Calipso Venezolano

Calipso Venezolano

Dr. Emilio Mendoza

Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas

This article was commissioned by and will appear in:

Horn, David y John Shepherd, eds. Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, Vol 9 Genres:
Caribbean and Latin Anmerica. S.v. "Calipso Venezolano" por Emilio Mendoza. Bloomsbury Academic,
Londres: 2013.

Calipso venezolano is a style of music used for the Carnival celebrations in Venezuela. The

name calipso principally indicates the music that originated from the town of El Callao in the

state of Bolívar in the south-east of the country – hence its other name, ‘calipso de El Callao’

- but which also appears in two cities on the eastern coast, Güiria in the state of Sucre and

Tucupita in the state of Delta Amacuro. In Güiria, the calipso is performed with steel bands

as in Trinidad, but in Tucupita the cuatro (a small, four-string, strummed chordophone), long

bamboo tubes and triangles are added and the mixture of these instruments with steelband

calipso is called the cambulé (Alemán 1998, 255).

Carnival is celebrated throughout the country as a national holiday, and major cities

organize the carnavales turísticos (tourist Carnivals) on a short-term basis through local

government or private initiatives. These celebrations are culturally heterogeneous and the

music includes Brazilian samba, Trinidadian calypso, calipso venezolano and any type of

dance music that may be in fashion at the time.

In El Callao, by contrast, the calipso is part of a strong tradition of Carnival

celebrations that developed with a certain degree of isolation from the mainstream of

Venezuelan musical culture, partly as a consequence of the long distances between the town

and the main inhabited regions, and partly because the calipso is differentiated from most

Venezuelan traditional music: the latter is in ternary-subdivided rhythms, whereas the calipso

de El Callao is a binary-subdivided rhythm and is sung mainly in English. From the middle

of the nineteenth century, migratory waves from Caribbean French and English-speaking

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islands, especially from Trinidad, arrived in the region around the Yuruari River - where El

Callao was a growing town - thanks to the attraction of gold mining in the area (García 1993,

19).

A cultural tradition developed, characterized by a collection of specific, interrelated

expressions, forming the context to which El Callao calipso music belongs and in which it

continues to function. Prominent in this tradition are the comparsas (carnival associations

which march and dance in the streets of the town, identified by their costumes, each

representing a wide variety of themes), in particular the recurring-theme comparsas which

appear every year, such as Agricultura (a comparsa which comes out only at the break of

dawn with its members carrying parts of plants, trees, vegetables and fruits, singing the

calipso of the same name), the Madamas (women dressed in nineteenth-century Creole

apparel), the Miners, and the Diablos (devils), with elaborate, fire-spitting masks and whips,

who keep order in the streets. Local people and the crowds of visitors who come to El Callao

for the Carnival season happily and freely join in participative and collective but still

individual street marching/dancing behind the moving comparsas, with or without the

thematic disguise. Important personalities from calipso history, such as the Negra Isidora, are

persistently treated as figures of remembrance in the comparsas themes and/or in the calipso

lyrics. The festivities are also characterized by particular foods: acrá (small cod pancakes),

kalalú (goat meat, ham, coconut milk preparation); and drinks: ginger beer (cocktail with

lemon and maize seeds), monky pi (lemon, white rum eggnog). During the weeks preceding

the Carnival as well as during the festivities, a calendar-administered program may include

the Thanksgiving Mass, the coronation of the queens of the music groups, and children’s

calipso singing/performing competitions. During the night, dancing continues despite the

threat of the Mediopintos, black-painted, half-naked children and teenagers who tar people on

the streets with a charcoal-syrup mix when their demands for a small tip is not fulfilled.

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The calipso venezolano has a distinctive four-beat, binary-subdivided syncopated

music (see Example 1). It is performed at a moderate walking/dance speed (124-148 bpm).

