sparrow Say So” series of lectures, calypsonian David Rudder added a new accolade. Back in the days, Rudder told the Naparima Bowl audience, which included Minister of Culture Dr Lincoln Douglas and legendary South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela, “Sparrow was our Internet, our Twitter, our Facebook.” Rudder, the guest speaker at the Canboulay Productions Sparrow lecture series, said before the information highway made worldwide data-sharing possible, the moment something happened, Sparrow was the man who chronicled local, regional and international events in such a crafty package that all who heard could understand the message. He alluded to two such songs as Philip, My Dear and Federation.
Federation, he said, made him a student of history. “Had it not been for this calypso, I may not have known that piece of history or understood why we never achieved that unity to this day.”
Growing up in Belmont, Rudder said, he knew people from his district, but Sparrow introduced him to a whole world of people through his songs and made connections with people in society by identifying someone as the relative of a well known person. “That is why I say Sparrow was the Internet of his time, he was Facebook and everything else. He was our Apple. You hit the Sparrow screen and he tell you something, he teach you something,” Rudder noted to tumultuous applause as the audience agreed.Unfortunately, Sparrow, who only recently recovered from a diabetic coma, was not in the audience to hear this tribute from his friend of many years, as an earlier trip to Penal had left him tired. At that function, prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced that the government would bestow the country’s highest honour, the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, on Sparrow and also take care of his medical bills. Douglas said the medical bills amounted to US$60,000.
Many fans who had travelled from as far the east and deep south, to see the living legend were somewhat disappointed. Rudder, who titled his talk “The University of Sparrow”, recalled as a child, to him Sparrow was the mystical man coming from his neighbour’s gramophone. He said he had an old speaker box in his house, for which he paid a $2 rent for two radio stations at that time, Rediffusion and Radio Trinidad. He said from his first encounter with Sparrow, he knew he wanted to be just like him. His education in life, he revealed, began with Sparrow.
“Sparrow taught me all kinds of things. He taught me about love, romance, politics, tabanca. All kind of things, and I was a willing student.” Together with the husband-and-wife duo of Carl and Carol Jacobs, Rudder provided background vocals for Sparrow. Of this experience, he described Sparrow as a perfectionist. He recalled that they referred to Sparrow and his contemporary the late Lord Kitchener (Aldwyn Roberts), as the trouble men. “They were the same.”
On reflection, he reminisced, giving trouble was really their way of driving the supporting singers to perform to their full potential. “They were saying no to anything half-way. They felt we could go beyond that, and I am thankful for that.” He even compared Sparrow with American crooner Frank Sinatra. “When people say, ‘You ever heard about Sinatra?’ I ask them, ‘You ever hear about Sparrow? ‘“I look back and think if not for this man, this international chantwell, our voice, where would we be today? In terms of boy days, this was our life. “Being in the presence of someone who could dead so much time and come back, and Sparrow have more bookings than Machel and Bunji put together for this season,” he said, overcome by emotion. “I am so flooded with memories, I just feel to sing some Sparrow songs,” which he did, delving into some of the classics, first as a soloist and then as a duet with the evergreen David Bereaux for the humorous Queen’s Canary.
One of the things Rudder said he loved about Sparrow, apart from him singing the songs and telling the stories, was his theatrics on stage. “There was that magic Sparrow wielded on stage. Seeing that man on stage, doing that song called the Queen’s Canary, was pure theatre. Singing background vocals for him, I said I had to learn to do that too,” some of which he demonstrated in his duet with the other David. “I say to the Mighty Sparrow, teacher, elder, big brother, friend and the man who called me King David, thank you for all you have given and keep on giving and may you live many more years and maybe die a few more times.” Rudder shared with the audience conversations he had with Sparrow shortly after he came out of his coma. “He said, ‘I just want to shake them. They start to forget me, David. So I shake them and I coming back again.’ “Another time I called and asked to speak to Sparrow and he said, ‘You talking to him’. I said your voice sounding so young and he said, ‘I coming back for them.’ If you hear Sparrow sing today, you will be shocked to know that is the same Sparrow.” The final lecture in the five part series takes place tomorrow (Wednesday) at Daaga Auditorium, University of the West Indies, St Augustine featuring Prof Patricia Mohammed and calypsonian Sandra Des Vignes-Millington (Singing Sandra) who will speak on the topic-Who taking advantage of who?