Music of the Lesser Antilles
Encyclopedia
The music of the Lesser Antilles encompasses the music
of this chain of small islands making up the eastern and southern portion of the West Indies. Lesser Antillean
music is part of the broader category of Caribbean music
; much of the folk
and popular music
is also a part of the Afro-American musical complex, being a mixture of African, European and indigenous American elements. The Lesser Antilles' musical cultures are largely based on the music of African slaves
brought by European traders and colonizers. The African music
al elements are a hybrid of instruments and styles from numerous West Africa
n tribes, while the European slaveholders added their own musics into the mix, as did immigrants from India
. In many ways, the Lesser Antilles can be musically divided based on which nation colonized them.
The ex-British colonies
include Trinidad and Tobago
, whose calypso
style is an especially potent part of the music of the other former British colonies, which also share traditions like the Big Drum
dance. The French islands
of Martinique and Guadeloupe share the popular zouk
style and have also had extensive musical contact with the music of Haiti
, itself once a French colony though not part of the Lesser Antilles. The Dutch colonies
of Curaçao
, Bonaire and Aruba
share the combined rhythm
popular style. The islands also share a passion for kaseko
, a genre of Surinamese music
; Suriname and its neighbors Guyana
and French Guiana
share folk and popular styles that are connected enough to the Antilles and other Caribbean islands that both countries are studied in the broader context of Antillean or Caribbean music.
and Saint Lucia
, both primarily Anglophone
but strongly influenced by a French colonial past. Because the islands are divided linguistically, the term Antillean music is usually used in reference to one such music area. Thus, for example, the Rough Guide to World Music features a chapter on "Antillean music", which is entirely about the French Antillean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe, with a brief sidebar specifically about the Dutch Antilles.
In the context of Anglophone music, the term Antillean music most commonly refers to Trinidad and Tobago
, home to the well-known calypso style. Music author Peter Manuel, for example, treats all the Anglophone islands as a subject of Trinidadian calypso traditions, while using the title Music of the Lesser Antilles for Francophone Antillean music. Manuel also, like many authors, treats Suriname and Guyana as integral aspects of Caribbean music; due to the Dutch colonial history of both countries, they are often grouped with Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles.
Nevertheless, Antillean music can be characterized by the prominence of the Carnival
celebration (prominently from Trinidad and Tobago
), and the importance of calypso-like song traditions. The Lesser Antilles is also home to a strong Indo-Caribbean population; though Indo-Caribbean music is found elsewhere in the Caribbean, the prominence of Indian-influenced styles is a hallmark of the Antillean music scenes. Regional forms can also be found outside of the Caribbean entirely, most notably in New York City
, where Brooklyn
's Labor Day Carnival
features music and parades, mas and steel bands
; this Carnival is distinct to New York, and reflects elements of a pan-Caribbean nature.
is most closely associated with the island of Trinidad
, but it has spread throughout the Lesser Antilles, and abroad. Similar traditions can be found natively on many of Caribbean islands. Within the Antilles, most of the popular calypso stars have come from Trinidad and Tobago
; the majority of the exceptions, such as Arrow
from Montserrat, have come from other Anglophone islands. Music author Peter Manuel has argued that, despite the modern Anglophone focus to calypso-like song forms, their origins lie in the "Afro-French creole culture", and notes that the ancestor of the word calypso, cariso, was first used to refer to a Martinican singer.
The calypso song complex is characterized by satirical
, political, risque and humorous lyricism, a competitive and celebratory nature and its function in social organization and informal communication. Jamaican mento
is perhaps the most well-known form of calypso-like music. The island of Carriacou is home to a calypso-like song style, as well as canboulay
feasts, calinda
songs and steel bands, all similar to though distinct from the related Trinidadian traditions. Modern influences from Trinidad have organized the Carriacou song style, and there are competitions similar to calypso tent
s on the island. The Antiguan benna
is part of the same song complex, featuring news-oriented and ribald, often satirical lyrics and a rhythmic, uptempo style.
