By CAROL MATROO Sunday, November 30 2008

Kelvin Pope, who goes by the stately moniker “the Mighty Duke”, and has been a force to reckon with in the calypso world, is battling ill health and may only have a limited amount of time left to entertain his fans.

Pope is the only person in the history of Trinidad and Tobago to ever win the Calypso Monarch title four consecutive times and to this day, no one has seriously challenged his calypso record.

Pope has been ailing for about four years with myelofibrosis, a disease which disables the body from producing new blood cells and is said to be incurable. The 76-year-old calypsonian first became aware of his illness when he began feeling weak, but states that does not stop him from performing in calypso tents each year. He assures that he is not out for the count. Pope says his contribution for Carnival 2009 is “Do Better For Calypso” and he is attached to the North Zone Calypso Tent.

When Sunday Newsday spoke with Pope in a telephone interview yesterday, his speech was slurred and sometimes indiscernible. He had spent the night at the Ellerslie Private Hospital on Friday night and is also recovering from the flu.

“It could be the medication, and then I only came home this morning, so I didn’t have much time to rest up,” he explained. He has to visit the hospital once, sometimes twice a month, for blood transfusions to regenerate the blood his body cannot produce.

He said doctors have not been able to say what brought on the illness.

Although his medical bills are high, Pope dismissed the hardship saying only that, “I have a good haemotologist.” Illness on the back burner, Pope said he has no regrets about the way he has lived his life.

“I may not do some of the things the same way...Life is an experience, and I have lived my life. Most of my work is based on real life,” he said. Although Pope started out as a teacher, this only lasted for about two years when he turned to his true love – calypso. He wrote his first calypso in the 1950s. “I was in love with calypso. I always looked up to Sparrow (Francisco Slinger), Lord Kitchener (Aldwyn Roberts) and the Mighty Spoiler (Theophilus Philip),” he said.

However, Pope said the future of calypso looks bleak and dim. “The kind of money that is thrown behind soca is not the same for calypso, but nobody wants to invest the time. They just want to throw two lines together, you jump up and perspire and two minutes later you forget what you hear.

“Some of them are not born with the love for country. It’s my music and I love it. I wrote all my music...I even wrote about 99 percent of Lord Nelson’s songs,” he said. Pope said there were “no hard feelings” about not winning the calypso monarch title since 1971.

“They just didn’t pick me...I guess is because they feel I win too much time already. I feel no way about that. I did my work and they did theirs. I never let it daunt me; I love what I do and they can’t take that from me,” he said. But, despite his illness, Pope has given no thought to retiring any time soon.

“Once I can stand up and sing and shake the waist a little bit, until the Master says no more... Until he says calypso and Carnival is no more. Then I will stop,” Pope said with a laugh.