Michael Jackson is known as the King of Pop and in Suriname we have the King of Kaseko. Kaseko is a style of music with influences of Kawina, Afro-Surinamese, Calypso and Latin music. It's also known as Suriname's pop music and the two elements derived from Kawina music are the call-and-response pattern of singing and the use of percussion instruments.
Lieve Hugo - King of Kawina
One of the major artists of Kaseko music is Julius Theodoor Hugo Uiterloo (December 13, 1934 – November 15, 1975), who is better known in Suriname as Lieve Hugo (Sweet/Dear Hugo) or Iko and is considered to be one of the trailblazers of the Kaseko genre and a reason why he's also known as the King of Kaseko. He did vocals and was also able to play the drums and joined the Washboard Orchestra in 1967. Besides his energetic performances and his way to get the crowd going, there was also some somber undertone in his lyrics, as if he knew that he would die at a young age.
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One such a song was Na Foe San Ede (Why?) where he asked the question "why should I die?" Even though the song touches upon a topic that people don't really want to talk about and rather not think about it, it's something that everyone will one day experience; be it losing a loved one or going through it one day and it is so popular through all cultures, because death doesn't discriminate.
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Another song where he again touched upon the topic of death was Dorina, wherein he tells Dorina not to cry and not to be sad (yu na'fu krei Dorina / yu na'fu sari Dorina), because he will live on and is not afraid of evil (mi na dede wiki man / mi no de frede takru man). He also sings about the life he has lived and he also wasn't afraid to be candid in this song with sentences like "the doctor cut my stomach open" (datra kot'mi bere sei).
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And the last song that I want to highlight today is Poenta Poenta, which is about the swamps that could be very treacherous and dangerous; that it could kill him (poenta wani kir' mie). Another reason why this song is so popular is because of the double meaning the Sranang Tongo (Suriname's lingua franca) has, which could easily be mistaken for Lieve Hugo singing about how a woman can destroy a man.
Of course there are more songs from the King of Kaseko, but I will keep it at these three songs for now, otherwise the post would become too long and I would like to know what you think of the genre Kaseko and these three songs. Would you like to hear more from this artist and entertainer? Let me know in the comments below.
The King of Kaseko being so entranced when performing.
