Thursday, May 31, 2007

Sir Galba

Small Island Pride, King (Mighty) Sparrow, Sir Galba (mid-1950s)

London-based Kate Blenman is great-grand niece of Sir Galba, a Trinidad calypsonian who reigned briefly in the late 1940s and early 1950s, but led a troubled life. Kate discovered one of his songs on a Muriel's Treasure playlist, and wrote that despite years of searching, she had never been able to find any of Galba's music. She explained about her great-grand uncle:

Most of the information I have was obtained from Ray Funk, a kaiso researcher. Galba's real name was George Brindsley McSween, and he made his recording debut in 1946 with "Hooligan Hide Yourself" and "Put the Knife on the Shelf." In 1949 he recorded "Calypsonian from Toco" and "Residents of Nowhere Square." He was crowned Calypso King of 1952 at the Young Brigade with "Man in the Garden Hiding" out of the Victory tent. That same year he stabbed someone in a nightclub. He sang "I Don't Want Any Women Police in Trinidad" and won second place in an intercolonial calypso contest for Princess Margaret in 1955, singing "The Queen at Montego Bay." He also recorded three singles for the Sagomes label. He died September 18, 1957, at the age of 38, by committing suicide after stabbing his girlfriend.


"Too Many Fires" is the only recording I've heard by Galba. An mp3 transfer from an original 78 (Sagomes 138-27) was provided by friend and Optigan savant Pea Hicks, who does all manner of audio restoration. It can be heard here (about 20 seconds in).


Update (5 May 09): Hear Sir Galba's "Bajan Diplomat," a Vitadisc 45 courtesy listener John Hill (with thanks to Don Brockway for the mp3 conversion).

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for all your information it has been very helpful for an project I am working on.

John Hill said...

I have a copy of Sir Galbo's wonderful 'Bajan Diplomat' copied off an old 45 by my sister. It is one of my most favourite calypsos and certainly one of the funniest ever. Can you tell me how I might be able to upload it so more people can enjoy this calypso classic?

Irwin Chusid said...

John, thanks for sending the Galba 45. I have posted an mp3 link above.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Thank you for a splendid site! I've been looking all over for a sound of Sir Galba. Now I seemed to find it only to find the link was dead. Is it possible to update it?

All the best // Jay

Irwin Chusid said...

Thanks for the death notice, Jay. I've refreshed the link. The mp3 will play now.

FredrikO said...

Great! Sir Galba was a new experience for me.

Sylvain said...

Hello!

I just find your website after some research on Calypso musicians, it's well done! I would like to listen "Bajan Diplomat" but the link seems dead... Could you update it?

Thank you!

Sylvain

Irwin Chusid said...

The "Bajan Diplomat" link has been fixed. Thanks for pointing out the break.

Sylvain said...

Thank you so much! It's a really great song, do you know what's happened to the VitaDisc label? I would like to listen other discs from this label.
Thank you!

Sylvain