By Suelika N. Creque
Editor-SKNVibes.com

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – HOLLIS URBAN LESTER LIVERPOOL, popularly known in the calypso arena as Chalkdust, is short in stature but a man who possesses dynamic and powerful words.

He was recently brought to St. Kitts by the Young Energized Core youth group to be a part of their Miss Personality and Marvelous Queen  and Ring Bang Calypso competitions. He was the event’s special guest artiste.

That visit was Chalkdust’s fourth to St. Kitts and he said that he is always pleased to come to the island.

Speaking to SKNVibes at the St. Kitts Marriott Hotel lobby on the morning after his performance, Chalkdust said he enjoyed the show and the setting was good.

The calypsonian said, unfortunately, he felt bad that he was unable to perform some of the songs the crowd wanted as he was not aware beforehand and did not bring the music to accompany the songs.

“Last night I performed songs about Caribbean unity. I didn’t perform any political songs as I am known for in Trinidad,” he said.

He reminded me of my former primary school principal at the Seventh Day Adventist, Leroy Pemberton, because of the suit he wore during our interview which he said he had just returned from church.

“Yes, I’m a Catholic and we Catholics love to go to our Sunday mass,” he said. 

During our interview, the 68-year-old Liverpool, who is an eloquent orator, spoke very passionately on his knowledge of calypso.

He said he acquired the name Chalkdust from a book written about teaching and the denomination system of teaching where preachers used to have all the powers.

“And when I got into teaching, I got into trouble with the priest. Chalkdust is also the least important thing in the classroom and, with my humility, I call myself that,” he said.

The Trinidadian calypsonian has been involved in the art form since 1967 and declared that it seemed like it was just the other day.

“I started singing calypso as a boy. I used to compose calypso at school for our football teams and when I taught at the junior college I use to compose at the junior college singing about what was happening there,” he said.

Liverpool said that he decided to take up the art form after placing third in a buy local national calypso competition in Trinidad.

Since then, he has won the Trinidad Calypso Monarchy on eight different occasions, making him the second person to do. The other calypsonian is the legendary Mighty Sparrow.

Chalkdust also won the 1976 Carifesta Calypso Competition; the World Calypso King title in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands eight times; and the Calypso King of the World in New York City on the two occasions.

“It’s no different from today, but now we have better instrumentation and more technology in terms of sound system. We had better arranged music…today’s music is badapa pa,” he said when comparing calypso then and now.

He said that there is no arrangement of the music today and some of the harmony in music is missing.

“There’s difference in lyrical composition; lesser lyrics, more hook lines. People go to the calypso shows and tents like that to listen to what’s going on in the society,” he said.

Although he feels that the true traditional music is not around much, he still thinks there’s hope for it.
Calypso is like tradition, Liverpool informed, “It would not die…it would change. Tradition doesn’t die easily, it changes; calypso wouldn’t die, it will grow more and more.”

He said that when people get involved in the art form they eventually branch off into soca because it brings more money and popularity.

He also said that soca music and its dance beat defeat the purpose of calypso music as persons are suppose to listen keenly to the words.

“If there is one thing I’d like to see, is more persons singing traditional calypso, more persons singing commentary and human interest calypso and put the emphasis more on the beauty of the art form in terms of the listening experience,” he said.

He said that could only be accomplished when people understand the art form.

“They don’t know what they are doing, they don’t know they are taking part in an African art form; in a tradition that is very rich, a tradition that was the newspaper of our people, the computer of our people, the television of our people. If you can understand that then you would understand how important it was for our forefathers.

“But many don’t understand that, they just jump in to make a dollar or fame. But if you understand the tradition you can’t sing nonsense,” Liverpool said.

He said that formal and informal education in and outside the classroom is very important.

As a calypsonian, Liverpool believes that one should be able to separate one’s personal opinion when it comes to politics, singing on the issues without being bias.

“You don’t take sides, not Pam until you die or Labour, but Kittitians. What you do is look at the problems without being bias, give your views, and that’s the beauty of political songs. You can express your views without being bias,” he said.
Along with calypso, Liverpool said he was very passionate about history and has been a teacher for over 40 years.

“I’ve been very passionate about history. I taught social sciences - Sociology, Anthropology. I’m passionate about history! People in the Caribbean have so much history but they don’t understand it. They think it’s in some book, but it’s in our everyday lives. Why we braid our children’s hair and even the clothes they wear?” he said.

He is writing a book titled “Tears in the Classroom: The struggle for identity in a newer colonial society”, which will be released later this year.