“The King’s Scrapbooks –
Glimpses Within Gabby’s ‘Diaries’”

“A more beautiful human being you will not find!”
Eddy Grant speaking in celebration of the Mighty Gabby, his close personal friend and artistic colleague, to a coterie of professional associates present at Blue Wave Recording Studios in late 2002.

“..[S]o many people came to see me …Sometimes I would have so much fruit I was able to give to other people in the ward.”
The Mighty Gabby as quoted in Linda Deane’s DAILY NATION article of April 18, 1985, in which she focused on his period of inpatient treatment at Barbados’ Queen Elizabeth Hospital due to a severe injury to his right eye.



It is because the Mighty Gabby (whose given name is Anthony Carter) is such an unreserved giver and such a generous enabler of others, that we who are his colleagues and workmates at Ice Records Ltd. are able to provide an international readership – which includes his many stalwart fans who comprise Battleground Tent’s global constituency of patrons – with a view of his life as both a public figure and as a private citizen. We are able to do this because this man who has already written over 700 songs within his relatively short lifetime of 54 years, and who, by the turn of the millennium had already been crowned Calypso Monarch of Barbados no less than seven times, has humbly placed his treasured scrapbooks in our keeping for an extended season.

Consequently, we can now, in turn, set a precedent within the annals of regional cultural exposition, by chronicling the maturation of his artistic character and of his most elemental human concerns – both simple and profound – in an essaying that has never been attempted before within the print media of the wider English-speaking Caribbean.

The most obvious question that would confront any reader who is already familiar with the “Artist Profiles” department of our website that is devoted to biographical sketches of those performers included within the official Ice Catalogue, is why would we embark upon such a project when Gabby’s presence within this well-established department is already dominant and iconic? The most meaningful reply that we can provide such a reader with is the cogent and transparent assertion that Ringbang culture generates movement – dynamic movement. If, therefore, a body of information, as a function of consistently advancing creative thought, is to remain refreshingly appealing, then that information must find itself expressed in communicative forms and contexts that are being constantly reconfigured even as they evolve.




Ringbang is a praxis that defines stasis as a crude, restrictive, and oppressive, six-letter epithet. Though we, as its practitioners, do not seek to jettison the contribution of the imperative/i-mperative of tradition, we find ourselves to be fully animated when we are able to consolidate upon such legacies as a mechanism for forging cultural and artistic innovation within the fires of those philosophical legacies that have been fuelled by the agency of empathetic ancestral voices and examples.

As an elder and latter-day griot, the Mighty Gabby has provided us with a medium for creativity which we dare not and can not ignore. He has done it at this time because the time is ripe for us to explore a new theme, or, at the very least, variations upon an established theme.

The ‘lens’ that is our assemblage of “Artists Profiles” has meaningfully served the purpose of placing a particular artist’s career achievements very dominantly in the foreground of the reader’s thoughts, whilst potentially sacrificing a number of the supporting contextual elements that may have visited either positive or negative circumstances upon that artist’s development over time. This may have been due to limitations imposed by space. More specifically, though, the main cause of this would have been the very expositional form within which the salient information was placed.

“The King’s Scrapbooks …” shall, we predict, in a very subtle and adroit fashion, put in place a new evaluative perspective for all aficionados of calypso, soca, and Ringbang, whereby the dynamics that would apply to a more detailed and particularistic assessment of the uniqueness of that calypso-generating ‘terrain’ that is Southern Caribbean culture shall attain even sharper focus within the consciousness of the musics’ publics. The Mighty Gabby’s movements or journeyings within our wider cultural arena will be demonstrated to be a calabash within which all the ingredients of calypso and its derivative musics continue to actively and vigorously intermingle. This series of articles on his scrapbooks shall, therefore, become a laboratory for critiquing the minutiae of the call-and-response exchange from artist to society and back to artist again, as we his colleagues at Ice Records Ltd. evaluate the commentary that has been applied to his life’s work thus far by a significant array of both regional an international journalists who have explicated his art for at least three-and-a-half decades.