Annual Carnival
celebrations are an important part of the culture of all the Lesser Antillean islands. Carnival is celebrated at varying times of year, either pre-Lent
, Christmas
time or in July and August, and feature a wide variety of dances, songs and parades. Contests are common, especially Calypso King and Queen contests, which are held on most of the British Antillean islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands as well as French Saint Martin
and elsewhere. The British Antillean Carnivals are also mostly united by the J'ouvert
tradition, which involves calypso and soca
band parades and are the highlight of their celebrations.
Summer Carnivals include those on Antigua
, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Eustatius, Saint John
, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Saba, Nevis
and Anguilla, the latter two of which are especially known for popular calypso competitions. Christmastime Carnivals are held on Montserrat, Saint Croix
, Saint Martin and Saint Kitts
; Montserrat's distinctive Carnival includes masquerade
s and steelbands, and both islands also feature calypso competitions. The Carnival of Sint Maarten, which takes place a month after Easter
, is known for the burning of King Moui-Moui as the culmination of the festival. Many islands, especially the French and Dutch Antilles, are home to pre-Lenten Carnivals, including Martinique, Aruba, Saint-Barthélemy, Bonaire, Curaçao, Dominica, Saint Thomas
and Guadeloupe.
, originally from the island of Trinidad
, has spread to the neighboring islands; other Trinidadian popular traditions, like soca
, are also well-known throughout the region. Steel drum
ensembles is also found throughout the English-speaking Lesser Antilles (and abroad), especially in Trinidad and Tobago as well as Antigua and Barbuda. The British Antilles also share in certain folk traditions. Trinidadian folk calypso is found throughout the area, as are African-Caribbean religious music styles like the Shango
music of Trinidad. Variants of the Big Drum
festival occur throughout the Windward Islands
, especially in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Carnival is an important folk music celebration on all the islands of the Lesser Antilles, and the rest of the Caribbean.
Calypso is part of a spectrum of similar folk and popular Caribbean styles that spans benna
and mento
, but remains the most prominent genre of Lesser Antillean music. Calypso's roots are somewhat unclear, but we know it can be traced to 18th-century Trinidad
. Modern calypso, however, began in the 19th century, a fusion of disparate elements ranging from the masquerade
song lavway, French Creole belair and the stick fighting
chantwell. Calypso's early rise was closely connected with the adoption of Carnival by Trinidadian slaves, including camboulay drumming and the music masquerade processions. Popular calypso arose in the early 20th century, with the rise of internationally known calypsonian
s like Attila the Hun
and Roaring Lion
. Trinidadian calypso remained popular throughout the Caribbean in the later 20th century, and other Antillean islands like Antigua
began producing calypso stars. In the 1970s, a calypso variant called soca
arose, characterized by a focus on dance rhythms rather than lyricism. Soca has since spread across the Caribbean and abroad.
Steel drums are a distinctively Trinidadian ensemble that evolved from improvised percussion instruments used in Carnival processions. By the late 1930s, bamboo
tubes, a traditional instrumental, were supplemented by pieces of metal used percussively; over time, these metal percussion instruments were pitched to produce as many as twenty-some tones. Steel bands were large orchestras of these drums, and were banned by the British colonial authorities. Nevertheless, steel drums spread across the Caribbean, and are now an entrenched part of the culture of Trinidad and Tobago
.
Though Trinidadian popular music is by far the most well-known style of Lesser Antillean music, the other Anglophone islands are home to their own musical traditions. Carriacou and Grenada
are home to Carnival celebrations that feature distinct form of calypso, canboulay
feasts, calinda
stick-fighting songs and the steelband accompanied jouvert, as well as the Big Drum dance, which is also found in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines share other musics as well including the funereal music of the saraca
rite, a call-and-response form with both European and African lyrics.
