The 1953 Dial Records of Carnival Music in Trinidad - SUNY Oneonta

The 1953 Dial Records of Carnival Music in Trinidad a paper to be delivered at the annual meetings of
The American Folklore Society
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
on October 17, 1996
Donald R. Hill, Professor of
Anthropology and Chair, Africana/Latino Studies
SUNY - Oneonta, NY 13820
607-436-2018 email HILLDR@ONEONTA.EDU
DRAFT There were probably more calypsonians being recorded in the 1945-
1955 period than in the previous decade. The difference was that the
initiative was divided between several small ventures, and the overall
distribution of calypsoes was substantially smaller than during the
Decca years. This is why it is today easier to find the calypsoes of
the thirties than those of the late forties to mid-fifties;
particularly those which were recorded and distributed in Trinidad. .
.
Future researchers of the Calypso will, no doubt, seek to fill
this substantial gap in our knowledge; a gap that has created the
false impression that there was a break in the continuity of the
Calypso tradition. . . . (Gordon Rohlehr, Calypso & Society in Pre-
Independence Trinidad, self-published in Trinidad, 1990, Pg. 524.)
When Aubrey "Bolo" Christopher, of Christopher Brothers Cycle and
Radio Services, 7 Nelson Street, Port of Spain, Trinidad, met with Ross
Russell, President and sole owner of Dial Records of New York, to record
calypsos, steelband music, and other Carnival and religious music in late
February and early March 1953, they ushered in a new era in the
commercialization of Trinidad's Carnival music.[i] The Dial 10" long
playing albums were the first LPs recorded in Trinidad. They were marketed
in the United States where a steady supply of 78rpm records and a couple of
long playing records by Trinidadians, North Americans of West Indian
descent, and other North Americans fed a calypso boom that had been
incubating since the late 1930s. In Trinidad, Christopher marketed some
of the DIAL recordings on the red 78rpm Calypso label. Christopher and
Edouard Sa Gomes were the only Trinidadians making records between 1950 and
1954 and few other recordings were made between the end of World War II
and the middle 1950s when the Mighty Sparrow burst on the scene. The Dial
recordings presaged the successful recordings made by Emory Cook later in
the 1950s and by Telco and RCA beginning in the 1960s. I will present a
brief history of the DIAL calypso records, review the circumstances of the
recordings, and briefly mention the musicians, calypsonians, and styles of
music recorded on DIAL. In 1937 the Radio Corporation of American (RCA) set up a recording
studio in the then new St. James Theatre (Port of Spain) in order to cut
calypso records for their Bluebird label.[ii] The first major recording
project in Trinidad after World War II took place in this studio in 1947.
According to Christopher, "this group of fellas come down from the States
to do this recording but it was never sold in Trinidad. They recorded in
St. James."[iii] The 1947 session was sponsored by Continental Records, a
New York based outfit that had recorded or re-issued a lot of ethnic music
in the United States. They issued about 15 of the Trinidad recordings and
none sold very well.[iv] In 1949 the BBC made a non-commercial Christmas recording by
calypsonians Lion, Tiger, and Invader called "Christmas Day Calypso" as
well as an instrumental by the Perseverence Club Band.[v]
In 1950 recording efforts picked up considerably. The BBC made a
couple more recordings and a visiting North American tourist, John Bessor,
recorded calypsonians, a backup band, and the Woodbrook Invaders Steel
Orchestra in Lord Invader's Calypso Club.[vi] Edouard Sa Gomes begin his
own label, "Sa Gomes,"[vii] which was eventually to run to at least 180
78rpm records.[viii] And Aubrey Christopher began his first furtive
attempt at recording on the Christo label.
There were no known recordings cut in Trinidad in 1951 but in December
1952 H. Ramón Fortune, also known as "Popo Arindell," recorded "speech and
vocal effects" and a folk tale for the BBC. (A few months later he would
record an entire 10" LP for Christopher and Russell.) In fact, the BBC
made extensive recordings in Trinidad and in nearby Carriacou this year in
a quantity on par with the subsequent DIAL recordings. Finally, Sa Gomes
continued recording on his own label.
This sets the stage for 1953, when the DIAL recordings were made. An
announcement of the recording project was printed in the Trinidad Sunday
Guardian.
