NIGEL CAMPBELL

Lord Nelson (Robert Nelson), heralded as the Calypso King of New York in the 1960s, performed some days after his 91st birthday at the tribute concert, A Musical Evening with Lord Nelson, at Queen’s Hall on July 30.

And one might add, he performed sublimely, with an audience-connectedness that proves that in the local context, experience matters in performance excellence.

Nelson now appears to be the oldest living and performing calypsonian, since Mighty Bomber died at 93 at the beginning of 2022, and he had retired from regularly performing live more than a dozen years earlier.

The concert, organised by the Friends of Lord Nelson, was a two-year effort, stalled by the covid19 pandemic. Friends leader, John Arnold, a Tobago stalwart in things cultural, spoke at the start of the concert of the necessity of guaranteeing it took place now, also noting that sponsors should come forward to fund the writing and publication of a biography of a still-alive Lord Nelson for posterity. (It should be noted that the biography Machel Montano, by his mother, Elizabeth, was published that same weekend, adding bit by bit to the handful of biographies of local artistes.)

After a powerful start by the superbly attired Errol Ince Brass Band, then an awkward segue where singer Debra Bartholomew arrived onstage at the same time as MC Errol Fabien to sing Sweet T&T, the singing tributes flowed in a fashion to highlight the legacy of Nelson as more than a party song composer and singer, but a calypsonian who covered humorous topics, and dabbled in social commentary.

[caption id="attachment_968303" align="alignnone" width="497"] Calypsonian Nelson holds the mini sculpture which was presented to him by Friends of Lord Nelson in recognition of his 91st birthday. Nelson delivered hit after hit at his tribute concert, A Musical Evening with Lord Nelson, held on July 30 at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s. - Courtesy Duans Lyons[/caption]

Despite living in the US for many years, his connection to these islands remains strong, and his influence was and is still palpable in performance and recordings he is still making, as recently as this year with Kes on their collaboration De We Ting.

After Fabien comically introduced Oscar B (Oscar Benjamin) with a pair of bon mots – “dis fella perform all over the world...and other places,” and “he so good, he perform an instrumental a cappella” – the tributes began with two songs, Garrot Bounce (Whoopsin’) and Ah Goin’ an’ Party Tonite. The initial releases of these two songs span from 1963 for the former to 1982. With a calypso predating soca, it was obvious that Nelson’s compositions are timeless, and in the hands of Oscar B, a performer of high impact, these two songs were a great opening for what proved to be a night of great calypso and soca, effective audience engagement, and memories made real.

The award-winning Signal Hill Alumni Choir followed up with another pair of Nelson’s early soca compositions from the 1980s, th