Neville Marcano
Neville Marcano (1916–13 May 1993),[1] known as the Growling Tiger, was a Trinidadian calypsonian.
Biography
Born in Diego Martin, Trinidad, Tiger was originally a boxer who won the Trinidad flyweight championship in 1929.[2] He was active in calypso from his teens and began singing professionally in 1934.[2] He was a member of the old brigade of calypso singers, which included Lord Beginner, Attila The Hun, the Roaring Lion, and Lord Pretender. In 1935, he went to New York with Attila and Lord Beginner to record for the Decca label, recording 46 songs in total.[2] In 1939, he won the first Calypso King competition with "Trade Union".[2][3]
More so than his contemporaries Tiger sang about social and political issues. His best known songs are "Money is King",[4] about economic inequality, and "The Gold in Africa", about the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. Recording together with Atilla and Beginner as the Keskidee Trio, he recorded some lighter tunes, including "Don't Let Me Mother Know".
Folklorist Alan Lomax recorded him in 1962. In 1966, Growling Tiger performed at the Newport Folk Festival. In 1979, he recorded an album, Knockdown Calypsos, for Rounder Records.
Fellow Trinidadian George Browne was dubbed "Young Tiger" after recording a cover version of Marcano's song "Single Man" in 1953.[5]
References
- ^ Growling Tiger biography, AllMusic.
- ^ a b c d Thompson, Dave (2002), Reggae & Caribbean Music, Backbeat Books, ISBN 0-87930-655-6, pp. 5, 59.
- ^ Ronald C. Emrit. "Growling Tiger". bestoftrinidad.com. Retrieved 6 May 2019. [unreliable source?]
- ^ "Growling Tiger - Money is King", YouTube.
- ^ Jason Ankeny, "Young Tiger" Answers.com.
External links
- Growling Tiger, bestoftrinidad.com
- Historical Museum of Southern Florida, Neville Marcano at the Wayback Machine (archived 22 February 2007)
- Growling Tiger mentioned in iupress.indiana.edu/journals, at the Wayback Machine (archived 23 January 2004)
- Growling Tiger song mentioned in trinibase.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 7 July 2007)
See also
- All articles lacking reliable references
- Articles lacking reliable references from May 2019
- Articles with short description
- Short description is different from Wikidata
- Use dmy dates from May 2019
- Webarchive template wayback links
- Articles with FAST identifiers
- Articles with ISNI identifiers
- Articles with VIAF identifiers
- Articles with WorldCat Entities identifiers
- Articles with BNF identifiers
- Articles with BNFdata identifiers
- Articles with GND identifiers
- Articles with LCCN identifiers
- Articles with MusicBrainz identifiers
- Calypsonians
- 20th-century Trinidad and Tobago male singers
- 20th-century Trinidad and Tobago singers
- 1916 births
- 1993 deaths