Tribute to RPB
Congrats to Red plastic Bag (RPB) in winning the Pic O De Crop calypso competition title for 2007. By now you should know that RPB judged with Bacchanal Time this year so that makes it a win for us.
Some time ago I promised you a proper profile of RPB from when he received the achievement award from the Barbados Association of Tent Managers in June. Well I am still trying to get that from my Keisha, who put that together, in the mean time I will present you with this short Boyce style improper one.
RPB is celebrating 25 years in calypso this year and so is Madd. The difference is RPB seems to have been talented enough to start at the top while we were struggling at the bottom. In 1982 just out of Combermere School, I was employed at Shamrock Supermarket as a check out boy and Madd was just a little unsociable group meeting for fun at the Y.M.C.A. RPB at that time was already dominating the radio airwaves with the songs Sugar Made us Free and Mr Harding Can’t Die. I remembered pushing out supermarket groceries as a youngster, listening to RPB and being influenced by his music. I remember being impressed with those dramatic stage presentations staged by RPB and his manager Mac Fingall when they were shown on CBC TV.
When Bag got involved in calypso he took it to another level. Bajan calypso was more seen as a “fun thing” before. When bag came on the scene, local calypso was more seen as an art form to be taken more seriously. A lot of people do not know that I was personally involved in the success of RPB in the earlier years; I notice he does not mention it in his interviews.you see I was employed as a cashier at Cave Shepherd back in 1985 and during that time I personally rang into the cash register and sold thousands of RPB records and cassettes. You would think he would mention that sometimes.
In the eighties I remember the solidarity of the St Philip people backing Bag at the finals and all the “untouchable” people that would go to the stadium on finals night waving those damn red bags. It would be the town tents Battleground, House of Soca etc vs. the country tents Untouchables and Conquerors and it was a friendly rivalry that helped generate classic calypsos that have withstood the test of time and an icon that has also withstood the test of time. R.P.B!
Celebrating 25 years in 2007 and showing his enduring consistency by winning the Pic O De Crop in 2007.
Congrats to the Bag!
If during the reading of this blog there is any thing I might have written which might have incensed or offended you, GET OVER IT! There are many things I read and hear in the media on a daily basis that I don't like either. SO DEAL WITH IT! You are welcome to leave your comments though. Make sure and come back yuh hear !!!...
August 11th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
well well well
yuh know there are alaways different views on the same subject–different perspectives—
calypso music saw an upsurge in 1979 when the first CROPOVER calypso tent was opened and the finals were held at the national stadium for the first time.from then to 1981 it kept growing and growing with interest in the artform increasing year after year through the increased participation of persons from the society as calypsonians, revellers and administrators.
battleground tent, Spotlight and jah jah house of soca all came before 1982 with such names as gabby, gryner romeo blackpawn, dragon, lord wilson, adonijah and plecky–just to mention a few. these persons were immensely popular and their songs well known. blackpawn won in 1980 at the stadium before a big enthusiastic crowd–the same for romeo in 1981 and liar in 1979—all before 1982–year of plastic bag
when plastic bag came in 1982 he brought support from st philip and other parts of the country and this added to what was already in progress because the upsurge in calypso started when cropover was used as a vehicle to promote the artform and received a greater impetus when carifesta was held in barbados in
1981. bag would have benefitted from this upsurge when he won the st philip competition three consecutive years before he entered the national competition in 1982
the point is that interest in calypso was very high before 1982 and bag rode on this wave.
i must mention the role of c b c and win callender who used to go to the tents and tape the music , play them on the radio sounding scratchy and sometimes barely audible. this helped to invigorate the interest in calypso.
when i hear people today(admiral, john king,ian alleyne, rupee etc) talking about quality —it makes me cringe because if you want to play the music–you will play it –dont care where it was recorded—a good song is a good song
bag is also one of the luckiest calypsonians in the world because we all know what happened during the semifinals in 1982 but what we dont realise is that this started a period of interference into the results of the competition from then up to last kadooment day 2007.
bag also brought the advent of two slow songs to the finals that helped to destroy the semifinals and eventually affected the attendance at the finals. previous to 1982 calypsonians sang a slow or midtempo song and a jumpup song (uptempo). bag and later john king came with these slow droney songs and others followed them. the semifinals and finals move from a situation where people could jump up and dance and listen to serious lyrics to something that now resembles a church service of the past———hence the need for the party monarch competition which you might say is a good result afterall -eh eh
enough is enuff
September 11th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Yo Bounce a fire, you talking s^&^% bare s%#%, you are obviously biased against bag and by extension the younger crop of entertainers in Barbados.
I challenge you to tell us what happened in semi-finals 1982 because I was born in 1985.
RPB’s success has nothing to do with luck but rather it is a result of consistency, hardwork, dedication and an unnerving commitment to the development of the calypso artform in Barbados, the only other group which has demonstrated such consistency is MADD and the prolific writer Eric Lewis. History will be kind to these fine artistes and social commentators and future generations will be able to look back and respect what they have done. If you want to find out what happened a particular year in Barbados check out any song from RPB or Madd and you will know, some of the other so called share holders run hot and cold but these 2 have been CONSISTENT without fear or failure whether they were in competition or not.
What luck are you talking about, give the man his due respect.
Have you ever realised how he has always conducted himself, he has always held his head up high and he does not ridicule or criticise even the youngsters and their experimentations.
Leave the bloody man alone and go find something more constructive to do with your time.
You are part of a group of bajan artisans who seem to think that society owes you something, maybe you were an entertainer, or promoter or involved in culture or something and never got the success or recognition enjoyed by some of todays entertainers and you all are eternally bitter.
We do not owe you one r#%$, we young entertainers work hard for what we earn and no matter how bitter or jealous you are it won’t change a thing. Get a life and leave Rupee, Edwin, Alison, Lil Rick, Rihanna, MADD and most definitely RPB alone, because he has bridged the gap and and he does not have this us and them mentality like you most certainly have.
Go bounce in a fire or something.
Congrats RPB F**K The playa haters.
September 12th, 2007 at 8:18 am
OK –ease down on the emotion
please dont make assumptions and please do not accuse me of things that i am not or things that i did not say –please dont —it is simply not fair
please do your research and deal with the facts please
one does not have to be born in a particular year to know what happened in that year
listen to Kidsite’s performance in this year calypso finals and you would get a clue–also please listen to Longfellow’s offerings and you would hear reference to what did take place-(every year some calypsonian sings about it )–and please! please! do your research because this is serious business and it has nothing to do with bias.
September 12th, 2007 at 8:21 am
by the way i am probably younger than you
but i am also well informed because the information is out there
wanna to know where to look?
and whats age gotta to do wid anything anyway
September 12th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
One love …I did get a bit emotional but I just think that the man does not deserve to be so unfairly criticised because in the grand scheme of calysonian rankings he reigns supreme. At the end of it all he does not judge himself and he takes his defeats with the same respect and dignity as he does his victories, sorry if I was too harsh on you but at least you seem smart enough to understand that you touch a raw nerve when you referred to him as luckiest calpsonian…and now you mentioned it maybe he is the luckiest calypsonian after all.
sorry for taking out my rage on you but my pretty girlfriend horn me so I vexxxx, I taking Eric Lewis advice and get a ugly girl…cause ugly girl does be sweet sweet…….LOL.
One love and big up to Peter Boyce for allowing the average man a voice to rant and rave and simply exchange views…we can all agree to disagree..Stay safe bounce-a-fire..no love lost, Respect in every aspect.