French Creole music is most famously associated with Martinique
and Guadeloupe
, though the islands of Saint Lucia
and Dominica
are also home to French Antillean music. Creole music is characterized by the prominence of the quadrille
dance, distinct from the French version and related to the Haitian mereng. The quadrille is a potent symbol of French Antillean culture. Martinique and Guadeloupe are also home to their own distinct folk traditions, most influentially including Guadeloupan gwo ka
and Martinican tambour
and tibwa. Gwo ka is a type of percussion music which consists of seven basic rhythms and variations on them. It has been modernized into gwo ka moderne, though traditional rural performances (lewoz
) are still common. Tambour and ti bwa ensembles are the origin of several important Martinican popular styles, including chouval bwa
and biguine
, and also exerted an influence on zouk. Lucian folk music features ensembles of fiddle
, cuatro
, banjo
, guitar
and chak-chak
(a rattle
), with the banjo and cuatro being of iconic importance, and recreational, often lyric song forms called jwé
. The French Creole folk music of Dominica are based around the quadrille, accompanied by ensembles called jing ping
. Folk storytelling
(kont) and songs (bélé) are also a major part of the country's musical identity.
and Martinican bèlè (tambour and ti bwa) folk traditions. Ethnomusicologist Jocelyn Guilbault, however, describes zouk as a synthesis of Caribbean popular styles, especially cadence-lypso
, biguine, kompa direk and kadans rampa. Zouk arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s, using elements of previous styles of Antillean music, as well as imported genres.
In the 1950s, Haitian compas and cadence rampa
became the dominant pop sounds of the Lesser Antilles, especially Webert Sicot
and Nemours Jean Baptiste
. The Haitian compas and cadence became popularized in the French Antilles as kadans
, a sophisticated form of music that helped unite all the former French colonies by them combining their own cultural influences. These were followed by the Antillean mini-jazz
bands like Les Gentlemen, Les Leopards and Les Vikings de Guadeloupe in the late 1970s, who drew on the Haitian sound of Sicot and Baptiste. Later in the decade and into the 1980s, the French Antilles became home to a style of cadence music called cadence-lypso
.
Gordon Henderson's Exile One
innovated this style by combining the French Antillean kadans (cadence) and Calypso
of the English-speaking Caribbean, as well as turned the mini-jazz combos into guitar-dominated big bands, paving the way for the success of large groups like Experience 7
, among others. Drawing on these influences, the supergroup Kassav'
invented zouk and popularized it with hit songs like "Zouk-La-Se Sel Medikaman Nou Ni". Kassav' formed from Paris in 1978. Kassav' soon added elements of rock
and other influences and became some of the biggest stars in the Caribbean, France and elsewhere as zouk diversified into multiple subgenres. These include zouk-love
, pop ballads by artists like Edith Lefel
and Gilles Floro
, and zouk funk and ragga-zouk bands like Lord Kossity
who fused the genre with other influences.
Though zouk is the most well-known form of modern French Antillean music, the island of Martinique has also produced the chouval bwa and biguine styles, which were especially popular in the early 20th century. Chouval bwa is includes multiple distinctive instruments and internationally famous performers like Claude Germany
, Dede Saint-Prix, Pakatak and Tumpak, while biguine has achieved international fame since the 1920s and has since been modernized and adapted for pop audiences, making it a major influence on zouk. Between the 1930s and 1950s, the dance biguine was popular among the islands' dance orchestras. The biguine uses a cinquillo variant related to that found in other Caribbean genres like mereng and kompa direk. In the 1940s and 1950s, these dance bands absorbed influences from Cuban, American and Haitian popular music.
, Bonaire, Aruba
, Sint Eustatius and Saint Martin
share musical styles, as well as maintain their own sets of folk and popular dances, ranging from the impromptu Statian road block to calypso, zouk and soca
. African, indigenous and European ancestry predominate, though more recent immigrants have brought musical styles from Lebanon
, China
and India. In popular music, the islands are known for the Combined Rhythm
, like local favorites the Happy Peanuts
and Expresando Rimto i Ambiente. Kaseko
music from the mainland country Suriname
is also popular. Traditional music of Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles, however, is primarily African, characterized by the use of complex, highly developed polyrhythms, dance styles and drums like the tambú. Other African-derived instruments include metal percussion rods, agan, the rasp
wiri, aerophones like the cachu trumpet, becu transverse double-reed wind instrument, and the bow benta.
