Lord Executor (c. 1878-84 – 1952) was a Trinidadian calypsonian (calypso singer/composer). He belonged to the first generation of calypso pioneers that included Julian Whiterose (Iron Duke; not to be confused with Duke of Iron), Norman le Blanc (Richard, Coeur de Leon), Henry Forbes the Inventor (Senior Inventor) and Black Prince (Christopher Howell). Unlike those other early figures, however, Executor recorded extensively during the golden age of calypso of the 1930s and early 1940s, producing 28 record sides (78-rpm) and directly exerting influence on the second generation of calypsonians he worked alongside. According to the Roaring Lion, Executor "helped raise the general standard of the Calypso genre, gaining it more respect and acceptability in the public eye".
Early life
Lord Executor (sometimes mistakenly listed as Lord Executioner) was born Philip Garcia in Port of Spain, Trinidad (possibly in the suburb of Laventille) in around 1880; dates cited range from 1878 to 1884. He was a white Creole of Portuguese descent and his parents may have been Venezuelans. He attended a prestigious secondary school – either St. Mary's College or Queen's Royal College – and maintained a reputation throughout his career for erudition; in addition to English, he spoke fluent French Patois, Portuguese and Spanish.
His singing career seems to have started sometime between 1897 and 1901, when he was working as a store clerk at Salvatori Scott & Co. in Port of Spain and joined a carnival band composed of store clerks, which was called the Crescent Boys band. After being fired from his position as a clerk, he occasionally worked as a sign painter, but was a professional singer during carnival season. In 1905 he joined the "Iere Belles" calypso tent band, which was the arch-rival of Norman le Blanc's "White Rose" band.
Golden Era
In the 1910s he had established himself as a leading calypsonian, with a special reputation for his abilities in calypso war (or "picong") competitions. These competitions required calypsonians to improvise choruses of calypso with lyrics that criticised or undermined their opponents. The Executor regularly "executed" his adversaries, but lost in one notable contest in 1914 against Henry Forbes the Inventor. Inventor improvised a verse which ended by calling Executor a "half-scald mulatto", and this apparently caused Executor to hesitate with his response, thereby losing the day. It was around this time that Atilla the Hun, who first performed calypso in 1911, became Executor's apprentice. By the end of the decade, Executor was probably the most prominent figure in calypso.
Executor participated in calypso shows held in theatres, which served to lend the music a greater measure of respectability; in one such show, held at the New Theatre in San Fernando in 1929, he appeared "disguised" as a "Tea Planter", and at a later calypso drama show in 1933 he played the defence counsel in a courtroom drama which also featured Atilla and Lion. In 1929, Executor joined a group of calypsonians, including Atilla, to establish a carnival tent called the Toddy Syndicate (after their sponsors, producers of a popular chocolate drink). 1929 was also the year that Wilmoth Houdini recorded his first ‘picong’ attacking Executor, called "Executor Doomed to Die"; Houdini was based in New York, but had competed against Executor in calypso wars back in Trinidad in the 1910s.