Going placidly amid the noise and haste of soca prepared primarily for pelvic purpose and torso titillation, a breed of calypso deliberately designed to stimulate the brain has actually managed to survive. The larger surprise is that this traditional form is currently enjoying growth in audience share.

What is troubling, however, is that just a mere handful of composers supply the material for a large body of singers of the traditional genre. The imbalance is raising a scare among the calypso cognoscenti that any sudden loss from the small crew of lyrics men, could swiftly (and perhaps permanently) reverse the trend.

Already, two of the top four lyrics men are seriously ill. Winsford "Joker" Devine who, in an earlier time penned songs lime "Phillip My Dear", "Capitalism Gone Mad", "Sailing" and the whole Baron bag; this week admitted to the Sunday Express that a stroke he suffered last year has severely reduced his dexterity. "I cannot play the guitar like I used to and this messes up the thing when you are trying to find sweet chords, so I don't write as much as long time," he said. Merchant, who is afflicted with Aids, has also shown a severe reduction in output this year, having been hospitalized for the past three months, after collapsing in Port of Spain last November.

Perhaps not at the required speed, but some new talent is surfacing. Christophe Grant, whose "Voices from the Ghetto" for Singing Sandra has already been hailed as one of this season's masterpieces, is among that lot and we must factor in calypsonians like Panther, who have always written their own material. Now in his 17^th year with Kitchener's Calypso Revue, Panther is earning standing ovations nightly for "The Apology", a song that fully exercises all the tenets of traditional calypso.

But do not even think about writing off Joker as a broken man tied to a wheelchair. A professional songwriter (both lyrics and music) for the past 30 years, even with his altered ability, Joker has produced 11 songs for the local market and five for foreign clients. Included in the three for Baron, is one called "Love and Cherish the Woman", a piece that reverses the widely held view that calypso thinks little of the female.

"West Indian Cricket" and "National Pride" are two songs that Joker feels will get the Mighty Trini to the final of the calypso monarch competition. For Crazy, the Joker's six pack includes what is perhaps this year's most humorous calypso, "Crazy for Prime Minister", but also deals seriously with "Leaders", a pan song titled "We Badder Than Dem", a cultural observation in "Limbo" and a couple of risqué ditties for the tent crowd. To date, Joker's biggest song is "London Bridge", which he wrote for Sparrow some 18 years ago.

Gregory "GB" Ballantyne is the logical heir to Joker's throne. Currently riding a wave of adulation heightened by The Mystic Prowler's dramatic victory at last year's calypso monarch competition, GB has continued into this season with a slew of stunning songs. Three of them were specially done for Prowler, in the attempt to do the double at calypso supremacy. "Healing the Nation" and "Life is a Picture Puzzle" are two serious songs, while "Rejuvenation sends the audience into stitches.

GB's total this year is a whopping 23 calypsoes. In addition to the three for Prowler, he has given Watchman "Lessons from Africa", penned two for Devon Seales (including the pore raising "Lio") and two for GS Soldier ("Cause and Effect" and "The Inner Man"). The hilarious "Dumb Witness", sung by Mr. Nature, which GB claims, is the subject of some contention. Hollis Wright, himself a composer, still benefited from GB's pen with "Political Music" and newcomers Janice Romero ("Missed Opportunity" and "Sweeter") and third-placed police calypso monarch contestant, Roger Mohammed, got "Ramdhanie" and "Respect the Anthem". Roger George got "Land Ahoy", which has been adopted by The Lydians.

GB's pen has handled every calypso possibility. He was crowned for humourous calypso ("Gas") in 1995 and declared Young King one year later for "Jahaji Blue". Even without pen in hand, he sang his way to the extempo monarchy in 1989 and 1990.

Over the years, he delivered hits for Sugar Aloes ("Time"), Poser ("Beyond the Maze") and rendered his own "Jahaji Blue" last year to be crowned Young King. Seminal works over the period include "Ribbons" for Marilyn Williams and "Declaration" for Anne Marie Inniss. Much earlier, there was "Too Early for Your Love", which was popularized by Machel Montano and Rachel Fortune now known as Shanaqua.

This year, he has given Rikki Jai an interesting commentary on his predicament last Carnival, when he was pelted. The song is called "Identity". Conrad Walrond is also singing two gospelypso hits from GB - "Jesus is the Focus" and "Every Christmas". Daughter Malaika has not been forgotten. Daddy GB did "Reflections" for her and for himself, he kept "The Magic of Pan" (co-written with Mikey Frederick). At the Kaiso House tent, he also does "Honey-dip" (a tribute to pan tuners).

It is useful to note, though, that some prolific writers of lyrics for party (and more recently pan) songs have demonstrated the ability to shift effortlessly toward compositions containing the deeper imagery demanded by "serious kaiso". Among such writers, Alvin Daniell stands out, having penned an average of nine songs per years in the nineties.

Daniell, an engineer by profession, is also television producer and show host, consultant on adjudication of indigenous music and family man, but still finds time to pen the lyrics of ten songs for this Carnival. Starting since the sixties at UWI, he was first approached by Ray Holman and delivered the lyrics for the seminal work, "Pan on the Move". At the turn of the eighties, he teamed up with Len "Boogsie" Sharpe for an eight-year stint, which included "79 is Mine" and "Rags to Riches".

He stopped for a while, to avoid conflict when actively judging calypso, but returned in the nineties, writing "Pull Down the Dragon" for Kurt Allen, which helped to establish his name in the big league. Of course, there has been the work with Melanie Hudson and lately for Wayne Rodriguez. He returned to Boogsie's music in the nineties too, with Denyse Plummer taking "Misbehave" the top and Hudson doing "Clear de Way".

This year, his hit list includes "Play My Music" for Sparrow, "Trini Know How" for Steve Sealy, Eunice Peters' "Panman on 10^th Avenue", "Celebration Time " for Melanie Hudson, "I Remember Africa" for Wayne Rodriguez, Sean Daniel's "Track Shoes", "Birds of a Feather" for Derek Seales, "Soca Soldier" by Shanaqua and co-wrote "Promises" with Darnley Ashby.

Then, of course, there is David Rudder, who has just kept the hits coming, ever since crashing into our consciousness with his triple crown win in 1986. Rudder's bag is of such significance that even up to this week, in performance Under the Trees at the Normandie, he was still required to do songs like the seminal "Calypso Music", last year's "High Mas" and some from as long as 15 years ago, before the audience would let him leave. Chalkdust has been in the arena for a longer period and is still earning sincere encores nightly, with his current "Tribute to Pretender".

In the latter-day, a few writers are emerging. Consider Brother Marvin and regular one-song giants like Manchild. There are, of course, those who write tons of disposable soca hits, but it is not a question of numbers here.

To consistently produce a bag of quality calypsoes is more the measure and that, perhaps, is where the real problem lies.

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