The tambu is an instrument, and a form of music and dance found on Aruba, Bonaire (where it is sometimes known as bari), and Curaçao. The tambu is an especially important symbol of Curaçaoan identity. Instrumentation for the tambu uses the agan, chapi, triangle
, wiri and other instruments, many of which are also part of the African-derived muziek di zumbi, or spirit music, of Curaçao. Curaçao's folk music also includes a rich tradition of work song
s with apentatonic lyrics sung in Guene or a Papiamento
variant called seshi. The Simadan harvest festival is found across the islands, and features the cachu trumpet, made from a cowhorn. Bonaire's Simadan festival is also notable for the use of the becu, an aerophone made from the stalk of a sorghum
plant, and the kinkon, made from a conch
shell and known elsewhere as the carco. Folk song forms range from the harvest seu, simadan and wapa. Other songs were imported beginning in the 19th century, including the South American joropo
and pasillo
, Spanish Caribbean merengue
and other new songs, dances and instruments. This diverse mixture was the origin of the Dutch Antilles' most distinctive and long-standing popular tradition, the tumba.
The smaller islands of Saint Martin, Saba and Sint Eustatius largely share in the same folk instruments, dances and songs as their neighbors; however, these islands remain largely unstudied. Saba is home to a vital percussive music tradition, most closely associated with private parties, using instrumentation similar to Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba. Saint Martin is home to a national dance form called the ponum, which dates to the 19th century and was only displaced by string bands in the mid-20th century. Saint Martin is also home to a calypso-like quimbe
song form, that remains a major part of the island's culture.
songs from the springtime festival phagwa, and Hindi
bhajan
s which are still sung at temples despite there being few people who understand Hindi. Guyanese and Trinidadian Indo-Caribbeans developed a tradition that fused elements of calypso with the folk music of North India, a style that was referred to as local music.
Indo-Caribbean music plays a vital role in various annual festivals like the springtime phagwa, where chowtal is traditionally performed competitively and in teams. Indo-Caribbean Shia Muslims celebrate Hosay (Muharram
) with float
s accompanied by barrel drums called tassa
. Wedding music
is another important part of Indo-Caribbean music, and is dominated by tan singing. Tan singing is based around the dholak
drum and dhantal
, and sometimes includes verbal duels influenced by picong
. Indo-Caribbean popular music gained international attention in the late 1980s, with the rise of chutney music
. Chutney is a dance music, in its modern form accompanied by soca
instrumentation, such as synthesizers and pressure drums. This style is called chutney-soca
.
French Antilles
Indo-Antillean
Other topics
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
of this chain of small islands making up the eastern and southern portion of the West Indies. Lesser Antillean
Lesser Antilles
The Lesser Antilles are a long, partly volcanic island arc in the Western Hemisphere. Most of its islands form the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, with the remainder located in the southern Caribbean just north of South America...
music is part of the broader category of Caribbean music
Caribbean music
The music of the Caribbean is a diverse grouping of musical genres. They are each syntheses of African, European, Indian and native influences, largely created by descendants of African slaves...
; much of the folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
is also a part of the Afro-American musical complex, being a mixture of African, European and indigenous American elements. The Lesser Antilles' musical cultures are largely based on the music of African slaves
Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade, also known as the trans-atlantic slave trade, refers to the trade in slaves that took place across the Atlantic ocean from the sixteenth through to the nineteenth centuries...
brought by European traders and colonizers. The African music
Music of Africa
Africa is a vast continent and its regions and nations have distinct musical traditions. The music of North Africa for the most part has a different history from sub-Saharan African music traditions....
al elements are a hybrid of instruments and styles from numerous West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
n tribes, while the European slaveholders added their own musics into the mix, as did immigrants from India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. In many ways, the Lesser Antilles can be musically divided based on which nation colonized them.
