Interview with
David Michael Rudder

Trinidad Music Legend,
National Poet, Composer and Calypsonian...

David Michael Rudder is in our view, Trinidad and Tobago's national poet. His thoughtful calypsos entertain, inform, and challenge views about people, places, nationhood, ethics and events.

In many ways David Rudder is to Trinidad and Tobago what Bob Marley was to Jamaica. He a Trinidad music legend, the country's conscience and, in our view, a national treasure. Some of David's most feel-good and patriotic calypsos, like "Trini to the Bone" and "High Mas" have become classics and enduring symbols of a nations pride.

David Rudder is more than a traditional calypsonian; he is a singer-songwriter in the broader sense of international popular music. Yet calypsonian is part of his history and identity, and Trinidad music continue to color his work, for David is as he sings, Trini to the bone.

We caught up with David recently after a concert where he provided some insight into Trinidad Calypso, Trinidadians, his creative process, his work as Trinidad and Tobago's Good Will Ambassador to the UN, and his work with under privileged kids. We even asked him to recommend which of his albums he thought visitors might prefer...

In your breakout year, when you won the Calypso Monarch title, your music was criticized for not being pure calypso. You answered those critics in your song "Calypso".

Could you tell our readers: What is Calypso? And while it is obviously faster, what is Soca?

David Michael Rudder: Calypso music is basically story telling in song. Like a newspaper editorial but in song. We tell stories about our life and times through music.

Soca music started out as just Calypso with a different rhythm. Calypso music was very poly-rhythmic in the old African sense. Soca is more streamlined. It came out during the Disco era, and was more danceable because it followed the trend, the Disco thing.

Trinidad was listening to a lot of Black American music at the time. We were listening to Soul music and our natural music was Calypso, so we took the first 2 letters of the word, Soul, and the first 2 letters of the word Calypso, and called this new upbeat style of music Soca. It was still about story telling, but with a grove. Today, Soca music is still a little bit about story telling but a lot of it has evolved into pure dance.

Calypso has always been influenced by popular music. Today Soca seems heavily influenced by Hip-Hop. What is the future of Calypso and Soca as a distinct art form?

David Michael Rudder: I call Calypso "Amoeba Music" because it always consumes what is around it. It absorbs what ever is around and manifests itself as a different form of Calypso, because Calypso music is so resilient. The future of Calypso depends on popular music, and where it's heading.

Basically, the music will always embrace what's going on and become a different form of its self. If you listen to very old Calypso it sounds like Ragtime, but it is not Ragtime. From way down in history it has always absorbed the musical forms around it, and bring out that influence in a new way.

Who were the greatest Calypsonians, and what made them stand out?

David Michael Rudder: The greatest Calypsonians don't necessarily mean that they stand out. In the same way I will immediately call the Mighty Sparrow and Lord Kitchener, I would also call people like Zandolee and these guys with the same breathe.

You never hear some of the great Calypsonians and they never became popular but within the culture, within the village or within the town they had something to say that was magical. So in addition to people like Sparrow, Kitchener, Shadow and Black Stalin, I would also call people like Zandole.

In Trinidad people traditionally listen to Calypso and Soca only at Carnival time. Do you see this changing?

David Michael Rudder: I think we, Trinidadians, possess a certain degree of self-loathing, which manifests its self in the way we limit ourselves in the very thing that makes our spirits fly. We say that it needs its place and a season. It is only when we move away from what we have… that we appreciate it.

Trinidad is probably… No, I shouldn't say probably. Trinidad is the most artistic space on the face of the earth. The percentage of people who are in the arts in Trinidad is higher than anywhere else in the world. If we see this as a gift then things will change, if we don't, or we take this for granted, or waste this gift than we will always contain Calypso to a season.

Which of your songs means the most to you, and why is that?

David Michael Rudder: The song that means the most to me is the one I am presently writing.

One of the reasons why you might pick up a David Rudder Album and fall in love with a song, and next month you get attracted to another one, is because whatever energy I put into one song, I put into the other song. I don't say, "Well this is my big hit”, and then full up the album with other songs. Each has its merits, so, if I am working on something... that is my favorite. When it's done I listen to it and couple times, and then I go on to another.

Which of your albums would you recommend to someone who is unfamiliar with your music?

David Michael Rudder: I would say albums like "Blessed", "Beloved", "Gilded Collection One", "Eclectica" because of the mix of music. Some of the songs deal with world affairs. Sometimes people might not understand the Trinidad stories but if they listen to a song like "Jerusalem" or "Burma", I think they will be able to connect.

We know you have written music for some Hollywood productions, but what do you consider your most memorable or prestigious international assignments to date?

David Michael Rudder: When ever I travel into places like France or Japan, or wherever, those are the things that stick out to me because I am bringing my country and my culture into a new space, and introducing it to them. To me that is my main mission at this time.

What projects are you working on at the current time?

David Michael Rudder: Well in addition to the release of my latest album, "Trinidad Stories", I've just finished a group of songs documenting the Obama Presidency and that should be out in a little while. I was there at the Mall in Washington.

As I said, this is the very essence of what Calypso is. Documenting history. Europeans tend to write their history down in books, and Africans tend to tell their history in stories. We marry both, make music and document events, so if you know the year that a Calypso was released you will also know the year in which the event took place.

Tell us about working as Trinidad and Tobago, and the English Speaking Caribbean's, Goodwill Ambassador to the UN, and what you were able to accomplish?

David Michael Rudder: There's a lot of talk at the UN, it's a talk shop. But what I've done on my own is I made a pledge at the last convention, where the focus was on women.

My pledge was to focus on the young men because I say that the problem with young women is the young men, who grow into big men who become the problem. So I work with under privileged boys to try and steer them on a proper path, you know.

We heard that you had been working with disadvantaged youth in Trinidad, can you tell us a bit more about this program, and perhaps share a couple success stories?

David Michael Rudder: I will give you an example; I've made some inroads with the boys at St. Michel's School, a school for troubled youngsters. With the help of some friends, like Mr. Ali Kan of the Trinidad Hilton and certain other people, we have put together a steelband.

The project is going really well, the young men are responding well and we are trying to expend the steelband now. They are going from strength to strength, playing in all the Embassies and doing other work. To me that is a step forward.

David Rudder's Biography at the Caribbean Hall of Fame.

David, thanks for an interesting, thoughtful interview.
We wish you success in all your future ventures.
We love every tune on your new album "Trinidad Stories".