CIRC highlights book – The Political Calypso-True Opposition in Trinidad and Tobago

Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago: The Carnival Institute of Trinidad and Tobago, which is also named the Carnival Institute and Regional Carnival (CIRC), has highlighted the book named ‘The Political Calypso-True Opposition in Trinidad and Tobago’.

The author of the book was the late Louis Regis, as per the update shared by the Carnival Institute on its ‘Thursday Reads.’ “On #Thursdayreads, we highlight the book, The Political Calypso-True Opposition in Trinidad and Tobago by the late author Louis Regis,” read the social media post by CIRC.

It furthermore informed that this book had made a significant contribution to calypso and, by extension, songs of a more political nature. Calypso music is influenced by African and native Caribbean rhythms.

In addition to this, the general public was informed that from 1962 onwards, Regis followed the songs and their themes chronologically, highlighting the social history, cultural attitudes, and political commentary embedded within the music.

He discusses the apprehensive association between the artiste and the politician, the partisan dispositions and the national uniqueness of the genre known as calypso. This author’s study, after comprehensive research, sheds some spotlight on little-known and unrecorded songs.

Moreover, Regis also focuses on the artistic and performance elements of calypso, which appeals both to experts in ethnomusicology and to calypso enthusiasts who are readers.

It is worth mentioning that Louis Regis was a teacher, educator and author of several other books, namely Maestro: The True Master and Black Stalin: The Caribbean Man; he was one of the West Indies’ foremost authorities on the calypso. This book presents an African‐centered historically‐critical exploration of the oratorical role of the calypso as a vehicle for political commentary in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, as per the CIRC.

In conclusion, the Carnival Institute of Trinidad and Tobago stated that this book could be sourced from the University of the West Indies (UWI) bookshop in St Augustine, Trinidad.