Obituaries - July 16, 2000

Ras Shorty I, 59, creator of “soca,” a fusion of calypso and up-tempo funk that he said represented the true soul of calypso. Ras Shorty I was born Garfield Blackman in Trinidad. When he started singing calypso, he took the name Lord Shorty. The 6-foot-4-inch Shorty fused traditional calypso with an up-tempo beat, what he called the “Indianization of calypso,” bringing together the music of Trinidad and Tobago’s two major ethnic groups, descendants of African slaves and of indentured laborers from India. According to Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, soca became a more danceable music that “featured a steady drumbeat set against intricate syncopated patterns played on the cymbals and snare drum. . . . It also employed a wider range of instruments, including electric bass, electric guitar and synthesizers.” It was the start of a major transformation of the traditional calypso beat. Dozens of musicians adopted his style, taking soca to the dance halls of the world. Shorty underwent a transformation, becoming a Rastafarian known as Ras Shorty I. “Shorty was able to succeed in his attempts to modernize calypso, especially to package it for young people, and I recognize him as the father of soca,” calypso performer Mighty Sparrow said Thursday in New York City. On Wednesday of bone cancer in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.