Calypso Rose Same Boat

1963, Nassau, Bahamas. The well-known hornythologist Tom Stakhanov, traveling in the West Indies for bird watching, including chicks, fall in love with calypso music and, to be more specific, with the female singers. He starts to dig for Caribbean records to remind himself the tropical mood when he will be back in Paris. One night, back home in a famous tiki bar in the French capital, Cedrico AKA « The Manager » introduces him to the no less famous The Loire Valley Calypsos, a band very enthusiatic about exotic music. After drinking « chartreuse » and « crémant », and becoming friends, they convice themselves that it is highly important to "Make calypso female singers great again". This was born « Calypso Madame».

Kinga Rose is a Hungarian born singer-songwriter, best known in Luxembourg for a series of live radio performances in 2020 and 2021, that attracted the interest of some of the top musical producers in the small Duchy and led to a record deal with Timezone Records, in Germany…

A typical organ-led instrumental rock album from 1970, On the Way to Eden was Eden Rose's sole LP. Despite the strong filiation between Eden Rose and Sandrose (both groups have the same lineup), the two of them could hardly be more different. Instead of the latter's symphonic progressive rock, Eden Rose's music is a bluesy kind of rock influenced by Procol Harum, Savoy Brown, and early Atomic Rooster. Keyboardist Henri Garella runs the show, penning down all the tracks and playing lead. A very good organist (and already a sought-after session man at the time), he plays fast solos, knows how to make his chords sound dirty (and/or cheesy), and how to groove on the Hammond, but his writing cruelly lacks originality…

Those with a just a passing interest in roots reggae are generally aware of Michael Rose's Grammy-winning group Black Uhuru, but the man himself doesn't have the same name recognition. With any luck, the grand Happiness: The Best of Michael Rose will change all that. A solo artist well before Uhuru, Michael Rose's output has equaled – and arguably topped – his work with Uhuru, and Happiness does a great job of representing. Kicking off with the original version of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and ending with the brilliant/quirky Fat Eyes production "Rough Life," Happiness brings to mind the mighty Bob Marley Legend compilation with its filler-free track listing. Just like Legend, Happiness is only an introduction to Rose, and while the man has released too many great, fully formed albums to say this is definitive, Happiness only misses the extended 12" side of his career and covers everything else splendidly.