Usually structured into alternating solo and chorus (verse and refrain respectively), it uses

tonal harmony mostly in the major mode and parallel-third harmonization in the voices. It is

preferably sung in English and/or more recently in Spanish, and includes some words in the

hybrid patois of the town (now largely out of use, except for traces in song lyrics) which

incorporates variants of words from French and English (Barreto 1994, 116-17). For

example:

The Dusty Band coming down (x3)

Clear the way
let them pass down there
Uay ay ay ay Cecilia
Uay ay ay ay Cecilia
Si ue me me mue
puma ie mande mama mue
Ue sau fe, see what you do
you put under your bed
you make your mako
cut off my head
Mama mue ce sen lucien
papa mue ce marticien
Si ue me me mue puma ie
mande mama mue

(1940 calipso by Luis Giraud for the Dusty Band comparsa) (Garcia 1993, 187).

Instrumentation has changed gradually over the years. According to Carlos Small and

Kenton St. Bernard (Barreto 1994, 91), calipso was initially played with acoustic guitar,

cuatro, rallo (large metal rasp), triangle and a single-skin, open-ended drum called the

bumbac. A tambor largo (larger drum) was added to the bumbac, forming the ensemble

tambores de calipso. The performers of these latter instruments walk with them on their

sides, held in place by a shoulder strap, playing them with both hands on the skin. Also

integrated into the ensemble are two metal maracas, a campana (a metal bell usually made

from the lid of a vertical domestic gas tank), a cowbell, and a police whistle (Barreto 1994,

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90). The ensemble produces the catchy, dancing rhythm for which the calipso venezolano has

gained its reputation. Although the rhythmic patterns are closely related to those of its

Caribbean cousins, the sound of the fast-strummed cuatro gives the music its distinctive

Venezuelan quality, since this instrument is a trademark of Venezuelan music. In a parallel

sense, it may be said that the cuatro also gives the calipso a Brazilian touch when it is

coupled rhythmically with the triangle, since it reminds the ear of the fast playing cavaquihno

of the samba ensemble.

Example 1. Simplified rhythmic base of calipso venezolano (transcription: E. Mendoza,

2006), showing instrumental roles.

The preferred themes of calipso lyrics are descriptions of El Callao, the Carnival and

the calipso itself, as well as phrases inviting the people to participate, sing, dance and have

fun (Barreto 1994, 128). Less often, calipsos are devoted to special persons related to the

Carnival, and topics such as friendship, political and economical problems or the town’s

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history are always focused through the Carnival theme. Love is treated from a sexual, rather

than romantic point of view, with irony and phrases with hidden meanings. Comparsas and

music groups usually sing calipsos describing the theme of their disguise or band’s name

(Barreto 1994, 131-132).

The gold mining town of El Callao has suffered a typical succession of financial

peaks and troughs - the last crest occurred around the 1940s - and has declined without a

break since the 1970s (García 1993, 184). With the exodus created by the waning of the gold

mining industry, the attraction of the Carnival festivities for tourism represented the only

option for the town’s survival, and an updating of the tradition was brought about through a

renovation initiative on the part of various cultural leaders of the town. Pressure for change to

add to the tourist appeal of the event resulted in a series of appropriations from the pop music

culture of the late 1960s and 1970s, which was then extending its mass-media reach. The

direction was set for the traditional Carnivals in El Callao to become, at the same time, a

carnaval turístico.

Although two types of Carnival celebrations, traditional and turístico, can be found in

El Callao in the early twenty-first century, both have the same entertainment function and do

not come into conflict with each other; however, the negotiation between them is in constant

redefinition and in a larger sense, the reconfiguration that is occurring in the traditional

elements, brought about by the needs of the tourist industry, is not yet being reflected in the

way the town’s services and facilities cater for the massive invasion of tourists in the few

days of Carnival, thus creating an urban chaos (Rosas 2009, 15). Since the 1970s, a major

change has consciously been engineered in the process of ‘popularizing’ the calipso tradition,

as new instruments such as electric bass, electric guitar and keyboards have been added to the

acoustic ones, and amplification has then become necessary for the voice and cuatro (with

contact microphone). Up to 2012 (the last Carnival visited by the author), percussion

