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The Mighty Duke Speaks
The Mighty Duke
TriniSoca.com Reporters
Recorded: on September 27, 2007
Posted: October 03, 2007
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TRINISOCA.COM: You mentioned one experience that I am quite interested in. Tell me about the tent that you had with 'Lord Shorty' in Port of Spain.
DUKE: Prior to the Professional Tent, I was also part owner of another tent with 'Chalkdust' and 'Superior'. As Calypsonians opening a tent, we created history in a sense whereby we paid Calypsonians by cheque for the first time in Trinidad and Tobago. I paid them on a Thursday night, not on a Friday night. We thought that if they had families they would want to go to the market and the grocery and so on. Although some of the Calypsonians didn't like that because they found it was too tough, they wanted their money in cash, but we said no. We thought that if we paid them by cheque, when they go to the bank they would probably open accounts and that sort of thing.
Prior to Professional Tent I used to work in all the tents. I worked in a tent where they used to pay you in the bar on a Saturday night during tent hours and during the intermission time. Imagine you are an artiste and they are paying you your salary in the bar where you have other people buying their drinks and so on and shouting out, "Gimme a drink nah boy." Before you get your money, it done. You have to buy a drink for somebody, and sometimes a bottle of scotch, or they will boo you when you go up on the stage. I thought that was one of the most devilish things to happen to Calypsonians. When they get paid in the bar on a Saturday night, if your family had to go to the market they only had Sunday morning, and in those days the grocery used to be closed, so it was rough.
TRINISOCA.COM: What was the experience like for you having to organize your own tent and being able to run that organization?
DUKE: It was great. It gave you the experience not only as an artiste but also as a business entrepreneur and to deal with your fellow artistes on that basis as the proprietor and as an artiste as well. It was good, a good experience. It was a totally different experience than being just a Calypsonian. The one with 'Suppie' (Lord Superior), 'Chalkie' and I lasted about three years. I had to leave because I went away with [Aubrey Adams' musical production] Ambakaila. I guess the guys couldn't handle it on their own so it kind of disintegrated. When I came back, I formed the tent with 'Shorty' but then something went wrong and so on. We didn't make a million but we didn't lose money. I think the first time they had Calypso on Ash Wednesday we had Calypso in the tent. The tent was run Ash Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday after Carnival. That, as I said, was a good experience.
TRINISOCA.COM: In terms of the format of the National Calypso Monarch where there is only one song, there have been quite a lot of complaints about that one song rule. What are your own personal thoughts on how it is now?
DUKE: I for one never agreed with one song. I was totally against it. You cannot judge a man on one song. It is not a hundred-meters race and even if it was a hundred-meters race, you cannot judge a man on one race because he has to go through different races before he meets the final. What happens there is that a man could be lucky and get one good song and win. Do you want the Calypso Monarch to be a lucky person or a good artiste? This is my whole thing on the topic. I think they need two songs to judge someone on. Two songs will sort of clarify what he is up to. You know he isn't lazy and he has two good songs. I believe so.
TRINISOCA.COM: Are there any final words you would like to share with the national public?
DUKE: Love your own. We are not loving our own in Trinidad and Tobago today. If you love your own you would see a lot of changes. If a fellow put a record outside you wouldn't look to go and copy it and sell it and that sort of thing because you know he has to survive just like you. A lot of things will happen differently if we love our own.
TRINISOCA.COM: I think that the process of loving your own would involve understanding and discovering your own.
DUKE: That's right. It's a whole big thing. It may sound like a three word sentence but it's big. It's a whole philosophy. I wouldn't elaborate on it too much but it's a good philosophy. If we love our own we will see a lot of different changes in this society today.
TRINISOCA.COM: On behalf of TriniSoca.com, thank you for sharing with us.
Kelvin ' Mighty Duke' Pope in pictures:
www.trinisoca.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=78655
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