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Review:
Born in Guabito, Panama, in 1919, Ferguson was packed up with the pots and pans and brought to Cahuita by his father, Melsh, a cook for the banana company.
Since he could never be persuaded to leave his beloved Cahuita, in July 2002 we brought digital technology there in order to record Babylon, his first compact disk ever in 70 years of music. Until then, Gavitt was one of calypso's forgotten kings. He had a long-gone LP, a pirated CD recording abroad, and hundreds of homemade cassettes he had made himself with the sole ambition of selling tourists a souvenir of his hometown, which had been declared a national park. At that moment, Ferguson agreed to record more out of courtesy than conviction. We set up an improvised recording studio in his family's little hotel at the park entrance, using mattresses and rugs to muffle the sounds of pet parrots and dogs.
One year later, Walter Ferguson has been revitalized. His voice has a different sheen, and his attitude toward his music has changed with the discovery of how many followers he acquired after Babylon, whose first two editions sold out in a few months.
In this, his second CD, Gavitt dusts off several songs that he had forgotten about, such as Carolyne, One Pant Man and Bugaloo; pays homage to traditional Jamaican music in 72 Weeds, the 72 plants that can cure any ill if you say their names all together. Ferguson also interprets a theme from Papa Houdini, whom he considers his maestro.
Once again, we had to disconnect all the refrigerators in the vicinity, hush the hotel guests, ask the buses and delivery trucks to turn off their motors, and place mattresses in the hotel room-cum-studio. This time, though, the parrots and dogs in the backyard displayed their elevated culture and an astonishing respect for the microphones.
— CalabashMusic.com
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