Everard Romany aka
Brother Shortman, also known as
Rapso Rebel, is a rhythm poet and musician from
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, small ...
.
Biography
Born in
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
in 1951, Brother Shortman (Bro. Shortman) became, together with
Brother Resistance
Lutalo Masimba (24 October 1954 – 13 July 2021), born Roy Lewis and known professionally as Brother Resistance, was a rhythm poet and musician from Trinidad and Tobago. He died on 13 July 2021, after being diagnosed with cancer.
Background an ...
, the lead singer of the
Network Riddum Band in 1979.
[Thompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, , pp. 42-3] They developed a hybrid of
soca and
rap
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
that they called
rapso
Rapso is a form of Trinidadian music that grew out of the social unrest of the 1970s. Black Power and unions grew in the 1970s, and rapso grew along with them. The first recording was ''Blow Away'' by Lancelot Layne in 1970. Six years lat ...
, a genre for which they credited
Lancelot Layne as originator.
[Oumano, Elena (1999)]
resistance Exports Rapso to US, Europe
, ''Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'', 9 January 1999, p. 18. Retrieved 29 September 2013
Network Riddum Bands début album 1981, ''Busting Out'', became a major hit, defining the musical genre that would come to be known as rapso. ''Busting Out'' was the first album to use the word rapso. After the release of the album ''Rapso Explosion'', Brother Shortman left
Network Riddum Band and did not appear on the music scene until 2004, when he released the album ''The Awakening Vol. 1'' as Rapso Rebel, after living in Sweden for more than a decade.
Discography
Singles
*"Busting Out", Squatters Chant (Everard Romany) / Dancing Shoes (Bro. Resistance) (1981)
*"Panic", (Everard Romany) (1982)
*"Long Live Kaiso", (Everard Romany) (1983)
Albums
*''Rapso Explosion'' (1984)
Early life
Everard Romany was the son of Rita and Claude Romany and the second of their 3 children. He attended Rose Hill Primary School and spent his early life as a community builder in East Port of Spain. His is a story of talent becoming derailed by drug addiction and eventually re emerging to continue the story of the Rapso Rebel in Sweden.
References
External links
*
20th-century Trinidad and Tobago male singers
Rapso
1951 births
Living people
{{trinidad-stub