The right history

av The Mighty Chalkdust

Ordförklaringar efter texten

I am sure you will agree with me, we don’t know enough of our own country

Because our history books teaching we, only about Drake and Queen Mary

Now we know so much about England, buccaneers, eskimos and red indians

And if a tourist should come today, we in trouble if she ask about canboulay

And the history of calypso, our children and them don’t know

They never hear about Hell Yard, Bad Twenty or Tokyo

So I want to see:

Life stories of Lord Executor, Growler, Atilla, Invader and Killer

The origin of carnival in this country, write that down in history

And the first pan men were Fish Eye and Spree, tell them to write that down in history

Lincoln is the toast of America, England is proud of William Shakespeare

But Gentle Daniel and Sir Henry Pierre, Sir Gaston Johnson children never hear

The 1903 water riot, who were the sixteen who met their death

Who or what started the Siparia fête, these are questions nobody ain’t tackled yet

I want to read in my own history, letters of John Craig that we never see

And all them stick fight songs that me grandfather sang for me

Yes I want to see:

The history of parang, bele, joropo, tamboo bamboo, serenal and shango

Jaropi, kekoor, kromanti and bongo, write that down in history

We are the only country with highway taxi, tell them to write that down in history

We must write more of our legends, souccoyant, la diablesse, lagahoo and dwen

We don’t know the history of our jabjab, although every year we play mas like mad

Now we have great relics of our history, like White Hall, Police Barracks and Oarsley

The Princess Building is history wasting, and them fellow with a degree won’t write a thing

But they write books on Winston Churchill or of Columbus we’ve had our fill

And nobody wouldn’t write a line about Spoiler still

So I want to see:

Panmen like Dagger and Pepe La Moko, Hoots, Boy Blue, Cat and Noose, Art de Coteau

Patsy Haynes, Pete Degrete, Pops and Stribo, write them down in history

Don’t forget Musselrat, Ranger and Red Aussie, tell them to write them down in history

They were great pan men, they went to jail for pan

The wrong things today are taught, and nothing about our great men of sport

George John ball out England in twenty-three, Clifford Roach scored a whole century

Write that and forget Mr. Rally, bring in Sqeeky Heinz and Pompe,

Now we govern ourselves and rule our land, let my people learn more of our nation

Write about we tullum and we payme, let the world know is we invented roti

Let me see in books we put in callaloo, pelau, talkaree

Oh yes believe me:

Is we invented Good Friday bobolie, we made up words like todi and basodi

Our sou-sou Chase Manhattan Bank copy, write that down in history

And the first teacher to sing kaiso was me, tell them to write that down in history

Naturligtvis vimlar det av lokala trinidadska företeelser I den här kaison. Det skulle som sägs i texten krävas en historiebok för att förklara allt.

Här dock några förklaringar:

”Drake” = Sir Francis Drake

”canboulay” = Festen till minnet av slaveriets upphävande som hölls under några årtionden på 1800-talet

”Hell Yard” etc. = några av de första steelbanden

”Lord Executor” etc. = kända äldre kaisonians

”pan men” = steelbandsmusiker

”Gentle Daniel” etc. = kända trinidadians

”Siparia fête” = en stor fest som hålls varje år i byn Siparia till ära för Soparee Ma, en staty som både hinduer och katoliker anser är helig

”parang, bele” etc. = musik- och dansformer

”highway taxi” = i Trinidad har man taxibilar som åker vissa rutter och transporterar folk. De fyller samma funktion som bussar.

”souccoyant” etc. = figurer i folktron motsvarande våra tomtar och troll

”jabjab” = en karnevalsmask som framställer djävulen (jab = franskans diable)

”play mas” = av ”play mask”, den trinidadska termen för att klä ut sig och vara med i karnevalen

”White Hall” etc. = byggnader i Port of Spain

”with a degree” = med akademisk examen

”Spoiler” = en berömd kaisonian som dog just innan denna kaiso gjordes

”Dagger” etc. = steelbandsmusiker med färgstarka namn

”They went to jail for pan” syftar på att polisen ofta, särskilt under 1940- 0ch 1950-talet, arresterat steelbandsmusiker för förargelseväckande beteende

”George John” etc. = berömda cricket-spelare

”tullum” etc. = lokala maträtter

”Good Friday bobolie” = skällsord, här blir alltså Chalkdust humoristisk för att lätta upp stämningen mot kaisons slut

”sou-sou” = ett slags lite sparklubb på arbetsplatser o.dyl. jämförs här med bankjätten Chase Manhattan Bank, vilket omedelbart får en trinidadian att skratta