The ex-British colonies
British colonization of the Americas
British colonization of the Americas began in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia and reached its peak when colonies had been established throughout the Americas...
include Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
, whose calypso
Calypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
style is an especially potent part of the music of the other former British colonies, which also share traditions like the Big Drum
Big Drum
Big Drum is a genre and a musical instrument from the Windward Islands. It is a kind of Caribbean music, associated mostly closely with the music of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Carriacou in Grenada and in the music of Saint Kitts and Nevis.-Carriacou:...
dance. The French islands
French colonial empires
The French colonial empire was the set of territories outside Europe that were under French rule primarily from the 17th century to the late 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire...
of Martinique and Guadeloupe share the popular zouk
Zouk
Zouk is a style of rhythmic music originating from the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe & Martinique. Zouk means "party" or "festival" in the local Antillean Creole of French, although the word originally referred to, and is still used to refer to, a popular dance, based on the Polish dance, the...
style and have also had extensive musical contact with the music of Haiti
Music of Haiti
The music of Haiti is influenced mostly by Europe, colonial ties, and African migration through slavery. European musical influence derived primarily from the French and by the Spanish-infused influence of Cuba and the bordering Dominican Republic. Styles unique to Haiti include music derived from...
, itself once a French colony though not part of the Lesser Antilles. The Dutch colonies
Dutch colonization of the Americas
Dutch trading posts and plantations in the Americas precede the much wider known colonization activities of the Dutch in Asia. Whereas the first Dutch fort in Asia was built in 1600 , the first forts and settlements on the Essequibo river in Guyana and on the Amazon date from the 1590s...
of Curaçao
Curaçao
Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...
, Bonaire and Aruba
Aruba
Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...
share the combined rhythm
Combined rhythm
Combined rhythm is a style of popular Dutch Antillean music, influenced by zouk, merengue and soca. The lyrics of combined rhythm are generally in the local Papiamento language.- Performers :*Gibu i su Orkesta*Expresando Rimto i Ambiente*OK Band...
popular style. The islands also share a passion for kaseko
Kaseko
Kaseko is a musical genre from Suriname, a fusion of African, European and American styles. The term kaseko derives from casser le corps which referred to a swift dance during the period when slavery was legal in the region...
, a genre of Surinamese music
Music of Suriname
The music of Suriname is well known for kaseko music, and for having an Indo-Caribbean tradition.-Kaseko:Kaseko is probably derived from the French expression casser le corps , which was used during slavery to indicate a very swift dance. Kaseko is a fusion of numerous popular and folk styles...
; Suriname and its neighbors Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
and French Guiana
French Guiana
French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...
share folk and popular styles that are connected enough to the Antilles and other Caribbean islands that both countries are studied in the broader context of Antillean or Caribbean music.
Characteristics
While Lesser Antillean music is very often discussed as a music area, this division is of limited usefulness. The islands of the Lesser Antilles divide musically along linguistic lines, with the most significant overlap coming from DominicaDominica
Dominica , officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of . The Commonwealth...
and Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia is an island country in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It covers a land area of 620 km2 and has an...
, both primarily Anglophone
Caribbean English
Caribbean English is a broad term for the dialects of the English language spoken in the Caribbean, most countries on the Caribbean coast of Central America, and Guyana. Caribbean English is influenced by the English-based Creole varieties spoken in the region, but they are not the same. In the...
but strongly influenced by a French colonial past. Because the islands are divided linguistically, the term Antillean music is usually used in reference to one such music area. Thus, for example, the Rough Guide to World Music features a chapter on "Antillean music", which is entirely about the French Antillean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe, with a brief sidebar specifically about the Dutch Antilles.
