M'BA Gary Thomasos, Master Wong / I Wanna Love You Now
Liner notes, feature stories, new interviews.
Selected Works is a regular newsletter by the Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, New Zealand) based freelance music journalist, broadcaster, copywriter, and sometimes DJ Martyn Pepperell. Yes, that’s me. Most weeks, Selected Works consists of a recap of what I’ve been doing lately and some of what I’ve been listening to and reading, paired with film photographs I’ve taken + some bonuses. All of that said, sometimes it takes completely different forms.
Last year, I helped Frederiksberg Records put together the liner notes and sales copy for the first official digital reissue of the Trinidadian calypso, soca and parang artist Gary M’BA Thomasos’ third-ever release, ‘Master Wong / I Wanna Love You Now’, now available for purchase through Bandcamp.
Originally self-released in 1982 through Thomasos’ MBA Productions label, this double-single shows off Thomasos’ range as a calypsonian. With nimble grace, he pairs animated storytelling and romantic melodies with uptempo soul, R&B, and dance-tinged instrumentation straight out of the late-70s/early-80s discothèque scene.
Thomasos recorded both tracks at K.H Studios with his longtime collaborator, the Lebanese keyboard player and arranger Gerry 'Skies' Abraham (of Blues Ventures), who died in 2013. “When I talk to people about him now, I tell them he was the only arranger I worked with who could go inside my head and know exactly what I wanted,” explains Thomasos. “We had a very good musical relationship.”
On side A, Thomasos effortlessly rides the rhythm, paying tribute to Trinidad’s early-80s roller skating craze and Master Wong, an almost mythological street skater who dazzled the public down on the Promenade in the Port of Spain. On the flip, he switches to balladry with ‘I Want To Love You Now’, a yearning disco soca love song that scored Thomasos radio play.
After the release of the double single, Thomasos travelled to San Fernando to perform outside a record store alongside the legendary calypso and soca artists Arrow and Crazy. Master Wong turned up on his roller skates. “He did his antics while I was singing the song,” says Thomasos. “He never thought his rollerskating would inspire someone to write a song, so he was very happy.”
Thomasos got his start as an artist in the calypso tents in 1978, one year after the death of his idol, the 70s Trinidad icon Cecil Hume, better known as Maestro. In Hume’s honor, he took on the initials M’BA, pronounced ember, but an acronym for Maestro Born Again. When he first took to the stage, he’d been dreaming about that moment since his childhood in The Royal Chartered Borough of Arima.
In Trinidad & Tobago, the Arima borough is associated with Parang, a folkloric Christmas music that emerged after Venezuelan cocoa farmers were brought over to develop plantations across the archipelago. His grandmother’s first cousin, Daisy Voisin, who died in 1991, was considered the Queen of Parang. However, Thomasos’ father had an ear for calypso, and he passed it on to his son.
“When I was a little boy, he would take me to the tents to hear calypso during carnival time,” says Thomasos. He remembers seeing Lord Kitchener, Sparrow, and all of the greats perform and would sometimes sneak backstage. “People who knew me from a little boy will tell you that ever since I know myself, I used to come in and perform in front of them,” he explains. Thomasos believes he always had a gift for writing, but he credits a 70s calypsonian turned school teacher named Mr David Prescott - the father of the Trinidadian artist Designer - with teaching him Calypso song structures.
In 1979, Thomasos was approached by The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service Band, who were playing free lunchtime calypso and soca concerts in Woodford Square by the Parliament of Trinidad. They wanted him to perform with them. “That was my first time in front of thousands of people,” Thomasos remembers.
Although he was cautioned about social commentary, Thomasos got up, did a funny dance, and sang a song questioning the Prime Minister and government about inequality and injustice. The audience response was rapturous, and the national news screened an excerpt from his performance on television. “That was big for me,” he says. “I was political, and I stayed on that topic for a long time.”
Throughout the 80s, Thomasos released several singles and EPs while performing in the tents during carnival season, playing in small bars across Trinidad and Tobago, and visiting smaller islands to sing classic calypso standards. In the 90s, he was a finalist in the storied Calypso Monarch singing contests of 1993 and 1995. “In 1993, I defeated Sparrow, Superblue, Gypsy and Coco, which for the first time in a contest was great,” he enthuses. After the 1995 finals, he was mentioned in Billboard Magazine.
Since then, Thomasos has continued to work as a calypsonian throughout Trinidad and Tobago and in neighbouring Caribbean countries such as The Bahamas. A student of history and a passionate advocate for how calypso performances and recordings have long served as both journalism and entertainment, he believes that in 2022, the world needs calypso more than ever. “It’s just a matter of getting it back out there again, you know?” he muses.
WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING:
When he emerged from the Wellington music scene in the mid-to-late 2000s, Myele Manzanza was keeping the groove flowing with Olmecha Supreme, Electric Wire Hustle, The Recloose Live Band, and numerous other projects
A decade and a half later, the now veteran drummer, producer, DJ, and composer is based in London, where he has spent the last few years finding his place within the UK and Europe’s vibrant modern jazz, soul, hip-hop, house, techno, and experimental music scenes. I profiled Myele for Audio Culture. You can read the full story here.
Remember the Old, Embrace the New, Clementine Valentine on the Timelessness of Their Debut Album: For Rolling Stone, the art-pop sister duo told me about the road to their stunning debut, 'The Coin That Broke the Fountain Floor'. You can read the full story here.
FIN.