CALYPSO

FEATURE

• THE MIGHTY TIGER

PHOTOGRAPHER | STEPHEN SPARK

CALYPSO

FROM ABC TO ACASA

WORDS | STEPHEN SPARK

Calypso music has had a presence in Britain for more than a century. Calypsonians serving in the armed forces trained - and doubtless sang - in Sussex in the First World War, and a few stayed on afterwards, performing in clubs through the 1920s and 30s. The arrival in Tilbury of Lord Kitchener (Aldwyn Roberts) aboard HMT Empire Windrush on 22 June 1948 gave calypso a well-publicised boost as he stepped off the ship singing London is the Place for Me.

Calypso remained popular throughout the 1950s, but it was a music in exile and limited, in the main, to occasional performances at shows or in clubs and restaurants; there was no organisation to represent its interests. So it remained for the next 30 years, as calypsonians found themselves sidelined and ripped off even by Notting Hill Carnival’s organisers.

In response to these challenges, Trinidadian businessman Al Hector founded in 1986 the ambitiously named European Association of Calypsonians (EAC). Early members were Mighty Tiger (Ashton Moore), Mighty Explorer (Horace Blake), Lord Cloak (Errol Brown) and Mighty Astronaut (Derryck Neckles).

• EXPLAINER, LCT 2004

PHOTOGRAPHER | STEPHEN SPARK

The EAC did not long survive Al Hector’s death in 1990, but by then barrister Claire Holder had taken over the reins at Notting Hill Carnival and she suggested the calypsonians set up a new organisation. One was certainly needed – the 1991 Calypso Monarch Semi-Finals were held in the carnival office and, because there was no money for a band, the calypsonians had to accompany themselves by banging on a table!

Infuriated by the disrespect they felt had been shown both to them and to the music, Astronaut, Explorer, Cloak and Tiger set up the Association of British Calypsonians. The ABC soon found both its mark and its home: the first London Calypso Tent was held on Friday 7 August 1992 at the Yaa Asantewaa Centre in Chippenham Mews, Maida Vale. Under Mighty Tiger’s benign ‘dictatorship’ (his words), the ABC went from strength to strength, introducing a junior calypso competition and exchange programmes with Trinidadian juniors. In 2008 the London Tent moved to a grander stage at the Tabernacle, run by Carnival Village Trust, and ‘the Tab’ remains the Tent’s home to this day.

ABC President for Life Mighty Tiger passed away on 15 January 2017, and later that year the organisation changed its name to the Association of Calypsonians UK (ACUK), which, it was felt, better reflected the group’s membership. The ABC/ACUK silver jubilee was celebrated with a special concert, workshops, exhibition and publication of an 80page commemorative book, Calypso in London.

In little over a year, ACUK transformed again into ACASA – the Association of Calypsonians and Soca Artistes, which more accurately covers its members’ musical styles. After a successful 2019 season, ACASA was hit, like everyone else, by the disruptions of the Covid plague, and only managed to put on a couple of placeholder events in 2021 after a barren year in 2020.

The return of ACASA’s artists to the Tabernacle stage on 24 March 2022 marked, many calypso and soca fans hope, the start of a new beginning for the music in its adopted city of London.