This week we go to WAR!  Well, we go to Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean and have a “Calypso War,” which takes us to into the thick of a poetic battle. In a Calypso War,  two “Calypsonians” improvise songs in competition against each other to be most clever and entertaining, all the while taking verbal jabs at one another. The form is also known as “Extempo” because of the improvisational (extemporaneous) nature of the art. 

In tune with this season's “Connecting the Dots” theme, our Trinidadian Calypso War is just the beginning of our global exploration. Poets and musicians worldwide playfully improvise in sparring duos, inspired to step just a bit beyond themselves to prove they are more clever, more adept, faster on their feet than an “opponent.” In Lebanon, poets and their enthusiastic, chanting supporters bring forth a modern take on ancient Moorish poetry. In Greenland, two “drum dancers” hit frame drums and playfully jab at each other to win the community's affection. In Malta, singers fit their figurative fighting into poetic stanzas that have intricate and important rhyming patterns. Even in the U.S., we love “rap battles,” which face two rappers against one another in a stunning freestyle duel.