Both the New York distributors of Dial records and Mr.
Christopher have the greatest faith in the sales potential. Calypso
records are in great demand now, they have found.
The records will carry a special "Calypso" label, with a map of
Trinidad. "This will mean that they sell themselves," says Mr.
Christopher. "Tourists are always skeptical that calypso records
processed by foreign companies are not authentic."[ix]
Ross Russell, President, owner of DIAL, had owned a record store in
southern California and was a jazz enthusiast. He had made legendary
recordings of bopster Charlie Parker and others in 1949. Early in 1953
Russell was based in New York City and decided to go to Trinidad on a
whim: It sorta happened by accident. I was living in New York . . .
and my close friend was New York editor of Ebony magazine [Alan
Morrison]. He was planning to go to Trinidad for the international
cricket, the world finals between the West Indies and the Indian team.
. . and he talked me into coming with him. . .
0. This was the period of - the big hit in America was "Rum and
Coca Cola."[x] But when I got down there I felt it was very much of
an indigenous culture - folk songs - and I started going in the tents
[arenas where calypsos were sung before Carnival]. . .
0. So the way I got into the recording end of it, there was a man named
Christopher. . . He had a little. . .store selling electrical goods
and he also had a big table of calypso records; he had a small
recording studio with old antiquated equipment.[xi] So when I started
thinking about recording some of this stuff, I talked to him and we
formed a kind of verbal contract. . . . So I saw the carnival and was
fascinated by it. . . I ended up staying over quite a while, ... I
think, pretty nearly two months.[xii]
0.
Aubrey Christopher ran the Christopher Brothers Cycle and Radio
Services with his brother. Born in Trinidad in 1911, he grew up on Nelson
Street where his father, a Trinidadian of Chinese descent, owned a "Chinese
Shop," a grocery and notions store at 70 Nelson Street. His father also
owned a yard on Nelson where tents were set up for Carnival calypso
competitions.[xiii] Aubrey's mother was a Venezuelan creole. After the close of World War II calypso was very popular, both at
home in Trinidad and in the United States. During the War the steelband
had developed and although outdoor Carnival was outlawed for the duration,
the calypso tents thrived with heavy GI patronage. Lord Invader's "Rum and
Coca Cola" became very popular and when it was copyrighted by Morey
Amsterdam and two other North Americans and released by the Andrews
Sisters, it became a monster hit. Invader won his case for being the true
author of the lyrics to the song and opened a calypso club in Port of Spain
for tourists.
Christopher had watched the recording process at the St. James when
Continental cut a few 78s in 1947. With skills as a bike mechanic and
radio repairman, he thought he could cut records himself. So in 1950 he
built his studio at 7 Nelson Street and began to record calypsonians,
including Spoiler, Terror, Lady Iere, the Mighty Killer, and possibly Nat
Hepburn on the Christo label.[xiv] "In those days in Trinidad we didn't
have electric phonographs. . . .you wind it up. So the speed, we had to
do 78s. We didn't have a means of playing LPs"[xv]
Christopher made the historic DIAL recordings in the same studio. The
building is still standing. He says that when international record mogul
and founder of ICE Records Eddie Grant visited him a few years ago, he
laughed at the small size of the studio and the British equipment upon
which the acetates were cut. Says Russell, the studio was "no bigger than
a double toilet. There was a lot of reverberations. And so we did the
steel drums. . . outside. . . "[xvi] All but the steel band recordings
were made within the studio. Christopher sat in another room where he kept
his office and where he had the recording equipment set up. He could see
what was going on through a small window. But although the studio itself
posed problems, Christopher knew his trade and had purchased the best
British 78rpm equipment (John Cowley: personal communication).
In this little studio some of the most significant commercial records early
1950s in Trinidad were recorded:
YOU TOO CAN DANCE
TO THE RHYTHM OF
THE LATEST DIAL
CALYPSO
AND
STEEL BAND
RECORDINGS
'RECORDED IN TRINIDAD'
78 RPM & 33 1/3 RPM
MFG AND DISTRIBUTED BY
DIAL RECORDING COMPANY (Trinidad)
7 NELSON STREET PORT OF-SPAIN TRINIDAD B.W.I.