The Veteran Trinidadian Calypsonian Mighty Composer dies at 83

The Veteran Trinidadian Calypsonian Mighty Composer dies at 83

The Veteran Trinidadian Calypsonian Mighty Composer dies at 83 leaving the Caribbean ca­lyp­so fra­ter­ni­ty to plunged in­to mourn­ing for the fourth time in re­cent weeks with the death of the Mighty Com­pos­er (Fred Mitchell).

Com­pos­er passed away on Wednes­day morn­ing at the Er­ic Williams Med­ical Sci­ences Com­plex where he had been hos­pi­talised for the past two weeks with a heart con­di­tion and oth­er health is­sues. He was 83.

Born in Ica­cos on June 8, 1935, Com­pos­er’s first stint in en­ter­tain­ment was as a mem­ber of the Singing Mitchells fam­i­ly group that sang cho­rus lines for Spar­row’s Na­tion­al Record­ing Com­pa­ny pro­duc­tions.

In 1964, he launched his ca­lyp­so ca­reer at Spar­row’s Orig­i­nal Young Brigade.

His great­est suc­cess­es were in the 1960s and ‘70s with hits in­clud­ing Work­ers’ Lament, Sup­pos­ing, True or Lie, Black Fal­la­cy and Child Train­ing.

He was a foun­da­tion mem­ber of the first Ca­lyp­son­ian’s As­so­ci­a­tion in T&T as well the Trin­ba­go Uni­fied Ca­lyp­so­ni­ans Or­gan­i­sa­tion (TU­CO) where he served as an ex­ec­u­tive mem­ber for many years.

Apart from be­ing an ac­com­plished ca­lyp­son­ian, Com­pos­er was known for por­tray­ing the Red In­di­an char­ac­ter, parad­ing in the tra­di­tion­al mas on Car­ni­val Mon­day and Tues­day in San Fer­nan­do.

In his lat­er years, Com­pos­er, a mem­ber of the Or­isha faith, al­so be­came known as Ag­ba Olu Sino Amono.

In Ju­ly he was ho­n­oured by the Eman­ci­pa­tion Sup­port Com­mit­tee (ESC) with a con­cert, Shikamoo—An­ces­tral Rhythm, for his con­tri­bu­tion to the art form.

That event was fol­lowed on Re­pub­lic Day with the Hum­ming­bird Medal (Sil­ver) for his loy­al and de­vot­ed ser­vice to T&T in the sphere of cul­ture.

Com­pos­er’s death comes just weeks af­ter the pass­ing of fel­low ca­lyp­so­ni­ans Shad­ow, De­Fos­to and Lord Su­pe­ri­or.

The fu­ner­al of Lord Su­pe­ri­or, who died in the Unit­ed States last week, takes place to­mor­row at 10 am at NA­PA in Port-of-Spain, with bur­ial at 4 pm in his home­town, Rio Claro. Pub­lic view­ing will be from 6 pm to 9 pm on Thurs­day at the Skif­fle pa­n­yard in San Fer­nan­do.