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Scholar”
Finley Jeffrey
Scholar was born into a family of composers and singers , his father being one of the most celebrated Chantuelles of the Short Knee mass and his elder brother being no slouch either . In fact , Scholar ’ s composing career began just as his father ’ s . At the age of nine , he was the Chantuelle of his own Short Knee band and together with his brother , wrote all the chants .
At the age of ten he began writing calypsos for junior artists but never mustered the courage to brace the stage himself . At the age of sixteen , a failed attempt to join the Black Roots Calypso Tent left him believing that he was simply no good and as a show of exasperation mingled with disappointment , he burnt his notebook which contained every song that he had composed to that point .
His lucky break would come in February 1993 , when he registered for the Independence Calypso Competition . In those days calypsonians taped their songs on a cassette and submitted it . Being a teacher at Mac Donald College at the time , he taped the song one afternoon after school in one of the Form rooms . Thinking that he was no good , and not wanting anyone to know that this was him , he decided not to write his name on the cassette .
The brand name of notebook that he had written the calypso in was SCHOLAR and so he wrote that on the cassette and submitted it . He completely forgot what he had written on the cassette and not expecting to be selected he did not bother . Two weeks later when the finalists were called and Scholar was named as one of them he did not know that it was him . Luckily the person who dropped off the cassette remembered . That was where the name came from .