In the context of Anglophone music, the term Antillean music most commonly refers to Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
, home to the well-known calypso style. Music author Peter Manuel, for example, treats all the Anglophone islands as a subject of Trinidadian calypso traditions, while using the title Music of the Lesser Antilles for Francophone Antillean music. Manuel also, like many authors, treats Suriname and Guyana as integral aspects of Caribbean music; due to the Dutch colonial history of both countries, they are often grouped with Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles.
Nevertheless, Antillean music can be characterized by the prominence of the Carnival
Caribbean Carnival
Caribbean Carnival is the term used for a number of events that take place in many of the Caribbean islands annually.The Caribbean's Carnivals all have several common themes all originating from Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, based on folklore, culture, religion,and tradition, not on amusement...
celebration (prominently from Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
), and the importance of calypso-like song traditions. The Lesser Antilles is also home to a strong Indo-Caribbean population; though Indo-Caribbean music is found elsewhere in the Caribbean, the prominence of Indian-influenced styles is a hallmark of the Antillean music scenes. Regional forms can also be found outside of the Caribbean entirely, most notably in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
's Labor Day Carnival
Labor Day Carnival
The Labor Day Parade , is an annual celebration held on American Labor Day , in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York....
features music and parades, mas and steel bands
Steelpan
Steelpans is a musical instrument originating from The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago...
; this Carnival is distinct to New York, and reflects elements of a pan-Caribbean nature.
Calypso and calypso-like traditions
CalypsoCalypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
is most closely associated with the island of Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
, but it has spread throughout the Lesser Antilles, and abroad. Similar traditions can be found natively on many of Caribbean islands. Within the Antilles, most of the popular calypso stars have come from Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
; the majority of the exceptions, such as Arrow
Arrow (musician)
Alphonsus Celestine Edmund Cassell MBE was a calypso and soca musician who performed under the stage name Arrow, and is regarded as the first superstar of soca from Montserrat.-Early years:...
from Montserrat, have come from other Anglophone islands. Music author Peter Manuel has argued that, despite the modern Anglophone focus to calypso-like song forms, their origins lie in the "Afro-French creole culture", and notes that the ancestor of the word calypso, cariso, was first used to refer to a Martinican singer.
The calypso song complex is characterized by satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
, political, risque and humorous lyricism, a competitive and celebratory nature and its function in social organization and informal communication. Jamaican mento
Mento
Mento is a style of Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. It has its roots in calypso and other Jamaican folk music. Mento typically features acoustic instruments, such as acoustic guitar, banjo, hand drums, and the rhumba box — a large mbira in the...
is perhaps the most well-known form of calypso-like music. The island of Carriacou is home to a calypso-like song style, as well as canboulay
Canboulay
Canboulay is a precursor to Trinidad and Tobago Carnival. The festival is also where calypso music has its roots. It was originally a harvest festival, at which drums, singing, dancing and chanting were an integral part...
feasts, calinda
Calinda
Calinda is a martial art, as well as kind of folk music and dance in the Caribbean which arose in the 1720s. Calinda is the French spelling, and the Spanish equivalent is calenda; it is a kind of stick-fighting commonly seen practiced during Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago...
songs and steel bands, all similar to though distinct from the related Trinidadian traditions. Modern influences from Trinidad have organized the Carriacou song style, and there are competitions similar to calypso tent
Calypso tent
Calypso tents are venues in which calypsonians perform during the Carnival season. They usually are cinema halls, community centers, or other indoor buildings which have seating and stage arrangements to host the entertainers, guests and patrons; or outdoor shows which are held in parks or, more...
s on the island. The Antiguan benna
Benna (genre)
Bennah is different from Benna and they all have different meanings. Bennah, i.e the one with "h" at its ending is a traditional Fanti Ghanaian name which means "COVERING" And it has being noticed that only few of the population in the world are called by this name and everyone of such name is seen...
is part of the same song complex, featuring news-oriented and ribald, often satirical lyrics and a rhythmic, uptempo style.