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instruments had not been amplified but some instruments, such as the metal maracas, the

triangle and, as Lulú Basanta (a calipso singer and composer) confirms, even the short drum

bumbac (Barreto 1994, 93) have been dropped. Wind instruments such as saxophone, trumpet

and trombone are also occasionally included, an influence from the salsa boom in Venezuela

of the mid-1970s. Despite all these changes, the calipso de El Callao does not as yet include

steel bands, as other calipsos venezolanos may do (see above), contrary to what has been

stated (Hill 2007).

The integration of sound amplification for the comparsas created a new element, the

carrito: tall, mobile, self-contained amplification equipment, including an electric generator,

mixing console, amplifiers and speaker cabinets. The carrito has to be pushed around the

streets followed by the acoustic instruments and dancers. The top of the four-meter tall

cabinets usually accommodates the bass player, singer, cuatro player, and a boy who takes

care to lift the street cables with a stick to avoid the risk of electrical shock.

Bands were established searching for a new sound, in many cases imitating Caribbean

pop, with the result that the tempo increased, up to 148-152 bpm. Names emphasizing

renewal were popular among the new groups, for example ‘Nueva Onda’ (New Wave),

‘Nueva Generación,’ ‘Renovación.’ A call to tradition was also present in group names such

as ‘The Same People,’ ‘The Young People,’ as well as ‘Family Ground,’ ‘Cuatro y Bumbac’

and ‘Raíces Callaoenses.’ (Callao Roots). These groups formed comparsas that included their

names, adding to those with the traditional allegoric themes. The influence of the live pop

music concerts of the late 1960s and 1970s can be seen in the adoption of presentations of

live or recorded, highly amplified music on ad hoc open-air stages (tarimas) at street-ends or

in plazas, which became at the same time the headquarters for each calipso group.

Two types of calipso coexist in the early twenty-first century: the calipso comparsero,

the more traditional version, performed in the comparsas, and the calipso de tarima, more

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mixed in nature, and performed on stage. The use of the tarimas, more typical of the turístico

Carnival, encourages heterogeneous show culture with its audience-performer relationship

and contrasts with the all-inclusive dancing of the traditional comparsas. The music groups

generate hit singles every year, performed on their own tarimas and by their own comparsas,

distributed through the local mass-media and sold by informal copied-CD vendors. For this

purpose, the new calipsos are increasingly sung in Spanish. A competition aspect has been

introduced, making music groups rival each other, thus dismembering the previously existing

music community of El Callao. The music group comparsas, together with the music group

tarimas and any other tarimas built by the beer companies or the local government, all

amplify their music at the same time, competing in size and power. The carritos provide

amplification for some instruments (voice, cuatro, bass and keyboards) but not for the

percussion instruments, producing an unbalanced sound where the drums, bells and rasps are

only heard by the performers. There is no monitoring of the amplified instruments in the

carritos, so there is a marked difference between what is heard in front or behind the carrito,

and musicians and dancers often move in time with the louder plaza tarima sound system

rather than with its own comparsa music from the carrito. A sonic chaos in the festivities

ensues and the speeding up of the calipso makes it harder for the dancers to be able to follow

behind the comparsas.

