The Caribbean’s big band era

This week, take a flashback with me to some of the “glory days” in the gilded history of Caribbean music bands. The inspiration for doing this came after I received a message in my electronic mail last Saturday morning. It read, simply and sadly: “It is with deep sorrow that I bring the news of the passing of Clarence Curvan, legendary bandleader (T&T). Clarence Curvan has joined Andre Tanker, Clive Bradley, Beverley Griffith, Roy Cape, Joey Lewis, Ron Berridge and the other great Trinidadian musicians”.

The announcement was sent by Randi Curvan who described himself as Clarence’s cousin.

Now elderly folk of my generation would be tinged with sadness to hear of Curvan’s passing but most Vincentians under the age of 50 are probably not aware of him, save for those heavily involved in the Caribbean music scene. That is a real pity.

So, who was this Clarence Curvan, and how did he gain the accolades showered on him for his contribution to the development of Caribbean music?

Clarence Curvan was born in the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, Port of Spain, in the same year that the deadly World War 2 broke out in 1939. He grew up in the areas around the calypso tents of those days, with the likes of Kitchener, Spoiler etc. and must have been heavily influenced by them and their back-up music because by the early sixties he became the youngest band leader in T&T. The 50s and early 60s was the golden age of big band music in the southern Caribbean, with the likes of Mano Marcellin, Fitz von Bryan and Cyril Diaz prominent. These bands did not confine themselves to calypso music but played a remarkable combination of all genres- calypso, bolero, classical, bossa nova etc. No band of substance could play for a fete unless it touched on all these areas, and they recorded their music on what was called 45s and LPs in those days as well. The young Curvan band made its name in the wide variety of music it mastered, played and recorded, even taking songs from musicals adopted to Caribbean beat.

Competition was strong then for there were already established bands like Joey Lewis and the Dutchy Brothers around.

Those days there were no high-tech gadgets like today and for bands to be successful, they had to play in all kinds of venues, large and small. They even undertook tours to neighbouring islands, sometimes as part of a package with top calypsonians. The touring influence also rubbed off on bands from the Windward islands and Antigua as well. Yet, it could not have been easy to raise and maintain a brass band at the time. These were full orchestras with sometimes four or five horn instruments and, significantly full percussion featuring not just drums but also tumbas, bongos, cymbals, timbales, xylophone and tambourine, all in one band. Yes, we were privileged indeed. SVG had our big bands too.

Musical talent in the Caribbean was not confined to T&T however, though, as mentioned there was a lot of mixing and cross-fertilisation. Our tiny country produced some of the best bands and outstanding musicians in those days. Pride of place belongs to the Mc Intosh family. So prolific was the family output that at one time there were three McIntosh bands, led by Harold, Syl and the musical genius Frankie. The competition between Syl and the Blue Rhythm and Frankie’s band did a lot to push both further. That lingering influence of the McIntoshes must have contributed to the flowering of many local bands with the Latinaires being the most outstanding. Volume 5 of the Browne brothers played an important part in the development of the late Winston Soso for instance. And, there was TOUCH, a very significant development on the local musical scene. So prolific was the output, not just among brass bands, but smaller non-brass combos too. I remember, I think it might have been 1966, that we even had a competition for them- Band-o-rama for brass bands and Combo-rama for combos. That is how rich we were musically. Just think of the flowering of musical talent from the rural areas- bands from Bequia, Layou, Barrouallie,Georgetown, Mespo- all emerging and recording too.

Besides the bigger, more established bands, there are many local musicians who endured the hardships to develop bands. I think of the late Roland Sardine, Robert ‘Patches’ King, the Richards brothers from Murray’s Village and a host of rural musicians. We must document and honour their contribution.

Finally, when we are talking music, brass bands and calypso, no praise can be too high for the late Olson ‘Caribbean Pete’ Peters. He was trumpeter, arranger, facilitator- the very heart of our calypso and Carnival season. Every time we go to the calypso tent, every Calypso Semi-final and Dimanche Gras, we must remember this great man. It is on the backs of these stalwarts that today our artistes can stand aloft. This is even more reason for a Carnival Honour Roll , and Museum of Carnival, and musical history.

•  Renwick Rose is a Social and Political commentator.