King Selewa, a musician having made the journey (both physical and musical) from Africa to Jamaica and finally to Trinidad, presents here a fine collection of simple, happy calypso in the pre-steelband form. The instrumentation is based around the guitar and drums (with a horn section here and there), the vocals are repetitive and catchy, and the mood is light. There's somewhat less of the political commentary common to some of the classic calypso singers (
Lord Invader, Attila the Hun), but a bit can be heard still in pieces such as "Mami Watta." The African influence is strong in the percussion here (and indeed, in a few of the Yoruban-based songs as whole entities), and the horns can provide an able piece of accentuation whenever needed. The sound overall though is light, danceable, and relatively simple. Much of this is what made
Harry Belafonte such a hit in his day, and there's a reason for that.
Selewa doesn't seem to have
Belafonte's charisma here, but that's a rather tall order, and the musical backing is still worth hearing. ~ Adam Greenberg