Calypso Rose – The Lioness of the Jungle” is as much an intimate portrait about the “Grande Dame” of Calypso as it is a road movie. Travelling from Trinidad and Tobago to New York, Paris, all the way to Africa. Along the way, Calypso Rose reveals her personal story, her groundbreaking musical achievements, her commitment to defend women´s rights, her faith, her worries and fears and above all her strong love of life and people.
The Documentary entitled : Afropop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange: Calypso Rose: The Lioness of the Jungle. Is set to air NY PBS channel 13 on Sunday February 12th 2012.
When I won the Road March in 1977 with ‘Gimme More Tempo’ or ‘I going down San Fernando,’ I told them ‘I’m like a river overflowing its banks, you try and stop me, I’m going to find room to pass.’ They tried to stop me . . . but hell, in 1977 I overflowed the bank!” Said Rose.
The composer of more than 800 songs, she started as a teenager and got her first break by singing a tune she wrote called “Glass Thief” for Eric Williams, the first prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago. The song, about a man who stole a vendor’s eyeglasses in Trinidad market, was written as a lyrical warning for men in rural Tobago to beware of the evils in bustling Trinidad.
For the past 16 years, Jean Michel Gibert has been working in Trinidad and Tobago as an executive producer and producer for films such as “Calypso Roots”, “Panman” (For Canal Plus ) “Calypso @ Dirty Jim’s”, “Soca Power in Trinidad and Tobago”, “Calypso Rose Lioness of the jungle” and many international productions. He founded his production company Maturity Productions in 2001 to further promote Caribbean cinema through international co-productions and qualitative and recognized multimedia projects.( www.calypso-at-dirty-jims.com and www.calypsorosediva.com )
The film premiered in Rose’s birthplace, the tiny island of Tobago. And so we arranged for a screening in collaboration with the Tobago House of Assembly. The audience loved the movie! The second place we screened the film was in Trinidad where we had a really big premiere in collaboration with Trinidad and Tobago Film Company, Trinidad and Tobago Entertainment Company and the Ministry of Culture. Again it was a huge success. We then moved to Europe and had a screening followed by a performance of Rose on the beach of the Croisette at the Cannes Film Festival this May. The event was very well received and we had very good reviews by the French press.
