Hi again Morwen, just caught up with this thread.

I see no reason you shouldn't become a calypsonian. It will be tough, as calypsonians attack each other as a matter of course. But if you do it well you will earn respect.

On the other hand as I said elsewhere calypso now is quite different in style. It's very bound up with the politics of T&T. This may or may not be a problem.

There are calypso scenes outside the Caribbean, e.g. in London and Toronto, and the more traditional extempo competitions still take place in Trinidad.

There is a mailing list Limers which you may find interesting:

http://launch.dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/limers/

As far as how to become a calypsonian I really don't know. I would travel to Trinidad for several months, around Carnival time, attend the tents, investigate and try to break in. Plan to do the same thing the following year. If you have no luck in Trinidad try another island with a calypso scene, e.g. Grenada, Dominica. I have no idea if this strategy would work but it's bound to lead to something.

I don't think being Chinese will be much of an issue as there is a large Chinese population in Trinidad. You will need to make it part of your identity though. People will attack you for it if you do extempo so be prepared for that.

Please set up a blog or something so we can follow your progress.

Re. later messages, the middle years of the 20th C were a huge landgrab where public domain works were approprated as intellectual property. There is a lot of work to be done on this. Consider e.g. "Stone Cold Dead in the Market". There are many many others.