Calypso Rose Forever

The return to the spotlight in 2016 of the veteran Calypso Rose, half-a-century after she was first crowned Trinidad’s carnival queen, was an unalloyed joy. Her comeback album Far from Home was delivered with a little help from Manu Chao and Ivan Duran and was a spirited album of sun-drenched Caribbean rhythms, which she promoted with festival performances from Coachella to WOMAD.

Half-a-dozen years later and now in her 80s, she’s still going strong and here offers an even more expansive set of rock-tinged calypso, soca and ska with contributions from Manu Chao, contemporary Trinidadian soca heavyweight Machel Montano, dancehall star Mr Vegas, French rapper Oli, electro duo Synapson, Kobo Town and Belize’s Garifuna Collective. The album’s best moment comes when she combines with Garifuna and Carlos Santana’s liquid guitar playing on a sublime version of the late Andy Palacio’s ‘Watina’. Yet despite the heavy friends, it’s Rose’s ripe voice and fruity rhymes on songs such as ‘Hotter than Ever’ and ‘Everybody Rocking’ which command centre stage – and rightly so.