Trinidad & Tobago loses a fount of cultural knowledge with the passing of comedian <PERSON> · Global Voices
Comedian and cultural storyteller <PERSON> on stage during the Kaiso Laugh Riot at Tropical Paradise in Brooklyn, New York, in 2016. Screenshot taken from a YouTube video uploaded by <PERSON>.
Comedic genius and cultural historian <PERSON> died on October 2, 2020, two days after his 71st birthday. He had been ailing for some time and his passing — which comes just five months after the death of his brother, Trinbagonian playwright <PERSON>, and about two weeks after the death of actor <PERSON>, a stalwart of local theatre — leaves a gaping hole in Trinidad and Tobago's artistic community.
Best known for his portrayal of <PERSON>, a character on the “Cultural Sprangalang” segment of “Gayelle”, a cultural magazine series that helped local television forge a strong Caribbean identity during the mid-1980s, <PERSON> was passionate about passing on knowledge of the history and culture of Trinidad and Tobago.
Upon learning of his passing, Wired868 republished a 1994 interview <PERSON> did with journalist <PERSON>, which revealed the genesis of his most enduring character:
<PERSON> was responsible for a quiz segment about Trinidad and Tobago [on ‘Gayelle’] and they had to find a name for it.
At an arts seminar [several theatre stalwarts, including <PERSON>’ brother, <PERSON>] jumped out of a coffin to dramatise their grievances. At the same time, there was a midnight show called <PERSON> and the star was called ‘Draxie’.
<PERSON>’s quiz character became <PERSON>. He would step out of an upright coffin, dust himself and ask his questions—but the segment still needed a name.
‘One night some fellas […] playing basketball, tell me they in a party—they drink, they smoke, they eat till they head was sprangalang.’
The segment became Cultural Sprangalang until the character took over and was rechristened.
Though <PERSON> would become “a national figure”, <PERSON> also starred in various theatrical plays and other productions, including director <PERSON>'s feature film “A Winter Tale” and the Canadian sitcom “Lord Have Mercy!”
Although rumours about his death had been circulating online a few days before he actually passed, social media users were still shocked at losing him.
On Facebook, media producer <PERSON> remembered <PERSON> as a “great comedic mind [and] even greater intellectual and historian [who] embodied everything Trinidad and Tobago needed in this moment”. Photographer <PERSON> added also in a Facebook post:
He claimed [Trinidad and Tobago] as his home by teaching us WHO we are, and those who listened learned so much.
The value of <PERSON>'s contribution was not lost on actor and Rapso musician <PERSON>, who noted in a Facebook post:
Cultural Sprangalang was a national treasure, a master storyteller and a philosopher of the highest order. He was a living walking repository of our stories and our history and he was possessed of a searing honesty and a sense of humor beyond compare. He dared to be true to himself and afforded us the opportunity to grapple with hard truths while laughing hard and shaking our heads in knowing. 357
Thank you <PERSON> for the example and the knowledge and wisdom over the years. A true hero, a real Griot and a Giant of a man. Rest In Everlasting Peace my brother ?. Your stories will live on.
A griot is a storyteller in the West African oral tradition.
The National Drama Association of Trinidad and Tobago (NDATT) also mourned his passing, describing <PERSON>'s cultural contribution as “vast and invaluable”. The Trinidad Theatre Workshop, meanwhile, recalled how Sprangalang could “tell a story”:
He had the facts, he articulated the ideas in a vernacular way of thinking and talking […] He was our identity, he was a creole griot. A historical raconteur who spoke the nation language in a way that was universal. A comedian who made us think. He was our [<PERSON> without the cussing. He lit up a space with an intelligent wit and a respect for our heroes.
<PERSON>, who worked with Sprangalang on the “Gayelle” programme, paid tribute to him on Facebook:
Our show had launched him onto the national stage. 357