CULTURE AND THE ARTS
Harry and Meghan Starring in Black Woman’s Sexual Power TT Calypso
Scene from the skit of “Meghan, My Dear”
Photo: @terrilyons82, Instagram.
Port of Spain – March 1, 2020
by Mr. Rudolph Williams
As the absent stars of this country’s top award-winning calypso involving a humorous black woman’s power-spin on their sex life, Harry and Meghan might have been piqued to witness how their deep, much-assailed love affair could be taken into the trenches of satire by the Queen’s former colonial subjects.
Harry and Meghan were the centre of attention at TT’s National Calypso Monarch competition finals at the Queen’s Park Savannah on Thursday February 20 as one of the major events in the run-up to this twin-island Caribbean Republic’s Carnival street celebrations on February 24 and 25.
Dubbed by many as “The Greatest Show on Earth”, the TT Carnival stands out with the Brazil Carnival as the largest and most popular street carnival shows in the world.
Controversy
It was in “the Savannah” on February 20 that an attractive female Afro-Trinidadian bard named Terri Lyons won the crown and TT$800,000.00 in prize-money (US$1 = TT$6.74 approx.) for her two-piece contribution, one of which was the sizzling “Meghan My Dear”.
A raunchy, biting commentary on the current controversy involving the separation of Meghan and Harry from the British Royal aristocracy, the well-received presentation included a skit featuring characters portraying the Queen and Harry in conflict over Meghan at Buckingham Palace.
Lyons, daughter of a veteran, popular calypsonian named “Super Blue” rendered the calypso “Obeah” as her other contribution at the competition.
Calypso
Terri Lyons
Photo: Trinidad and Tobago Unified Calypsonians Association (TTUCO)
“Calypso”, as described by The National Carnival Commission of Trinidad and Tobago (NCC) on its web site, is “mainly of African origin, and can be traced to the traditions of West Africans in terms of music, structure and function”.
It added: “Calypso , which has been called a poor man’s newspaper in times when literacy was not wide spread , traces its roots to African traditions of improvised songs of self-praise and scorn for others, brought here by enslaved peoples”.
Independence
Trinidad and Tobago received its Independence as a colonial territory from Britain in 1962, continuing to owe allegiance to the Queen until 1976 on becoming a Republic with its own Head of State.
Fifty eight years after Independence however, today’s descendants of the African slave trade (1562-1808) – who form about half of the population (1.3 million) - are still somewhat haunted by the race memory of slavery and colonialism.
The “Calypso” tradition has provided them with an avenue to get “pay back” by satirizing the former white English slave master in song.
It was with a great sense of triumph therefore that Terri Lyons employed her commanding voice and all the sensuously moving parts of her lithe body to personify Meghan Markel –described as “a woman of a darker hue” - as a symbol of the “jungle fever” power of the modern Afro-Caribbean woman now taking charge of her destiny in a world where inequality and discrimination still exists.
Black Meat
In doing so, she ripped through all protocols of polite and subtle language by identifying the black woman’s reputed natural sexually-gripping hold as the source of power in the Meghan-Harry relationship.
Lyons sang:
The prince gave up the money
The prince gave up the throne
The prince gave up the power
Why? Just for dark meat alone……
Once you go black, you never go back
Once you go black, you never go back
The haters on social media
Say that Harry will soon regret
Bu they will never understand
Why he leave it because
They never eat a black meat yet.
Harry and Meghan attending Church, Christmas 2017
Photo: Wikipedia
“Meghan My Dear” was also used to remind the world of what was seen by many as unfair treatment of Diana, Harry’s mother by the Royal family and to paint Harry as a hero for black people.
Is Harry who make the call
He say not my wife at all
It still make him shudder
The way them people treat his mother….
But he mother go proud
For Harry is singing out loud
Black meat to the world….
Go Harry! Go Harry!
Revenge
This approach expressed by Lyons in her calypso to seek symbolic revenge on the former slave-master through superior sexual prowess, is not new. In fact, “Meghan My Dear” easily calls to mind a calypso called “The Congo Man” sung by the calypso veteran Mighty Sparrow in 1965..
This calypso drew the metaphor of an African voodoo chief placing two white women in a pot of boiling water to be cannibalized.
Listen to Sparrow’s longing:
I envy the Congo man
I wish it was me
I feel to shake he hand
You see, he eat until he stomach upset
But I? I never eat a white meat yet
Sparrow pushed the envelope further in 1982 when, upon the discovery of a man who had broken into the Queen’s bedroom, he sang “Phillip my Dear” - suggesting an analogy with the proverbial black man of reputed superior sexual prowess finding satisfactory compensation as a former subservient subject of the British monarchy.
He big just like you but younger
He thick just like you but stronger
He lingay like you but harder
He lay-lay like you but badder
A man in mih bedroom
So vicious and mean
Telling me now see if
God could save the Queen
The Mighty Sparrow
Photo: Best of Trinidad: compiled by Ronald C. Emrit
Satisfaction
Ironically, the former colonial territory which thought it had “dissed” the British Monarchy, has replaced it with a series of “Kings” and “Queens” of the Carnival in Calypso and Masquerade competitions with the centre stage located at what is still called the (British) Queen’s Park Savannah.
In treating with Harry’s proposal to Meaghan, Terri Lyons expressed the dream of the old colonial world arrangement being overturned:
They thought that Harry
Wouldn’t go so fast to marry
But the power of the black beauty
Make him go not on one
But on he two knees
History
Lyons also went on to suggest that this event can play a part in re-writing the country’s history.
But if you ever lack
The understanding of once you go black
In the pages of history
Will document Harry’s testimony….
Once you go black, you never go back
Once you go black, you never go back
And what’s to be surmised about Harry and Megan even as all this drama was taking place unknown to them thousands of miles away in tiny Trinidad and Tobago?
Already preoccupied with carving out their new roles as Duke and Duchess of Sussex in Canada, they may be surprised to discover how much significance their marriage holds for the people of a long separated territory who are still struggling with issues rooted in their colonial past.
About the Writer
Rudolph (Rudy) Williams is a veteran Marketing Communications Specialist and Creative Entrepreneur. He is the Publisher of ttinsider.com and CEO of Williams Marketing. Rudolph is the Author of “If I Die Tonight” He can be contacted at (868)-687-0289 and Email : encounter@hot-shot.com
