bro. valentino: stay up zimbabwe

Bro. Valentino, Anthony Emrold Phillip, began his illustrious career in 1961 at The Big Bamboo, a minor calypso tent in Port of Spain, Trinidad, before breaking into the professional scene in 1966 at the Lord Kitchener's Caravan calypso tent. After the Black Power revolution of 1970, he transformed into a calypsonian with a conscience and a consciousness who sang on behalf of the poor and downtrodden and was dubbed "The People's Calypsonian". His commitment to lyrics of education, elevation, and African consciousness has been his identifying badge and signature. At the end of the heady decade of the tumultuous 1970s, with the echoes of the Black Power revolution of Trinidad still strongly reverberating, Valentino penned his two most commercially successful calypso songs, 1979's "Stay Up Zimbabwe" and 1980's "Ah Wo (Brand New Revolution)" both reflections of the revolutionary spirit which had engulfed the Caribbean in the 1970s. 1979 marked the historic date of the Maurice Bishop-led Grenadian Revolution and as if to herald this auspicious event Valentino would make it all the way to the coveted national calypso monarch finals with this anti-apartheid anthem. The infectious military style rhythm and the lyrical clarion call to arms invaded the carnival/calypso season of 1979 filling the lips and boots of everyone, singing and marching to his chorus. But there was another rhythmic element, the Shango/Orisha blend, which on many an occasion at Valentino's pubic performances, would make audiences, as Trinidadians say locally, "catch the power". One year later Valentino again stunned the world with a song which reveled in the new-found fame of the Caribbean, no doubt spurned on by the very Grenadian revolution of one year earlier. "Awo" championed the new mood of the Islands. He called on the people to rally around this cause and spread the fire to the next generation. Both songs, calypso-flavored with the newly introduced soca melody of the mid 1970s, are now given a new lease of life on this record. Voted among the top 50 calypsonians of the 20th century, four of his songs have also been selected in the Top 200 calypsos of that period -- "Life Is A Stage" (1972), "Barking Dogs" (1974), "Dis Place Nice" (1975), and "Stay Up Zimbabwe" (1979) -- while his 2004 history treatise "Where Calypso Went" was selected as Calypso of the Year. Silk-screen printed cover; 140 gram turquoise vinyl.