Mighty Sparrow (1935 – 2026) – iRADIO.tt Blog + Journal: Appraisal, Opinion, Information
“The king is dead, long live the king.” In 1969, the Mighty Sparrow brilliantly mocked gossipers and mauvais langue spreaders who proclaimed “Sparrow Dead” in a fine calypso:
"Well big mouth Lillian
Say the funeral was on television
She picky head cousin
Say hmmm, the coffin cost twenty thousand
That is why he sell the company
To pay the doctor and the burial fee
While they talking, up comes big belly Angie
With a paper bawlin' 'Girl, all you ain't see?'Who kill the Sparrow? Nobody know... ('Sparrow dead!')
If you see this woman ('Sparrow dead!.)
. . . // . . .Well that was excitement
Traffic jam, people block the pavement
If you see the commess
Everybody down by the Express
People want to kill Chookolingo
Sparrow just land in Piarco
This time the Evening News led the throng
With another headline by Chester Morong."
Today his family confirms this sad truth, the icon that is the Mighty Sparrow has passed.
The Mighty Sparrow more than anyone else, has done the major work, on record and in performance, to put calypso into the consciousness of the world. While Harry Belafonte gets a lot of press and face time as the “King of Calypso”, certainly in America and parts of Europe, Sparrow made sure no one forgot that T&T — and by extension the wider Caribbean from Grenada to Belize to the Virgin Islands and Bermuda, where he performed — was the land of calypso, and his body of work was proof of that claim. He recorded for RCA Records, thanks to Belafonte connections, and as we know performed more concerts in more places than we can imagine. He took our music all over the world and we should be forever grateful.
The controversy of composition showed that despite him not writing a major portion of his calypsos including some classics — Winsford ‘Joker’ Devine’s book reveals a letter to PRS for Music showing that about 80 compositions were by Devine, most exclusively and fewer than 10 were joint compositions — his prolific output of about 63 albums not including compilations cemented, for those who cared to listen, his deserved reputation as the Calypso King of the World.
His passing today has to be the signal for this nation, its people, its government, and its institutions to get all the parts and pieces in place to secure calypso as Intangible Cultural Heritage at the UNESCO and secure the nobility of those icons who have put the genre on the map of the world’s music. Legacy matters. Additionally, all the lip service about a National Cultural Recognition Policy — created and laid in Parliament by the Minister of Culture in 2020, and abandoned by her indifferent successor, only to be hopefully revisited, revised and implemented by the current one in this new term of political dominance — our calypsonians and steelband people and Carnival artists deserve better.
Calypso Rose (86) recorded this album, Forever, which was to be released in 2022. Family matters and legal wrangling denied us that release. She was here in Trinidad last weekend for the Caribbean Music Awards, weakened and almost laying flat in a wheelchair, possibly never to perform this and any music any more. Sparrow (91) had all his music digitally available on the Bandcamp website. Lord Nelson (95) has a few there too, along with the late Lord Melody, who would have been 100 years old in 2026, in compilation records. How we treat our calypsonians, more so those over a certain age, is what makes it so easy for agencies to ignore them or even recognise them. No airplay, no sales, no attendance at calypso tents, which equal no recognition beyond unverified Wikipedia references, and increasingly, obituaries that have people scrambling for words to say. When our soca artists hit 50 years old, people are sending them to the graveyard despite them filling spaces in the thousands. We have to do better at acknowledging and preserving legacy for those still with us in calypso and soca.
Gordon Rohlehr, V. S. Naipaul Derek Walcott have all commented, quoted, analysed, praised the significance of Sparrow in prose and poetry, in travel literature and academic analysis. So should we, as a nation, from today going forward.
In February 2026, I had the opportunity to write a piece on Sparrow for the leading World Music magazine, Songlines. [Click here to read.] Unable to speak to him then, it was my simple tribute and overview of a career that continues to tell the story of the majesty of calypso and showcase excellence by a Caribbean icon of the highest order.
Sincere condolences to his family, including Karen Francisco on this loss. A nation, a region, a continent mourns. May The Mighty Sparrow rest in peace and his legacy rise in glory forever.
© 2026, Nigel A. Campbell. All Rights Reserved.
