Divas Calypso Cabaret International (DCCI) remains an uncensored female voice at Carnival 2023.
In a climate of increased incidents of domestic violence, DCCI, the all-female calypso tent, continues to stand against societal gender bias and cultural discrimination, says tent manager/producer/director Dr Rudolph Ottley.
“Divas Calypso Cabaret International serves multiple roles in a society where gender bias and cultural discrimination is still alive and well among us as 2023 begins,” Ottley noted during an online exchange with Kitcharee on Friday morning. .
Seventeen female calypsonian headliners will take to the stage when DCCI opens its doors on Wednesday night at Blue Cafe, formerly Kaiso Blues Cafe, in Wrightson Street, Port of Spain. Among them, National Women’s Action Committee (NWAC) Virtual Calypso Queen Meguella Simon and five former NWAC national calypso queens in Abbi Blackman (1979 and 2005), Karen Eccles (2004), Maria Bhola (2018) and Stacey Sobers ( 2018).
Ottley says the tent’s principles of empowering women through employment equity, encouraging independent voices and providing a haven for emerging talent remain intact.
“Primarily, DCCI was created to create employment equity in the calypso tent arena, where prior to 2000, most calypso tents in Trinidad and Tobago employed less than ten percent of female calypsonians in their annual carnival cast.
“Secondly, the DCCI must remind the population of the importance of female calypsonians in our cultural sphere given the historical role women played during the embryonic stages of our war with sticks, calendas, karisos, kaisos and calypso in the yards of the Barracks after emancipation. .
“Thirdly, Divas Calypso Cabaret International serves as a sanctuary for aspiring young female calypsonians who are given the opportunity to test and hone their skills in the calypso tent arena,” explained Ottley.
DCCI has delivered on all three fronts, said the senior instructor at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT), noting that since 2004 female calypsonians in tents “have increased dramatically to almost 50 per cent”.
“Many female calypsonians who auditioned at DCCI have now matured into experienced, well-rounded and professional calypsonians,” he added.
Ottley, who runs classes at UTT’s Academy of Arts, Letters, Culture and Public Affairs, says the public has been educated on the role that “African women” played in ensuring that “the foundations of Barrack Yard culture remained intact well into the twentieth century “.
“(Their actions) affected the performance of calypso in a very direct and significant way. Without the challenge of 19th century African women in Trinidad, our current cultural landscape might have reflected a different scenario,” he noted.
Eager for the live stage
After a two-year hiatus forced by the pandemic, Ottley says all of his divas are more than ready to perform in front of a live audience. DCCI is especially proud to welcome Simone back after her great achievement in last year’s NWAC Virtual Calypso Queen competition, he said.
“Covid-19 adversely affected our cast members’ routines, so in 2023 our cast members are eager and anxious to perform for live audiences again for this Carnival. During the Covid-19 lockdown, some of our cast members performed in various virtual shows and calypso competitions, for example our member Meguella Simon was crowned the 2022 NWAC Virtual Calypso Queen, he said.
The tent will pay special tribute to soca and jamoo music inventor/innovator Ras Shorty I (Garfield Blackman). Some of the cast members will perform songs from Shorty’s extensive catalog, he said.
“During our carnival performances we will be highlighting some of the major compositions that Garfield Blackman composed in either the sokah genre or Jamoo music. Additionally, our cast members will be performing their 2023 calypso while competing to was selected for the National Calypso Monarch finals,” Ottley revealed.
Despite their massive strides forward, Ottley claims DCCI has “a long way to go” to do right by calypsonian women in T&T.
“In the early days of the twentieth century, most of the women who were selected in the calypso tents offered something different, something unique and had to be a big draw to win the selection. Their ability to effectively perform a calypso was not so important. It was either the size of the woman, the sexuality on stage, the pigmentation and at least her ability to perform a calypso that earned her a place in the calypso tents.
“In 2023, the main factor determining the selection of a female calypsonian in a calypso tent is her ability to perform or perform a calypso. In most cases, the calypsonian female’s ethnic, physical, or sexual appearance no longer determines her selection into a calypso tent. This shows that we are making strides, we are getting there, but we still have a long way to go,” concluded Ottley.
