Slinger Francisco, is considered to be Trinidad's king of calypso. Francisco has been a revolutionary and important force in the world of calypso owing to his talent as a singer and performer, his prolific compositions, and the substantive and formal changes that he introduced to calypso music. His contributions to calypso are so important that music critics have said that Francisco “is to calypso what Bob Marley is to reggae".
Background
Slinger Francisco, is considered to be Trinidad's king of calypso. Francisco has been a revolutionary and important force in the world of calypso owing to his talent as a singer and performer, his prolific compositions, and the substantive and formal changes that he introduced to calypso music. His contributions to calypso are so important that music critics have said that Francisco “is to calypso what Bob Marley is to reggae".
Education
As a child, Francisco attended the Newtown Boy's Roman Catholic School in Port of Spain. His teachers identified his singing abilities early on and asked him to participate in school concerts. He also joined the choir at St. Patrick Church, where he sang both baritone and tenor. Since most school concerts were formal affairs where popular music was not played, Francisco generally refrained from singing the calypso tunes that attracted him. However, at one such concert he surprised the audience by singing "The Yankees Invade Trinidad," one of the popular calypso hits of the time.
Francisco abandoned his education after finishing elementary school, but he has said that he became an avid reader after leaving school. This interest in reading exposed him to the cultural, social, and political issues that he has consistently incorporated into his song lyrics.
Career
Francisco tried several career paths and worked in several odd jobs before pursuing a musical career. He learned music and took guitar classes, which he knew would prove useful if he was ever to undertake a career as a professional calypso singer. Although his mother encouraged him to pursue a career in music, his father vehemently opposed it due to the seasonal nature of the career in Trinidad. Festivals take place in February of each year and singers can only earn income during the season. Thus, the economic well being of calypso singers tends to be highly insecure and unstable.
Francisco made his professional debut during the 1954 carnival season. In Trinidad, calypso singers establish themselves with performers who operate from tents set throughout Port of Spain through the carnival season. He performed at the Old Brigade Tent under the name "Little Sparrow" and opened with his composition "The Parrot and the Monkey." His performance was well received (Baksh 2000). In 1955, he performed again, this time adding four new compositions.
The year 1956 was especially significant for Francisco because he introduced five new calypsos, adopted the name "Mighty Sparrow," and won the Calypso King Competition with his hit "Jeane and Dinah." He also changed his affiliation and moved to the Young Brigade Tent. It was there that he started the now famous calypso competitions, or duels, with Lord Melody, another calypso star.
In 1956 Francisco established a record by winning the largest number of the competitions held during the annual carnivals. Twenty years later, he and Lord Kitchener agreed to stop participating in the Calypso Monarch competition to give opportunities to new participants. At the time, both men were tied, having each won the contest 10 times. In 1992, however, Francisco staged a comeback and won the contest again, establishing a record of 11 victories. He has also won the Road March contest eight times.
In a society where calypsos are important cultural and artistic products, there is no doubt that Francisco, who is fondly called The Bird, is one of its leading exponents. In the process, he has been credited with introducing many important changes in the art of calypso singing and calypso making. For instance, he has lengthened the lyrics and lines of calypso songs. He also introduced the use of the electric guitar, promoted more intense lyrics for calypsos, and was influential in the development of the steel pan as another addition to the steel bands. He has been a leading force behind the development of soca, which is a calypso form with lighter lyrics that resembles American jazz and soul. Many of his songs, written with profound social and political messages, are catalysts for social change. His themes range from exhortations for people to pay their taxes, anger about the breakup of the Federation of the West Indies, and cries for calypso singers to get better prizes than beauty queens to admonishments against teens drug use. He also produced hilarious songs about the marital problems of Prince Charles and Princess Diana of Great Britain and the trial of O.J. Simpson. Francisco has made it clear that calypso is more than musical entertainment it is social commentary and political criticism. He states: 'We calypsonians have educated and energized our audiences. Many of the things that newspapers and radio and TV refuse to elaborate on".
We come out and tell it like it is. We do it with rhyme and melodies and sometimes wonderful lyrics, and of course with humor, and it lasts forever. The world has become a smaller place for now in that calypso is more popular, more recognized and accepted and more in demand.
Francisco was the first calypso singer to establish his own recording company. He has recorded more than 70 albums. Although he acknowledges the influence of artists such as Nat King Cole, Billy Eckstein, and Frank Sinatra in his music, he also credits fellow calypso singers and composers such as Lord Melody, Lord Kitchener, and Lord Invader as major sources of inspiration in his work. Although he has been credited with writing hundreds of calypsos, ques-tions have been raised about the authorship of his music. Many critics have argued that he is not the sole author of his songs, Nevertheless, they praise him for his capacity to capture contemporary themes with unique incisiveness and incor-porate them into his songs.