Key To Barbadian Newspapers Cited Within This Instalment

BA – BARBADOS ADVOCATE (This implies the Monday to Saturday editions).
DN – DAILY NATION.
SS – SUNDAY SUN (Also published by The Nation Publishing Company Ltd.).




BA, March 23, 1966

Under the headline “Gabby Waits On Wax”, columnist Al Gilkes reported that the Mighty Gabby was “eagerly awaiting” the pressing of his first [vinyl] record. The two hit calypsos included on it were entitled “Dis Fuh You and Dah Fuh Me”, and “Gabby Is Still My Man”.

At eighteen years of age, according to Gilkes, Gabby had already become one amongst the top three calypsonians in Barbados.

Gilkes concluded this story by noting that “Mighty Gabby will be featured on ‘Jiggs’ Kirton’s show at Queen’s Park [in Bridgetown]” that night.

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Diploma Awarded to the Mighty Gabby By Cuban Govt. In 1978


Spanish Language Version:-

LA COMISION
PERMANENTE
DEL COMITE INTERNACIONAL PREPARATORIO

OTORGA EL SIGUIENTE DIPLOMA

AL CO. TONY CARTER

POR SU DESTACADA PARTICIPACION EN
LES ACTIVIDADES CULTURALES
REALIZADAS EN EL MARCO

XI FESTIVAL MUNDIAL
DE LA JUVENTUD Y LOS ESTUDIANTES.


LA HABANA CUBA 78

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English Language Translation:-

THE PERMANENT COMMISSION
OF THE INTERNATIONAL PREPARATORY COMMITTEE

TO: TONY CARTER

Offers the following diploma
For your noteworthy participation in the cultural activities carried out in the course of
The XI World Festival of Youth and Students

HAVANA CUBA 78






DN, April 18, 1985

Headline: “Mighty Gabby is back home – and hoping for a good calypso season.”

Byline: Linda Deane



The Mighty Gabby endured a major medical crisis when he suffered severe injury to his right eye due to a blow from a racquet while playing squash in October, 1984.

Deane’s story established that this debilitating accident followed upon a poor calypso season for Gabby’s Battleground tent in the summer of 1984, since gate receipts had been frustratingly low.

By mid-April, 1985, the Mighty Gabby had returned home from London, England, where he had undergone specialist surgery on the eye.

The level of debilitation and pain that he had endured for five months whilst receiving treatment in Barbados was extreme. So much so, that the hapless calypso monarch recounted to Deane how his good friend Charlie Griffith broke into tears when he first viewed Gabby’s condition.



The King further explained to her how he would intermittently go blind in his left eye as a sympathetic reaction to those periods during which he completely lost vision in the injured right eye. He told Deane that he had gone blind in his damaged eye at least seven times before the point at which it had been operated on.

Gabby further exulted to Deane over the throngs of his fellow Barbadian well-wishers who visited him on the Eye Ward of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. He explained that their generosity in bringing him sumptuous gifts of fruit had enabled him, in turn, to make gifts of fruit to other patients on the ward.

Ultimately, his right eye was operated on in London on March 6, 1985.

From a compositional standpoint, the Mighty Gabby’s traumatic injury influenced Eddy Grant to convince him to change the title of his new, recently-released album to “One In The Eye”. Originally, and most ironically, it had been entitled “Between The Eyes”.






SS, August 4, 1985

The Mighty Gabby is dubbed “Personality this week” within the SUNDAY SUN column of the same title, following upon his having been crowned Calypso Monarch for 1985.

The lead paragraphs read as follows:-

“It is with dignity, honesty and determination that the Mighty Gabby (Tony Carter) will wear the 1985 calypso crown.

“When the judges decided in his favour in the Pic-O-De-Crop finals on Friday night [August 2], they not only selected a calypsonian fit to be king, but an entertainer who had contributed unselfishly to the growth of calypso in Barbados and the progress of individual entertainers.”

Before the show, the Mighty Gabby emphatically told the Barbadian press that he was neither interested in the monarchy, nor was he interested in the prize money, but that he was simply determined to get out on stage and perform.




DN, August 14, 1985

Headline: “Mighty Gabby”

Title of Column: “Vantage Point”

Columnist: Dr. Waldo Waldron-Ramsay, Attorney-At-Law.