Negotiation is ongoing in the performance of calipso music in El Callao between

divergent practices: acoustic versus electric instruments, amplification and sound chaos; live

versus recorded music; comparsa versus tarima performance; belonging to local tradition

versus wide-spread national reach. Calipso groups are trying to escape the seasonal limitation

on the number of performances, arranging concerts outside the Carnival dates, mixing the

music with temporary external influences, but calipso has not yet become an all-year round

pop music for Venezuelans, or one that is internationally known. Nevertheless, some

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neofolklore groups or solo artists not directly identified with El Callao have included calipso

venezolano in their mixed repertoire, such as Serenata Guayanesa in their second album

(1974), with the hit ‘Calypso del Callao,’ and Carlos Baute in his two first albums (1994 and

1997), both produced in Venezuela. Fusión music has modestly worked around the calipso;

for example, jazz pianist Ernesto García and the group Patas Jazz in Garcia’s ‘Calipsofacto,’

and the jazz group Akurima with a calipso insert in its track ‘Campanelas.’ Grupos de

proyección such as Convenezuela and Yurauri in Caracas have devoted their concerts and

recordings to the traditional calipso. The Bigott Foundation, one of the main private

supporters of folk music in the country, has produced a CD with traditional calipso music by

Yuruari, which this institution supported until 2002.

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Ramón y Rivera, Luis Felipe. 1971. La música afrovenezolana [Afro-Venezuelan Music].

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Discographical References

Akurima. ‘Campanelas.’ Bajo un cielo toronjil. Independent Production FD 2522005136.

2005: Venezuela. (Also issued on Venezuelademo 13. Ministerio de Comunicación e
Información FD2522006363. 2006: Venezuela).

Baute, Carlos. ‘Fiesta de calipsos.’ Orígenes. EMI Rodven 562-2. 1994: Venezuela.

Baute, Carlos. ‘Guayana.’ Orígenes II tambores. EMI Rodven 500902. 1996: Venezuela.

Convenezuela. Convenezuela Vol II Guayana es … Calypso Volumen 2. Top Hits 103-07349.

1983: Venezuela.

Convenezuela. Convenezuela Vol. V Calipsos, Calypsos, Carisso. Independent Production

FD252200861. 2008: Venezuela.

García Patas Jazz, Ernesto. ‘Calipsofacto.’ Abstinencia. Lyric Digital. 2006: Venezuela.

Nueva Generación. Calipso de El Callao. Independent Production. 2003: Venezuela.

Serenata Guayanesa. ‘Calypso del Callao.’ Serenata Guayanesa Volumen 2. London

LPS88177. 1973: Venezuela.

Yuruari. La fuerza del calipso. Fundación Bigott FD2669662. 2002: Venezuela.

Discography

Cuatro y Bumbac. Calypsos. Independent Production LPE-10901. N.d.: Venezuela.

Family Ground. Calypso del Callao. Independent Production. 2003: Venezuela.

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 Calipso Venezolano

Family Ground. Para…. Mil años. Independent Production. 2003: Venezuela.

García, Jesús. Colección patrimonio musical. Serie afrovenezolana. MEDCD CONAC. 2001:
Venezuela.

Nueva Onda. Ayer, hoy ysiempre,calipso del Callao. Independent Production. 2004:
Venezuela.

Raíces Callaoenses. Aquellos Ochenta. Independent Production. 2003: Venezuela.

Raíces Callaoenses. Los mejores exitos musicales ayer, hoy y siempre, calipso del Callao.
Independent Production. 2004: Venezuela.

Serenata Guayanesa. Canciones de Guayana. Independent Production FD25220011166.

2001: Venezuela.

Serenata Guayanesa. Serenata Guayanesa Volumen 1. London LPS88177. 1973: Venezuela.

Serenata Guayanesa. Serenata Guayanesa Volumen 3. London LPS88537. 1975: Venezuela.

The Same People. … Y cómo es la cosa? Calypso del Callao. Independent Production. 2004:
Venezuela.

The Same People. Calipso 24 kilates del Callao. Independent Production. 2005: Venezuela.

The Same People. Calipso del Callao haciendo historia. Independent Production. 2006:
Venezuela.

The Same People. Calypso es calypso. Sonográfica FD110991066. 1999: Venezuela.

The Same People. The Same People. Sonográfica FD25297566. 1998: Venezuela.

The Young People. Calypso del Callao…. Sigue la fiesta. Independent Production. 2006:
Venezuela.

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