Wax museum immortalises Trini music icons

Some of the Caribbean’s greatest calypso, jazz and classical musicians are here in Barbados, forever – immortalised in wax by the Caribbean Wax Museum.

The figures of three Trinidad and Tobago icons, calypsonians David Rudder and Calypso Rose and legendary jazz and classical pianist, Hazel Scott, were unveiled Thursday at UWI Cave Hill.

The wax figures, which were created in part by the Caribbean Wax Museum in association with the Trinidad and Tobago Association of Barbados, seeks to draw attention to the legacy of these stalwarts in their field with the use of 3D art.

In brief remarks, calypsonian John King – now the Minister in the Prime Minister Office for Culture – said he believes that Caribbean artists still find it difficult to produce and sell their many works, because of a perception among citizens that such work has no real value. It is a perception, he said, that has to change in order for the region to fully realize the real value of our native culture.

King praised the iconic trio and their legacy’s significant impact across the West Indian diaspora, as they paved many paths for future artists to follow and expand on with their Caribbean identity. He noted that they, like many others, would have been recognized on the world stage for their creative skills and styles, in the Caribbean, artists are still underappreciated.

King said: “The way we have been taught to view art, the way we have been taught to view artists, and the way for some unknown reason in 2021, to have a certain amount of ambivalence to things that we create ourselves, is unfortunate, but it’s the truth that we are going to have to face.

“If there is one thing that I have learnt in my life, even as an artist myself, is that the only way you actually grow is when you become uncomfortable because when you are comfortable, you don’t really look at things and analyze and seek to grow.

“I think the Caribbean has become very comfortable with us being able to do things like this when one of our artists has passed away.”

The culture minister also stressed that it was incumbent on all citizens within the region to not only support and praise iconic creative stalwarts when they have passed on or have retired but to support them throughout their many successes, as they have contributed immensely to the region’s development with their gifts.

King declared: “Maybe this is the time when we can call upon the general public and ourselves, to ensure that institutions like the wax museum, are supported in a completely different way.

“The only persons who will be able to make the living for the artists, are the audience, and if we are part of that audience, and if we want this kind of creativity and this kind of honouring of our own to continue, then we have to be the ones who spread the word, we have got to be the ones prepared to go into our pockets, and contribute to making sure that these sort of ventures don’t die a natural death. Again, this is part of our story that we need to change.”

Director of the Caribbean Wax Museum, Arthur Edwards, said it was important to remember regional icons in a tangible and vivid way to keep their feats relevant for new audiences.

He said: “We honour people, that’s what we do, we are in the business of offering them perpetuity, a way they will never ever be forgotten. I think that is the best you can offer someone if you have a way doing it – a moment in time, three dimensions, I don’t think you can beat that.

“You put plaques on walls, you rename buildings, and we do everything that probably makes sense in a way, but after people pass on, the meaning passes on, because the name that was attached to a building, no longer becomes the name of the person, it just becomes the name of the building. A geographic location, so the honour is dead. We are trying to get beyond that.”

The Caribbean Wax Museum, located in Norman Centre, Broad Street, is home to another iconic figure of Caribbean music, the Mighty Sparrow.

Acknowledged as “the mother of calypso”, Calypso Rose, real name Linda Monica Sandy-Lewis was the first female star of the genre, responsible for the term ‘calypso king’ being changed to ‘calypso monarch’.From her pen has flowed more than 1000 songs tackling tough social issues head-on in a career spanning more than 20 albums.

At 68, David Rudder is considered one of calypso’s most innovating songwriters, He began as lead singer for the brass band Charlie’s Roots. He released such kaiso standards as The Hammer, Calypso Music, Bacchanal Lady and Rally Round the West Indies, the West Indies cricket anthem.

Less well-known in the Caribbean, Hazel Scott, who died in New York in 1981 aged 61, was in the 1950s the gifted toast of the world of jazz and classical piano. The Port-of-Spain-born Scott was a child prodigy who after moving to the US with her mother as an infant, studied at the prestigious Julliard School on scholarship from age eight. A prominent jazz singer through the 1930s and 1940s, she became the first black person to host her own show on US television, The Hazel Scott Show, in 1950. But her career was truncated by McCarthyism, the anti-communist witchhunt of prominent artists and entertainers. (SB)