The dominant point that underpins Dr. Waldron-Ramsay’s “Vantage Point” column published in August, 1985, is consonant with the Mighty Gabby’s assertion in speaking to Tony Vanterpool within the “..Crop-Over ‘86” article (i.e., the analysis following upon this one), that “ ..I wanted to do something that was bigger and better than just being in the competition and winning …”

Whether Waldron-Ramsay could, in retrospect, be identified today as an unwitting prophet seeking to elucidate an abstruse and elusive ideal, is still a debatable point. What is incontestable, however, is that the wisdom behind his words superseded that of many of his fellow cultural critics of that time. And today, it still does!

“Mighty Gabby” is a celebrative article in which Waldron-Ramsay acts as both advocate and praise-singer for all Barbadian calypsonians. He contends that the traditional competition amongst a grouping of calypso exponents is unfair because the emergence of “creative genius” stems from the contest between the lower and higher selves of the individual artiste – that is, physical or carnal man versus soul-specific or metaphysical man. Hence, this former diplomat and perennial Pan-Africanist’s conclusion that “ ..it is conflict between genius and mundane nature which results in the poetry or prose or scientific invention which we get from their [i.e., creative persons’] efforts.”

Genius, therefore, is intrinsic to and becomes sovereign within the individual, according to Waldron-Ramsay, and can not be distilled from the combative conjunction of similarly gifted spirits. From a seemingly paradoxical standpoint, therefore, the Mighty Gabby is an equal within that Bajan calypso tradition that includes “Red Plastic Bag, Pompey, Young Blood, Grynner, Commander [et al],” because they are all “king[s]” or “leader[s]” according to the columnist. Yet, as “genius personified”, in this same writer’s words, the Mighty Gabby is still ‘first among equals’, so to speak, because he has “always stood in a class by himself in Barbados.”

When he or she embraces the introductory words within the seventh paragraph of Waldron-Ramsay’s article, the perceptive kaiso critic can better apprehend the implicit congruence between the words quoted from the Mighty Gabby in this summary’s initial paragraph, and those of the columnist which follow:

“I have always supported the Mighty Gabby’s views that he, as an artiste, is more, or should be more interested in the development of the calypso as an art form, than in a competition amongst the calypsonians for a prize.”

In providing this first volume of his scrapbooks for appraisal, the Mighty Gabby referred to Waldron-Ramsay’s column as being “ ..probably the best piece that has been written on me in the local press.” At an even more transcendent level,
“Mighty Gabby” is a paean to an artform which, from the figurative relevance of metonymy alone, has simply chosen The King to be its emblematic emissary as the physical vessel that we now witness manifesting its presence upon the stage of life.

SS, July 6, 1986

Headline: “Gabby’s say on Crop-Over ‘86”.

Interviewer: Then SUNDAY SUN Editor, Tony Vanterpool.



Barbados’ annual Crop-Over Festival consistently incorporates all facets of national culture, although the emphasis routinely falls upon the performing arts in terms of overall mass appeal. To a significant degree, therefore, the Crop-Over calypso competition has become the dominant feature of these cultural festivities. Consequently, the calypsonian has become emblazoned across Barbados’ cultural landscape and collective national consciousness as the pre-eminent example of the folk hero.

When the Mighty Gabby, as the country’s foremost calypsonian, withdrew from the 1986 calypso competition, he “dropped a bombshell,” in the words of Tony Vanterpool. In response to this Senior Editor’s questioning, The King indicated that he had opted out due to a strong personal ethic borne of seeking to elevate the artform above the constraints of the annual calypso competition. The other supporting pillar for his rationale was Gabby’s concern for championing the intellectual property rights of his fellow calypsonians in the face of the National Cultural Foundation’s alleged monopolistic contractual requirements, where broadcast rights (for both radio and television) to the calypsonians’ performances (as videotaped ‘live’ throughout the festival) were concerned. It should be noted here that the NCF administers the
Crop-Over Festival under the aegis of Barbados’ Ministry of Education and Culture.

