Patrons at Friday’s opening of Pink Panther’s (Eric Taylor) two-night concert, Looking For Leader Ship, staged at the National Academy of the Performing Arts (Napa) in Port-of-Spain, may not have been aware that the 2013 National Calypso Monarch did not include in his repertoire the two selections that won him the title—Travel Woes and Crying In The Chapel.
What they may certainly remember, however, was that the monarch grabbed attention when he competently sang a catchy parang ditty titled My Party; his son, Quincy, stylishly performing one of his compositions, Laughing In The Ghetto; and how he showed his class as a professional entertainer by exuding a charming stage presence, indulging in gracious interaction with audience members.
Accompanied by a musical aggregation led by guitarist Joey Rivers, Panther opened his first segment by welcoming patrons with Hello Hello (shades of SuperBlue), accompanied by dancers from the Pleasantville Nationwide Cultural Performers. Reminding that we were seated in the Lord Kitchener (Aldwyn Robers) Auditorium, he offered a selection he composed in 1998 in tribute to the Grandmaster and followed with God Bless Our Nation, sung by Lord Baker (Kent King) in 1967.
Get Off The Black Boy Back, a sardonic reply to Gypsy’s (Winston Peters) 1997 title-winning Little Black Boy, was followed by an updated version of the tongue-in-cheek The Apology, in which a new verse was structured around the Prime Minister’s response on television to the results of the last Chaguanas West by-election.
Opening the playbill was reigning Independence Calypso Monarch Chucky (Roderick Gordon) offering his winning selection Bear With Me and a very nice interpretation of the late Penguin’s (Seadley Joseph) melodic 1983 calypso titled The Slipper.
Brian London was up next to entertain.
His choices included A Nation’s Song, performed as a finalist in the Calypso Monarch Competition in Dimanche Gras 2009; A Calypsonian, performed in the same contest in 2010; and Doh Complain, Come Plain composed in 2012, for which he received the night’s only encore.
Explainer (Winston Henry) and Cardinal (Elon Baggoo) appeared after the interval, each doing a couple verses from two selections in their repertoires, as time was short and the featured performer had yet to re-appear. When he did, we heard Political Kaiso King, Mr Big Stuff, For The Good Times, Misprint, and a disco-influenced version of I Want You Back with vocals by Marilyn Williams and featuring young dancers from the Pleasantville Performers.
Pink Panther won the Young King Calypso Monarch competition in 1992 and qualified for the Calypso Monarch finals in 1998, 1999 and 2000, before capturing the title this year, singing Travel Woes and Crying In The Chapel, both composed by eight-time monarch Chalkdust (Dr Hollis Liverpool). Show host was radio personality CG (Derek Silman). Among his songs that are considered to be classics are Laughing In The Ghetto, Mr Big Stuff, Misprint, For The Good Times, Little Black Boy and Ten Honest Men.