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Date: September 03, 2010 at 12:06:20
From: Snow
Subject: 'Sir' Mighty Sparrow in search of a WELL DESERVED knighthood

URL: http://www.caribbeanlifenews.com/articles/2010/09/02/news/caribbean/caribbeanlife-cl_news_caribbean-2010_09_01_broome_the_mighty_sparrow.txt

 
Calypso doctor in search of knighthood

By Rod Broome

Thursday, September 2, 2010

What do you give to a man who has been there and done that, and virtually has everything in terms of accolades in entertainment?

If the Caribbean gentleman is kaiso’s top superstar His Excellency, Dr. Slinger Francisco (a.k.a. Mighty Sparrow), then the answer may be readily available … from the horse’s mouth?

To be or not to be a knight, and how soon, may still be lingering questions in the mind of a tiny offspring of the Calypso King of the World?

“I am extremely grateful to the government and people of Trinidad and Tobago for mounting a statue of me in Port-of-Spain, giving me the distinguished Chaconia Gold and the Humming Bird Medal – Silver (HBM). I have an honorary doctorate (D.Litt.) from the University of the West Indies. I am the proud recipient of the CARICOM Secretariat’s most exalted insignia: the Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC); and Nigeria saw it fitting and appropriate to bestow upon me the coveted ‘Chieftaincy of the City of Lagos’ title, in 1977, but there’s still an accolade that’s missing amongst the hundreds that are proudly displayed in my huge and secured living room cabinet, according to my delightful seven-year-old grandson,” Dr. Francisco revealed recently.

Sparrow, who resides yearly – nine months in New York City and three months in Port-of Spain -- and has done so for more than 28 consecutive years, is virtually a man without a country, if little Santiago Sancho Slinger is genuinely not kidding about his famous granddad being awarded a knighthood, any time soon.

The one year (only) that Sparrow spent, after birth, in his native Grenada – some 74 years ago -- has so far not qualified him, exclusively, to be considered fit to be crowned one of the spice isle’s most famous sons.

Trinidad and Tobago, his adopted twin-island republic, also the Land of Calypso and Steel Band music, is ill-equipped to bestow a knighthood on anyone by virtue of its political makeup and constitution. That also goes for the United States of America.

“Perhaps the beloved government and people of Grenada, to whom I am exceedingly grateful, also, for making me their cultural ambassador-at-large and according me a diplomatic passport, are not quite ready to go that extra mile just yet? Who knows, they may think, at 70 plus, I am just a baby and not eligible for a knighthood in their patriotic scheme of things,” Sparrow echoed softly.

Sparrow, who likes to refer to himself as a true “Grenadadian”, was born in a small fishing village in Grenada called “Gran Roi” [meaning: great king, in French], and after 365 days (or thereabouts) his family took him to Trinidad and Tobago in the hope for a better life.

“Furthermore, the Spice Isle’s powers-that-be, who are actually paying attention, may even believe that a one-year-old Grenadian does not qualify, adequately, for such a high national title,” he further speculated.

So the wait goes on: if not Grenada, where else?

Barbados, a sovereign nation for close to 42 years, has non-republic status at the moment, and its most prestigious insignia is the knighthood, but it is generally reserved for its very outstanding and deserving nationals.

“I have always had a cordial and somewhat intimate relationship with the wonderful governments and people of Barbados. I say ‘intimate’ because, while my paternal grandfather was born in Venezuela (another republic), my maternal grandfather came from Barbados; and, most importantly, my wife Margaret (nee Skinner) is a born and raised Barbadian. In fact, a noted Trinidadian attorney once told me that such close family connections make me a Barbadian by naturalization,” Sparrow reiterated with a chuckle.

Sparrow’s intimate ‘highlife love affair’ of some 68 years with the people of Barbados, coupled with his close family ties, make him hopeful that someone in the government’s official Awards Committee will one day give him the unprecedented nod that lands him into the Hall of Fame for Barbadian superstars, thus ultimately leading him to “SIR’, with love!

“I am not holding my breath, but I am rather confident that the younger ones in myfamily, like Santiago, would be most grateful if one of these years, hopefully, and by no means posthumously), I got that special call via Grenada or Barbados, that summoned me as a confirmed recipient of such a high national insignia,” the Birdie said.

“Many Bajans may not know, or do not recall, that I was the one who first knighted, in song, the ‘Greatest Cricketer on Earth or Mars,’ Garfield Sobers (in 1964), some three years before Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II did her thing with the royal sword, at the Garrison Savannah, at Bridgetown,” he concluded.

If the several above-mentioned awards and honors that Sparrow have received to date havenot been represented, fully, in this article, then a quick visit to the website: www.mightysparrow.com is bound to let it all hang out vis-à-vis the well known bard also known, fondly, as “Birdie”.

As the old slogan goes: ‘If Sparrow says so, is so’!

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