As leader and founder of the Battleground Calypso Tent, Gabby already had several calypso monarch and road march titles under his belt when Crop-Over ’86 had attained full momentum.

He told Vanterpool that for that year’s competition “the urge and the will and the drive and the ambition” were absent from his heart. He expressed his rationale for both his mood and the professional position he was taking at that time, in succinct but idealistic terms:

“I want to do more for Barbados than just win competitions. I want to travel in another direction in terms of promoting Barbados and to do it you cannot be here all the time.”

When Vanterpool turned to the issue of partisan politics he cited the recent election win of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) as a factor behind The King’s newly-emergent complacency. The Mighty Gabby replied that his membership of the DLP did not make him a subscriber to the intrigue of partisan politics. He added that his idealism and sense of morality as a man and an artist consistently transcended Vanterpool’s veiled suggestions that he (Gabby) might be an opportunist. This was the Mighty Gabby’s position:

“I am a person ..of high integrity. If you are a member of the DLP and you are doing something wrong, I am not going to shut my eyes because you are a Dem. I have many friends and they will tell you that I will never close my eyes against something they are doing just because they are my friends …

“If one would read me from last year [i.e., 1985], I said constantly that the competition, the winning and so on didn’t mean anything to me …What I meant was that I wanted to do something that was bigger and better than just being in the competition and winning and getting new glory out of winning.”



BA (“Weekend Magazine”), December 20, 1986

Headline: “Gabby’s ‘Village Music’ comes in changing scenes”.



The Mighty Gabby’s decision to be a non-participant in the calypso monarch competition for 1986 was extremely controversial, as his interview with Tony Vanterpool clearly indicated. Still, controversy is a staple for most Bajans at Crop-Over. Furthermore, it is often a transitory and evanescent phenomenon.

True to his professional ethics, however, The King still opted to manage his own Battleground Tent throughout that year’s Crop-Over season.

The 1986 Christmas season witnessed Gabby triumphantly celebrating the distinctive facets of Barbadian village life as both a folk singer and a calypsonian. Dubbed “Village Music”, the two-night musical-cum-pantomime was staged in the prestigious Frank Collymore Hall, which is a state-of-the-art performing auditorium that forms the ‘cultural wing’ of the Central Bank of Barbados complex. The show marked Gabby’s 21st anniversary as a performer of both national and international stature.





According to “Weekend Magazine”, the show featured “a wide cross-section of artists spanning the musical culture of Barbados.” They included the guitarists Mike Sealy and Clifton Glasgow; the Ellerslie and Wesahh folk chorales; dramatic artist, Andrea Gollop; Ruk-A-Tuk International; singer and impresario, Richard Stoute; and a backing band comprised of a stellar cast of Barbadian musicians.

The folk music rendered featured classics from Gabby such as “Bridgetown”, “Grandma Miriam”, “John Brown”, and the perenially evocative and anthemic “Emmerton”. More significantly, “Village Music” commenced by saluting Vernon Cadogan, Vern Best, and Shillingford Agard, as musician-citizens who had all made seminal contributions to folk music as a national artform. Complementing the folk songs were the calypsos that the Mighty Gabby delivered such as his early hit entitled “Heart Transplant”, in addition to “Police In A School Yard”, “Hit It”, “De List”, “Backraise”, “Gisela”, and his most widely acclaimed international hit, “Boots”.

Ultimately, The King ‘seasoned’ the finale of the show with the calypso “Culture” – in which he defines both the function and nature of calypso as an empowering artform for Caribbean peoples – and with the mood of righteous indignation which permeates the now historic “Jack”. For “Jack” became the Mighty Gabby’s first national and Caribbean-wide mega-hit in 1982.



To Be Continued …

Contributors At Ice Records Ltd.



Scrapbook Compilation……………………………...…….. Mighty Gabby
Executive Editor……………………………………………...Eddy Grant
Assistant Editor………………………………………………Maria Grant
Inhouse Website Administration……………………..........Maria Grant
Serialization Concept……………………………………......Viking-Tundah
Translator………………………………………….……........ Indra
Original Scrapbook Review Concept…………………….....Harold Beckles
First Instalment Compilation……………………….............Harold Beckles