Rudder's new album is a compilation of songs about cricket entitled The Cricket Chronicles

Calypsonian David Rudder has a flair for neat encapsulations. Speaking of the current era of disposable culture, the Trinidadian says he's living (as we all are) in the 'time of blight and bling.'

A somewhat Dickensian characterisation, but right now can surely be described as the 'best of times' for Rudder, regarded by many as 'the Bob Marley of soca' for his potent commentaries.

"I've never had writer's block," he offers, seated in the lobby of the Jamaica Pegasus hotel amid the gradually increasing hubbub surrounding the cricket matches. "After all this time, I still have something to say."

That prolific output springs, he says, from a concern for the society, and an abiding love for the Caribbean. "This is a still-emerging region, so I see it as part of my role to document that emergence."

In turn, his sense of purpose came from what he describes as a strong sense of community. "I laugh these days when I pass certain areas and I see the sign - 'Neighbourhood Watch.' When I grew up, that was automatic. If a stranger came into your area, right away, you'd be asking who is that."

Also, Rudder grew up largely without the facility of a television, which in his formative years was barely emerging as a mass medium. "We depended on the radio. That was how we got much of our information. I had to listen to them guys play cricket on the radio."

'Them guys' refers of course to the West Indies cricket team, many of the great players being present in Jamaica in connection with the ICC Cricket World Cup, thus affording the 'bard' the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of his idols.

"That was really special, " he adds in typical understatement.
Moments like those are prized, because these days, as Rudder says matter-of-factly, the world is more shallow. Communication is a simpler process, but people have lost the importance of a sense of history and of balance.

"I watch the news channels today and it's like vapours the things they talk about - Anna Nicole Smith, what Britney Spears doin' and it's the same kinds of values reflected in the music."

Rudder has been able to resist that pull of commercialisation largely, with what he terms ". the protection of the truth. I know my purpose so I don't embrace anything that is outside of that because I know ultimately, it will destroy me.

Also, he says, he has recorded a body of work, which makes him attractive and interesting to a different market than the people who follow Britney's exploits.

That body of work, which so far encompasses over 30 albums, is most recently augmented by The Cricket Chronicles - a compilation of songs about the game that he hopes will help fans to move past the cliched presumptions of Rally Round the West Indies, arguably his best-known work ,but one which he half-jokingly describes as a "beautiful albatross".

"I've written a lot of songs about cricket over the years, and songs reflect the various eras and fortunes of the West Indies team and what it means to us as West Indians, so I thought it would be a good time to put them together."

The album includes another song Champions which, while not mentioning any specific team, is meant to forecast the kind of fighting spirit that the Windies so ably displayed this past Tuesday against Pakistan. "That is the Windies I know," he points out, remembering that there were times when Rally almost sounded like a curse.
But for now, at least, the sun of hope shines brightly for the West Indies, and Rudder is catching his share of rays. His will be in the region until roughly the end of the tournament. More immediately, he performs on a joint bill with storyteller-comedian Paul Keens-Douglas, in a showcase dubbed Cric-Crac at the Pegasus tomorrow.
"This is something I haven't really done before, an acoustic set in between someone else's act - I'm really looking forward to it."

Indeed, it's that spur of the new that keeps the still boyish-looking calypsonian on his toes. It's what motivated him to write The Brand New Lucky Diamond Horseshoe Club, a calypso-blues musical, that arose out of a single song (inspired by an actual club in Trinidad that he says mysteriously burned down) and which was produced for the stage by the State University of Indiana in the US.

Of Jamaica Rudder has a long association with the island, starting with the famed Orange Carnival in the mid-80s, and on to the launch of Jamaica Carnival in the '90s.

Now, he visits less frequently ("If I'm invited, I'll come), save for a family vacation at Boscobel last year. In addition to two adult sons, the recently married Rudder has three children under the age of six ("they're a blessing").

The advent of the Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean (he performed at the opening ceremony) has brought, he says a fresh new vibe in the island. he says "We have such rich cultures in the Caribbean Jamaica, T&T, but we just take them for granted, as if it were nothing. But it's something special to the rest of the world."

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