Eastside Radio’s Album of the Week is So Calypso! by Calypso Rose on the Because Music label.

There’s no doubt about it, as the self-proclaimed ‘Queen of Calypso’, calypso is her thing and no one has ever come close to dethroning her. She remains the voice of this musical style originating from Trinidad and Tobago and standing out in a traditionally male dominated musical world she’s very much a contemporary emblematic figure in the fight for women’s rights.

For her new album, with a back catalogue of more than 800 songs and 22 albums, the 78-year-old Tobagonian diva decided to go back to the start, and re-record a number of her career defining numbers and cover songs from those artists which have inspired and continue to inspire her, like Nat King Cole, Aretha Franklin, The Melodians and Angélique Kidjo. Common to all the covers, be they from American, Jamaican and African artists, is they all share their sentiment with Calypso Rose’s social and musical values.