Black Prince

Black Prince (born c. 1880) was a Trinidadian calypsonian. He was one of only three of the first-generation calypso pioneers to record, the others being Iron Duke, who made the first (vocal) calypso record in 1914, and Lord Executor, who recorded extensively from 1937 to 1940.

Career Like other early calypsonians such as Richard Coeur de Leon (Norman Le Blanc) and Iron Duke (Julian Whiterose), Christopher Howell took his calypso name from a famous English military commander, namely Edward the Black Prince (1330–1376). The first mention of Black Prince's career is in a recollection from Lord Executor about the time when calypso started to be performed more widely in dedicated calypso tents, which was around 1900. This led to “the competition becoming quite fierce in Port of Spain”, so the leading calypsonians began to “scatter” from the capital, says Executor, with Black Prince moving to Tunapuna, the town where Marxist historian C.L.R. James was born in 1901.

In 1933, the Trinidad newspaper Daily Mirror published Black Prince's suggestions on how the Carnival calypso competitions should be organised, referring to him as a “singer of Belmont”, the suburb of Port of Spain where Executor lived. Black Prince “strongly advises the authorities to stop ... the half nude Jab Malisa”, referring to a carnival costume of a devil covered in grease or molasses. In 1935 Black Prince competed in a calypso competition against Roaring Lion, Growling Tiger, Atilla the Hun, Railway Douglas, Lord Executor and Lord Beginner, in which the competitors had to write and perform a calypso about the recent death of Mikey Cipriani, an aviation pioneer and cricketer who had died in a plane crash.

Black Prince recorded 4 calypsos between 1938 and 1939 which are available on Bear Records’ West Indian Rhythm box-set (2006): “The Bamboo Band”, “School Boys’ Adventure”, “I Want a Radio at Home” and “You Pelt Me Bundle Before the Door”; only the first 2 of these were originally issued. “You Pelt Me Bundle Before the Door” (i.e. you throw a bag containing my possessions onto the doorstep), a song about his lover abandoning him and taking his valuables, was recorded at a 1939 session for Decca, in which Black Prince and Lord Ziegfield recorded 12 calypsos between them; only “You Pelt Me Bundle” was mastered and none were originally issued.