This 78-Year-Old Artist Just Became Coachella's Oldest Performer, But She's Actually Been Making History Since 1955
The Trinidadian icon wrote her first hit "Glasses Thief" in 1955 and has been making history ever since!
So, Coachella happened last weekend and a bunch of amazing (and awkward) things went down. But if you take away anything from this year's festival, let it be this: 78-year-old Calypso Rose just made history as the festival's oldest performer!!!
The Trinidadian icon (née Linda McCartha Monica Sandy-Lewis) also became the first-ever calypso performer to play a full set at the annual music and arts extravaganza.
Her 45-minute set had the crowd MOVING, especially when she brought out fellow Trini soca star Machel Montano for her latest single "Young Boy," (think How Stella Got Her Groove Back, but Stella's an older widow), and Jamaica's Walshy Fire of Major Lazer.
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Making a great set-list can't be easy when you've written more than 800 songs in your lifetime, but that's exactly what Calypso Rose did. I dare you to watch this performance and not buss a whine!!!
Also, can we please talk about how she took a tiny tumble — cuz, ya know, life — and then CONTINUED TO SING...
Calypso Rose was performing "Young Boy" at Coachella and fell. She got back up and kept going without missing a beat @tv6tnt
...AND THEN BUSS A WHINE!!!
The magnitude of the moment wasn't lost on Walshy Fire, who explained what performing at Coachella meant for him and the entire Caribbean diaspora. "You, the fans, don't know how much it means to us to see your passion for the sounds and stories of where we are from," he wrote.
And like I said before, Machel Montano and Calypso Rose both hail from Trinidad & Tobago (respectively), so you can only imagine how the 30-year-old must have felt performing such a historic set with his homeland's living legend. If not, this photo says it all:
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"For the Calypso genre to survive this long, for Coachella to recognize and give respect to the music created in Trinidad and Tobago, it's like putting a flag down on the moon," Machel told Billboard. "For Rose to be doing this at almost 80, is significant on a world scale. It is important young people look up to Calypso Rose, especially young girls, as they set their goals and seek out their dreams."
(Tag yourself. I'm the gentleman in the back, just reveling in all of this love and support.)
But don't get it twisted, cuz Calypso Rose has been making history and headlines looooong before Coachella was even an inkling of an idea.
She's achieved A TON of "firsts" in her 64-year career, including the first woman to win T&T's illustrious Carnival Road March competition in 1977 and the first woman to win Road March, Calypso Queen, AND Calypso King in 1978 (after which, the nation permanently changed the title to Calypso Monarch).
And that's only the tip of the #impact iceberg. While her dexterous storytelling skills and vivacious vocals have earned her critical-acclaim and countless awards worldwide, it's her defiant marrying of her art and her unapologetic feminist politics that've made Calypso Rose a calypso and soca pioneer and an international trailblazer.
#CalypsoRose will be the oldest artist ever to perform at #Coachella. Over her decades-long career, she has fought against sexism and the mistreatment of women.
One of Calypso Rose's earliest call outs took place in 1955, when her 15-year-old self penned the minor hit "Glasses Thief" after witnessing a man stealing a woman’s glasses. As her website states, it is the first calypso [song] denouncing inequality between the sexes. "All I went through opened the door for the female calypsonians because I was the only woman in it for years," she said in an interview with Billboard.
The best part about all this is that Calypso "Age Ain't Nothing But A Number" Rose will be coming to a European city near you this spring/summer and dropping a new album very soon. Until then, watch the new "Young Boy" music video and thank me later.
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THANK YOU FOR BEING YOU, QUEEN!!! CALYPSO ROSE TO DA WORLDDDDDDDDD <3
