Jazz Fest got lucky this year. When it booked calypsonian Black Stalin to appear on the first Saturday, nobody knew that the pygmy-sized ball of fire was about to win the Calypso Monarch crown at the Dimanche Gras contest, held just before Trinidad's Carnival celebration at the end of February.

But it shouldn't have come as that much of a surprise. Stalin (whose real name is Leroy Calliste) is one of Trinidad's heaviest hitters. He's won the Monarchy five times, making him one of the most ...