Oliver Weindling writes:
If you met Sonny Blacks, you immediately felt you were in the presence of calypsonian royalty! He came to England in 1960 and brought the first steel bands, after the exceptional circumstance of the Festival of Britain. And he also had the best Calypso singers.
Indeed, we were lucky enough for him to bring to the Vortex the best. Calypso Kings ad Queens. Such as Calypso Rose, who has regularly since sung at the Barbican, Mighty Chalkdust and more. He was also one of the founders of the Notting Hill Carnival, and several times he also brought the great Trinidad pianist Russell Henderson to the Vortex. Apparently Russell has led the first Notting Hill Carnival procession on steel pan.
His main project for years was the Caribbean Carnival Experience which he toured regularly around Europe. I myself also had the pleasure of being a director, along with Sonny, of the Commonwealth Arts and Cultural Foundation. So we worked closely on a number of projects in this vein, bringing together music from across the Commonwealth, be it South Asian, Caribbean and African primarily