Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal Volume 3 Issue 2 Calypso and the Caribbean Literary Article 1 Imagination: A Special Issue December 2005 CARNIVAL CANNIBALIZED OR CANNIBAL CARNIVALIZED: Contextualizing the "Cannibal Joke" in Calypso and Literature Gordon Rohlehr
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarlyrepository.miami.edu/anthurium Recommended Citation Rohlehr, Gordon (2005) "CARNIVAL CANNIBALIZED OR CANNIBAL CARNIVALIZED: Contextualizing the "Cannibal Joke" in Calypso and Literature," Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal: Vol. 3 : Iss. 2 , Article 1. Available at: http://scholarlyrepository.miami.edu/anthurium/vol3/iss2/1 This Essay is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarly Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal by an authorized editor of Scholarly Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Rohlehr: CARNIVAL CANNIBALIZED OR CANNIBAL CARNIVALIZED... Congo Man The Mighty Sparrow first performed “Congo Man” at Queen’s Hall, Port of Spain, Trinidad, early in October 1964 (Trinidad Guardian [TG] 5 October 1964). Over four decades since then, he has performed it regularly and recorded it six times (de Four 72). Treating it as a sort of signature tune, Sparrow delights in creating a new version of strange sounds every time he performs it. “Congo Man” has been cited by journalist Debbie Jacob as “Sparrow’s own all- time favourite” (Sunday Express [SE] 10 February 1991). An intriguing calypso that only Sparrow can convincingly perform, “Congo Man” has raised questions about the centuries-old encounter between Africa and Europe in arenas of ethnicity, culture, gender and politics; the racial stereotyping that has been an almost timeless aspect of this encounter; the erasure of any clear image of Africa from the minds of diasporan African-ancestored citizens of the New World, and the carnivalesque performance of “Africa” in the transfigurative masquerades of Trinidad and New Orleans.