The people's commentator: calypso and the Grenada revolution

Abstract

Cecil Belfon, The Flying Turkey, is the most celebrated calypsonian in Grenada. He is also a soldier in the People's Revolutionary Army. As he says: 'In the context of our society now, I have been able to combine the two functions, soldier and calypsonian, because the objectives of both roles have come together and make one and the same thing. ' Belfon was a bank clerk in the Royal Bank of Canada until 13 March 1979, the morning of the Grenada Revolution. When he heard of the uprising, he left his bank counter and immediately went to help defend the radio station, which the revolutionaries had stormed and taken. He has been a soldier ever since then. His songs and records, in particular 'Innocent Blood' (written short ly after the June 1980 bomb attack on the leadership of the People's Revolutionary Government at a public rally, causing the death of three teenage girls), are very popular in Grenada, and show the clear and dynamic link between calypso and the revolutionary movement in the Caribbean. Belfon is now Manager of Television Free Grenada.