Calypso Rose

The Trinidad and Tobagonian Calypso Rose is the undisputed queen of calypso. Having written over 800 songs and performed since 1950s, Rose is a beloved figure all over the world: a compassionate person, a great defender of equality and human rights. She has toured with, for example, Bob Marley and introduced a great many audiences to Caribbean music styles. Calypso Rose has received numerous awards and titles and won all relevant competitions. It was for her that the ‘Calypso King’ competition at Trinidad’s Carnival was changed to the gender-neutral ‘Calypso Monarch’ when she won the title in 1972. More recently in 2016 she won the « artist of the Year » award at WOMEX and in 2017 the « World Music album of the year » at the Victoires de la Musique award ceremony in France, for the album « Far From Home » (Because). This album (now Platinum – 100 000 sales – in France) was produced by the Grammy awarded Ivan Duran, who had almost finished his job, when Manu Chao met Calypso Rose in Trinidad. Manu was blown away by her energy and liked her new songs so much, that he insisted on putting a few guitars and backing vocals on some tracks, and finally ended up remixing the whole album with Ivan in Barcelona. Manu plays charango on all tracks and is singing back up vocals on most of the tracks and finally also recorded a duet with Calypso Rose. And the legendary Calypso Rose is now back in full bloom, with a bestselling album and a tour schedule that saw her perform more than 100 shows in Europe last year. Energetic, vehement, jovial, petulant, gregarious…there aren’t enough words to describe her live performances, which she generously dispenses her joie de vivre with the voice of a young girl.