"Calypso Dreams" premieres in the US

The popular documentary film Calypso Dreams, which gained tremendous popularity when it was screened at the Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival, premieres in the United States next month.

The Consulate General of Trinidad & Tobago, together with Florida International University’s Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC), the University of Miami’s Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS), and Abeng Arts, are hosting the premiere at the University of Miami's Cosford Cinema on Thursday April 2 at 7pm. The event is free of charge.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the filmmaker Geoffrey Dunn, alongside legendary calypsonian Lord Superior (Andrew Marcano) and the film's co-producer Alvin Daniel.

On the eve of the premiere, a free panel discussion on Music, Resistance and the Caribbean Calypso's Legacy will be help at 2pm at Florida International University. The panel will feature outtakes of Calypso Dreams, as well as discussion with Geoffrey Dunn, Alvin Daniel, and Lord Superior.

Calypso Dreams is a film nearly ten years in the making, and chronicles the spirit and traditions of calypso music in its birthplace of Trinidad. It features narrative commentary by popular Trinidadian musician David Rudder, and captures riveting contemporary performances by a host of legendary calypso performers, including the Mighty Sparrow, Calypso Rose, Lord Superior, Black Stalin, Mighty Bomber, Lord Blakie, Singing Sandra and Mighty Terror. It also pays homage to recently deceased calypsonians, including Lord Kitchener and Lord Pretender.

The film also includes a rare and exclusive interview with Harry Belafonte on the issue of his early involvement with calypso and his complex relationship with Lord Melody and other calypsonians in the 1950s and early 60s. Using a rich array of archival footage and photographs, Calypso Dreams illustrates how the music was commercialised and homogenised by the American music industry in the 1940s and 1950s, only to survive in decades of international anonymity.

Calypso's current state in its homeland and internationally remains a matter of vigorous diasporic debate.

If you are a lover of calypso, or are just curious about it and about Afro-Caribbean music, the film is a treasure and a must-see.