Carnival
Caribbean Carnival
Caribbean Carnival is the term used for a number of events that take place in many of the Caribbean islands annually.The Caribbean's Carnivals all have several common themes all originating from Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, based on folklore, culture, religion,and tradition, not on amusement...
celebrations are an important part of the culture of all the Lesser Antillean islands. Carnival is celebrated at varying times of year, either pre-Lent
Lent
In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
, Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
time or in July and August, and feature a wide variety of dances, songs and parades. Contests are common, especially Calypso King and Queen contests, which are held on most of the British Antillean islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands as well as French Saint Martin
Saint Martin
Saint Martin is an island in the northeast Caribbean, approximately east of Puerto Rico. The 87 km2 island is divided roughly 60/40 between France and the Kingdom of the Netherlands ; however, the Dutch side has the larger population. It is one of the smallest sea islands divided between...
and elsewhere. The British Antillean Carnivals are also mostly united by the J'ouvert
J'ouvert
J'ouvert is a large street party during Carnival in the eastern Caribbean region. J'ouvert is a contraction of the French jour ouvert, or dawn/day break....
tradition, which involves calypso and soca
Soca music
Soca is a style of music from Trinidad and Tobago. Soca is a musical development of traditional Trinidadian calypso, through loans from the 1960s onwards from predominantly black popular music....
band parades and are the highlight of their celebrations.
Summer Carnivals include those on Antigua
Antigua
Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...
, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Eustatius, Saint John
Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands
Saint John is an island in the Caribbean Sea and a constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands , an unincorporated territory of the United States. St...
, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Saba, Nevis
Nevis
Nevis is an island in the Caribbean Sea, located near the northern end of the Lesser Antilles archipelago, about 350 km east-southeast of Puerto Rico and 80 km west of Antigua. The 93 km² island is part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies...
and Anguilla, the latter two of which are especially known for popular calypso competitions. Christmastime Carnivals are held on Montserrat, Saint Croix
Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
Saint Croix is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands , an unincorporated territory of the United States. Formerly the Danish West Indies, they were sold to the United States by Denmark in the Treaty of the Danish West Indies of...
, Saint Martin and Saint Kitts
Saint Kitts
Saint Kitts Saint Kitts Saint Kitts (also known more formally as Saint Christopher Island (Saint-Christophe in French) is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean...
; Montserrat's distinctive Carnival includes masquerade
Masquerade ceremony
A masquerade ceremony is a cultural or religious event involving the wearing of masks.Examples include the West African and African Diaspora masquerades, such as Egungun Masquerades, Northern Edo Masquerades, Caribbean Carnival and Jonkonnu.-External links:* - slideshow by Life magazine*...
s and steelbands, and both islands also feature calypso competitions. The Carnival of Sint Maarten, which takes place a month after Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
, is known for the burning of King Moui-Moui as the culmination of the festival. Many islands, especially the French and Dutch Antilles, are home to pre-Lenten Carnivals, including Martinique, Aruba, Saint-Barthélemy, Bonaire, Curaçao, Dominica, Saint Thomas
Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Saint Thomas is an island in the Caribbean Sea and with the islands of Saint John, Saint Croix, and Water Island a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands , an unincorporated territory of the United States. Located on the island is the territorial capital and port of...
and Guadeloupe.
British Antilles
There are many popular traditions common to the English-speaking islands of the Lesser Antilles. CalypsoCalypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
, originally from the island of Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
, has spread to the neighboring islands; other Trinidadian popular traditions, like soca
Soca music
Soca is a style of music from Trinidad and Tobago. Soca is a musical development of traditional Trinidadian calypso, through loans from the 1960s onwards from predominantly black popular music....
