Calypso is a musical and dancing expression commonplace to several Caribbean nations, especially the English-speaking islands. It's sung in Creole English, most of the time in an off-the-cuff fashion. Its lilting beat, the lampooning satire and its expressive freedom have come to stress its popularity, while its swaying rhythms and ways have been acquired by such great U.S. jazz musicians as Sonny Rollins.

Featuring a blend of European-origin melodic elements and African rhythmic roots, the shift from solo to a bunch of vocals and its off-the-cuff lines are key. Calypso sailed the Caribbean waters to settle down in other territories within its boundaries. Its melodies mark a light, jaunty character that sets a complete departure from other genres of African-American music.

Calypso stretched out from Trinidad –its birthplace- all across the Caribbean and it took different shapes and forms in each and every country. This English-speaking sound reached the shores of Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, Santo Domingo and Costa Rica. As time rolled on, its original drums were spiced up by Venezuelan typical instruments like a small-size guitar called cuatro, guayos and maracas, among other instruments that have added a distinctive flavor of their own.

Singers and Acts The harbingers of calypso were larger-than-life characters like Norman Le Blanc and Forbes. From 1930 on, the figures of Atilla the Hun, the Roaring Lion and above all, Mighty Sparrow –his real name is Francisco Slinger- have stood tall ever since.

Lucian Parrot is the most outstanding act in St. Lucia. Grenada shows off such vocalists as Cecil Belfon, while major singers like Llewellyn Drayton and Desmond Weekes steal the limelight in Barbados. Among groups and bands, Turi-Costa, Combo Alegre, Bhudda and his Charanga, Dimension Musical, El Charro and the P. Coleman Band are the stars of the show.

From the 1940s on, this purebred West Indian music got a lot of airplay in America and Europe. Harry Belafonte's sophisticated calypso recordings traveled the world on grooves, through radio and TV airwaves and in the movies.

A living rhythm that gives life Calypso keeps its old fire burning and continues to chant everyday life with total irreverence and a touch of zing; it goes on to be a tool to air social contempt. Today, several songwriters and singers fill the Caribbean airwaves with their songs and lyrics, that coupled with the genre's lilting rhythm, showcase the essence of man in this neck of the woods.