The Reigning 1999
Barbados Calypso
Monarch

We may never know his identity but much like an "Unknown Soldier" his duty was to create a way for an ally. He was an unsung kid who, unfortunately for him, fell ill on the big day of the primary school’s competition in Barbados in the mid 50’s. Stepping into his place in the Chapman Lane Choir was Anthony Carter, a skinny 6 year old from Emmerton whose sole purpose was to make up the required number of performers. No one suspected that in fact, it was "Madman Destiny" who on assignment that day and was waving her magic wand. That day she created a Caribbean superstar we fondly call, "Gabby."

Gabby is in the midst of celebrating his 30th year as a calypsonian. And what a glorious three decades it has been. Not only has he been a consistent and prolific creator of hit calypsos, but he commanded his piece of calypso history with the title of the youngest calypsonian to win the Calypso Monarch title in Barbados . In 1968, at age 19, Gabby claimed the coveted title with a song called, Heart Transplant. After a hiatus from the competition, he returned to winner’s row in 1976 with a hard-hitting political commentary, Licks Like Fire. He was also the 1977, ’78, and 79 Folk Singer of the Year with Riots in the Land, Bridgetown and Bajan Fisherman.

In 1979 he won Barbados’ first ever Crop Over Road March with a song called Burn Mr. Harding. In addition to these glorious honors he also wears the less coveted crown of the most banned calypsonian in Barbados – or the region for that matter. His most publicized confrontation with former Prime Minister Tom Adams who sued the popular calypsonian for his ridicule of the government’s action in a song called cadavers.

A crafty lyricist, Gabby’s no-holds-bars lyrics made him the "whipping boy" of politicians who consistently and persistently tried to stifle his expression. But through it all Gabby has triumphed in the court of public opinion. The "verdicts" in his favor are measured to exactness as people from all over the Caribbean and North America respond with frenzied actions to his music.

But there is a "kinder and gentler" side to this affable calypsonian. In 1971 when he made a grab at the Big Apple, it was not as a calypsonian but as an actor. Gabby joined forces with Paul Webster’s Barbados Theater Workshop, (this later became the Caribbean Theater Workshop) and wrote 70 percent of the music for a play called "Under the Duppy Parasol". He also featured in the lead role of Pa John. Gabby was 26 years-old at the time but handled the role of an elderly Pa John with convincing accuracy. The play had a successful run at the Harlem Cultural Center and Billie Holiday Theater in Brooklyn and gained rave reviews from respected names such as Ossie Davis and Rudy Dee.

As a writer, Gabby has penned more than 700 songs since he started counting at age 15. The Battleground Calypso Tent he created in Barbados has spawned several new talents and have won every Road March in which they competed since 1979. So in fact, Gabby’s 30 year celebration is indeed a sum total of the whole man. In this 30th anniversary compilation CD we get a glimpse of all parts of that whole. The music he presents reflects his range as an actor, writer, calypsonian and folk singer. In Bridgetown and Emmerton we experience the range of his voice. We are treated to a distinct Caribbean folk rhythm in these two songs which gives the listeners a vivid picture of coloured skirts blowing in the trade winds and fruit laden baskets. In Hit It, Dr. Cassandra, and Debra he delights us with pulsating soca and Ringbang dance music. West Indian Politician , Jack and Boots remind us, that not only is Gabby blessed with the gift of gab, but he is a master at using lyrics as a two edged sword. Even today he relentlessly swipes his verbal knife into those who are callous to the needs of disenfranchised. In Gisela we see the Bajan lover boy come out from behind the curtain to show both his charm and vulnerability in love.

But just as important as each song is the story behind its creation. In his own words Gabby takes us through the movement of his mind as he created the music that makes us laugh, dance, think, cry – and then some.

BOOTS

Boots, he says was created in 1984 after a 2 am encounter outside Government House in Barbados. "I was walking along with another singer named Pompey when we heard this strange and distant sound. There was no particular national crisis at the time so we were amazed when we came upon these soldiers with back packs marching through the streets. To me it’s a waste of tax payers money. I was angry. When I got home I kept hearing in my head "left, right, left, right the government boots." This stayed with me for a couple of days and about three weeks later, the Grenada Invasion took place. In 35 minutes all verses and the melody of Boots came to me."

HIT IT

Amusingly, Hit It, the hit song of 1983, was created on a dare. Gabby says’s "Initially, I had written the song Jack for a singer called Sir Don. Soon after I gave him the song we were together at home and he said to me, ‘you wrote Jack but I bet you can’t write Jill.’ I wanted to show him that I could, so I sat down and wrote, Jill was playing cricket with me on a pasture one day. Fifteen minutes after he left my house, I called him to say that I had Jill. He was so amazed that got on his bicycle and returned to my house just to prove me a liar.

