Calypso Rose! The World Music Expo, a Berlin-based organization that organizes conferences, showcases, film screenings, award ceremonies and more, will honor the Tobagonian singer with the WOMEX Artist Award during its annual meeting in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, this October. Rose is slated to perform on WOMEX 16’s closing night on Oct. 23.
Their website states: “In her long career, Rose has transformed calypso in many ways. Her most obvious achievement involves making the calypso scene more open to women: the scale of her talent and success made her impossible to ignore, leading to unprecedented prize wins, including the Trinidad Road March and, the highest of all, the title of Calypso King–renamed the Calypso Monarch in her honor.”
Calypso Rose’s extensive career has spanned five decades and 20 albums and has been documented in several films, including the 2011 documentary, Calypso Rose: the Lioness of the Jungle. At age 74, her music remains undeniably fresh, combining powerful vocal performances with excellent horn arrangements and the calypso genre’s signature dance beat. Released in May 2016, her most recent album, Far From Home, features production and vocals from prolific multi-instrumentalist Manu Chao.
Check out the video for “Calypso Queen” from her latest album:
For more about calypso and other musical genres from the African diaspora of the Caribbean, check out Afropop’s Hip Deep program, “Diaspora Encounters: The Indo-Caribbean World.”
