Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar paid trib­ute to ca­lyp­so icon Dr Slinger “Mighty Spar­row” Fran­cis­co af­ter sign­ing the con­do­lence book in his ho­n­our at the Na­tion­al Acad­e­my for the Per­form­ing Arts (NA­PA) on Thurs­day.

Spar­row died in New York on Sep­tem­ber 27 at the age of 91. His fam­i­ly said he passed away peace­ful­ly, sur­round­ed by loved ones, fol­low­ing a brief ill­ness.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar was ac­com­pa­nied by Spar­row’s daugh­ter, Karen Fran­cis­co; At­tor­ney Gen­er­al John Je­re­mie; Min­is­ter of Cul­ture and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment Michelle Ben­jamin; Par­lia­men­tary Sec­re­tary in the Min­istry of Cul­ture and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment Dr Narindra Roop­nar­ine; Min­is­ter of For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs Sean Sobers; and NA­PA chair­man Ken­ny Phillip.

In a so­cial me­dia post af­ter sign­ing the book, Per­sad-Bisses­sar de­scribed Spar­row as a true pa­tri­ot and a revered am­bas­sador of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s cul­ture.

She said Spar­row car­ried the spir­it and sto­ries of the na­tion to the world through his mu­sic, wit and en­dur­ing con­tri­bu­tion to the coun­try’s cul­tur­al her­itage.

“Rest in peace, Mighty Spar­row. Your voice will live on for­ev­er,” Per­sad-Bisses­sar said.

The Gov­ern­ment has an­nounced that Spar­row will be ac­cord­ed a state-as­sist­ed fu­ner­al, with the Min­istry of Cul­ture and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment work­ing close­ly with his fam­i­ly on arrange­ments. A date has not yet been an­nounced.

Ben­jamin al­so an­nounced that this year’s ob­ser­vance of Ca­lyp­so His­to­ry Month will be ded­i­cat­ed to Spar­row’s mem­o­ry. Her min­istry, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with TU­CO, will al­so host a na­tion­al trib­ute in ho­n­our of the ca­lyp­so leg­end.