Walter Ferguson

Walter Gavitt Ferguson comes from a tradition that developed especially in Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, the Providence Islands and Ciudad Colon, Panama, and whose finest composers have all disappeared: Lord Cobra, Lord Panama, Lord Kitchener and Papa Houdini himself, born in Trinidad.

A fortuitous event turned this island into the cradle of calypso: the arrival of recording equipment in 1912, and with it the possibility of recording this new music with banjos, guitars and double bass, or quijongo. Calypso rhythms began sailing away to New Orleans, New York and the Caribbean islands, along with interpreters and composers from Trinidad who became very popular in Jamaica.

Ferguson is probably the last to have learned the trade through verbal contests, dueling and improvisation. He is a musician, but also a great humorist. He laughs at the uselessness of the calypsonian, attracted by carnival and glamorous girls who rob him blind after calling him their "sugar candy."

The calypsonian figure depicted by Ferguson is vanishing: the character with more woes than glory as he travels through artistic environments, the foreigner, the guy without a dime, the loser who has given up on romance because women get bored of him or take him for everything he's worth.

Ferguson is the incarnation of that character, always ready to tell the story about what is going on in town.

Much to his regret, he traded in his old guitar for a new one in Dr. Bombodee. The investment improved the quality of his interpretations and his reputation as an intuitive musician, but Ferguson isn't very happy about the change: "This guitar has some kind of secret, something in it that when you play, it goes more and more out of tune." —Courtesy Calabash Music