Cultural fraternity reflects on Sparrow’s passing

Slinger “Mighty Spar­row” Fran­cis­co may have left the stage, but from the steel­pan yards of Port-of-Spain to a new gen­er­a­tion of so­ca and ca­lyp­so artistes, his mu­sic is still be­ing car­ried for­ward.

Mem­bers of Massy Trinidad All Stars Steel Or­ches­tra, vet­er­an pro­mot­er William Munroe and young en­ter­tain­er Den­zil “Coutain” Coutain say Spar­row’s in­flu­ence stretch­es far be­yond his record­ings in­to the mu­si­cians he in­spired, the ca­reers he helped shape and a cul­tur­al his­to­ry now be­ing hand­ed from one gen­er­a­tion to an­oth­er.

For Trinidad All Stars pub­lic re­la­tions of­fi­cer Staci-Ann Patrick, an al­most po­et­ic con­nec­tion links Spar­row and the Duke Street or­ches­tra: both be­gan their jour­neys in 1935.