Slinger Francisco, known as Mighty Sparrow, the 'Calypso King of the World', passed away on September 27, 2026, at the age of ninety. Calypso music was invented in the seventeenth century by African slaves in Trinidad, primarily from the Ibibio, Efik, and Igbo peoples of present-day Nigeria and Congo. The name calypso is believed to originate from the Efik word 'kaiso' and Ibibio words 'kaa iso', meaning 'go on'. Calypso served as a coded means of communication among the enslaved, spreading news and offering social commentary.
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