Audiences destroy singers Part 6 IN a Carnival partly defined by virtual calypso shows, it’s difficult to picture just how much of a role audiences have played in the history of calypso. An enthusiastic crowd calling for encores can boost a calypsonian’s popularity, but audiences have also been known to destroy a calypsonian’s season and even damage a calypsonian’s reputation. “I remember when I was a student going home to Guyana from UWI in Mona, I stopped off in Trinidad in 1968 and went to a calypso tent in the Palladium,” says calypso expert and former UWI English professor Dr Gordon Rohlehr.