JACK

"Jack" Gabby say’s "came as a reaction to an action. It came after Jack Dear, a corporate lawyer for the Barbados Board Of Tourism made the decree that hotel owners had the right to bring their property down to the waterfront. The idea for the song came one night while I was singing a hotel. This white woman said to me, ‘could you play some local music.’ Jack was at the hotel that same night and the entire encounter led to the creation of Jack."

CADAVERS

When Gabby heard that the Barbados government had agreed to accept and store dead bodies from the U.S, this became the topic of his 1985 contribution, Cadavers. "Grenada had refused to take the cadavers but Tom Adams said yes to the request from the U.S government. Medical people were concerned because they wanted to know what these people died from and all that. But everything was kept secret. Thus Gabby wrote: "Barbados is a big joke, with dem big boy in dey big tie and coat." The song was eventually banned from the Barbados airwaves and became the subject of a law suit which never reached the courts because of the death of Tom Adams.

THE LIST

The List, with its infectious music, is a potent and timely social commentary. In 1988, the deadly AIDS virus began pounding the Caribbean with hurricane like fury. Gabby was one of the first calypsonians out to bat with his musical comment on the issue. "The way people were dealing with the problem wa by spreading rumors about one another. I was at a friend’s home and overheard these women talking about all who they heard had AIDS. It was all he say and dem say. I decided there and then that I would write a song because I wanted to stop people from spreading rumours.

WEST INDIAN POLITICIAN

This compelling political commentary is one of the few in Gabby’s arsenal that took a long time to compose. "The first two verses" he say’s, "came like lightening but then the next two took almost a year to complete. I had done a lot of research about West Indian politicians and realised that while they said one thing they practised another. Most of them were also lawyers trained in London and they never associated with the common man. Their only concern was power. When I first heard the melody in my head it sounded like a symphony. It was definitely not a calypso melody but I thought that it showed our connection to colonisation and slavery. To me it showed everything."

EMMERTON

Emmerton, is a song with a character all its own. It’s patriotic dirge: a song with such passion that the late governor general of Barbados Dame Nita Barrow requested that Gabby perform it at her funeral. Emmerton, Gabby’s hometown, was a place where the villagers praticed the barter system and often traded salt for sugar. "It was a place where neighbours were each other’s lookout. "In 1978, when I found out that we had to move, I was very hurt. People’s houses were torn down and it was very heartbreaking to see the destruction of that community. They also destroyed the environment and ecology of the place. Emmerton meant everything to me. It was my homeland; it was the place I learned to swim. I had to remember it in song. The song took me just 35 minutes to write."

DR. CASSANDRA/DEBRA

Dr. Cassandra and Debra, two of Gabby’s most recent hits, were the toast of Trinidad’s Carnival 1995. Both songs are unique in that they were not inspired by true events nor were they comment on some hot social/political issue. They are both just creations of the genius of the mind of Gabby. He explains: "I was scheduled to go in the studio but I had not written anything new. Eddy (Grant) told me that he wanted something special. We were on the plantation in Barbados and I took up Eddy’s guitar, went outside under a tree and started composing. Just like that Dr. Cassandra came to me and Debra followed right after."

GISELA

Gisela, was written for a Cuban "Princess" who touched Gabby’s life in 1979. "She was our tour guide on my trip to Cuba and she was so kind to us. She had so much work but she never once complained. She said she was doing it for the revolution. She was fluent in English and very committed to her work. I wrote Gisela as a tribute to her and in memory of her kindness. I wrote the song in 1981 and as my mind flirted with reality, I forced myself to imagine that she was living in Panama. If so then it would have afforded me the opportunity to see her again." Unfortunately, Gabby’s dream lives only in his song, Gisela from Panama.

CHICKEN & RAM

Chicken and Ram is one of the most witty and provocative of Gabby’s contributions. An impressive social commentary, the song is as catchy as it is humorous. It was written in 1988 and centers around a controversy involving a rich East Indian businesswoman in Barbados. "I thought she was an exploiter and I wanted to write about it. She had already sued a lot of people for saying that she was selling dead chickens so I had to write the song in a way that she could not touch it." The businesswoman owned a farm called McDonald’s Farm, so Gabby cleverly got around a law suit by playing on the old childhood jingle, Old McDonald.