Walter Ferguson, King of Calypso, is an honorary citizen of Costa Rica

The 46 lawmakers voted unanimously in favor of the Frente Amplio (FA) faction’s proposal to honor Ferguson, age 104, born in Guapito, Panama, on May 7, 1919, and who has lived in Cahuita, in the Caribbean province of Limón, since he was very young.

The decision to grant him honorary citizenship and not Benemérito de la Patria responds to the fact that Mr. Japhet, as he is known as the Costa Rican King of Calypso, is still alive and the second recognition concerns only the dead.

Author of about 150 calypsos, the most popular being One Man’s Pant, Callalloo, Black Man Food, Cabin in the Water, Cahuita A Nice and Good Place, Ferguson was honored by and proclaimed National Calypso Day on May 7th, the date from his birth.

Football Association deputy Ariel Robles confirmed that this honor from the Legislative Assembly pays the country’s historic debt to this famous musician.

Robles said that Ferguson is and will always be present in the history of Costa Rica, no matter where he was born and he is indeed a citizen of honor for all of Costa Rica, and stated that on the occasion of his centenary, in 2019, 23 musicians and artists from 16 countries of Latin America, the United States, Ireland and Africa recorded an album It contains some of his works.

This production is titled Walter Ferguson’s 100 Years of Calypso, an album led by Costa Rican musician and scholar Manuel Monestel.

Robles stressed that “this album has no equal in the history of national music as no other Costa Rican composer has been recognized, evaluated and performed by so many famous musicians all over the world”.

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For his part, the head of the Liberal Progressive Party, Eli Vinzig, affirmed that Ferguson’s heritage “is one of Costa Rica’s greatest cultural treasures and I feel very proud to be here to vote for its recognition.”

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