, are also well-known throughout the region. Steel drum
Steelpan
Steelpans is a musical instrument originating from The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago...
ensembles is also found throughout the English-speaking Lesser Antilles (and abroad), especially in Trinidad and Tobago as well as Antigua and Barbuda. The British Antilles also share in certain folk traditions. Trinidadian folk calypso is found throughout the area, as are African-Caribbean religious music styles like the Shango
Shango
In the Yorùbá religion, Sàngó is perhaps one of the most popular Orisha; also known as the god of fire, lightning and thunder...
music of Trinidad. Variants of the Big Drum
Big Drum
Big Drum is a genre and a musical instrument from the Windward Islands. It is a kind of Caribbean music, associated mostly closely with the music of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Carriacou in Grenada and in the music of Saint Kitts and Nevis.-Carriacou:...
festival occur throughout the Windward Islands
Windward Islands
The Windward Islands are the southern islands of the Lesser Antilles, within the West Indies.-Name and geography:The Windward Islands are called such because they were more windward to sailing ships arriving in the New World than the Leeward Islands, given that the prevailing trade winds in the...
, especially in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Carnival is an important folk music celebration on all the islands of the Lesser Antilles, and the rest of the Caribbean.
Calypso is part of a spectrum of similar folk and popular Caribbean styles that spans benna
Benna (genre)
Bennah is different from Benna and they all have different meanings. Bennah, i.e the one with "h" at its ending is a traditional Fanti Ghanaian name which means "COVERING" And it has being noticed that only few of the population in the world are called by this name and everyone of such name is seen...
and mento
Mento
Mento is a style of Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. It has its roots in calypso and other Jamaican folk music. Mento typically features acoustic instruments, such as acoustic guitar, banjo, hand drums, and the rhumba box — a large mbira in the...
, but remains the most prominent genre of Lesser Antillean music. Calypso's roots are somewhat unclear, but we know it can be traced to 18th-century Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
. Modern calypso, however, began in the 19th century, a fusion of disparate elements ranging from the masquerade
Masquerade ceremony
A masquerade ceremony is a cultural or religious event involving the wearing of masks.Examples include the West African and African Diaspora masquerades, such as Egungun Masquerades, Northern Edo Masquerades, Caribbean Carnival and Jonkonnu.-External links:* - slideshow by Life magazine*...
song lavway, French Creole belair and the stick fighting
Stick fighting
Stick fighting is a generic term for martial arts which use simple long slender, blunt, hand-held, generally wooden 'sticks' for fighting such as a staff, cane, walking stick, baton or similar....
chantwell. Calypso's early rise was closely connected with the adoption of Carnival by Trinidadian slaves, including camboulay drumming and the music masquerade processions. Popular calypso arose in the early 20th century, with the rise of internationally known calypsonian
Calypsonian
A calypsonian , originally known as the chantwell is a musician, from the Anglophone Caribbean, who sings songs called calypso. Calypsos are musical renditions having their origins in the West African griot tradition...
s like Attila the Hun
Attila the Hun (calypsonian)
Attila the Hun , was a calypsonian from Trinidad.-Person:Atilla the Hun began singing in 1911 and was at his most prominent in the 1930s and 1940s. He was one of the pioneers in spreading awareness of calypso beyond its birthplace in Trinidad and Tobago...
and Roaring Lion
Roaring Lion
Roaring Lion was a calypsonian...
. Trinidadian calypso remained popular throughout the Caribbean in the later 20th century, and other Antillean islands like Antigua
Antigua
Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...
began producing calypso stars. In the 1970s, a calypso variant called soca
Soca music
Soca is a style of music from Trinidad and Tobago. Soca is a musical development of traditional Trinidadian calypso, through loans from the 1960s onwards from predominantly black popular music....
arose, characterized by a focus on dance rhythms rather than lyricism. Soca has since spread across the Caribbean and abroad.
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
tubes, a traditional instrumental, were supplemented by pieces of metal used percussively; over time, these metal percussion instruments were pitched to produce as many as twenty-some tones. Steel bands were large orchestras of these drums, and were banned by the British colonial authorities. Nevertheless, steel drums spread across the Caribbean, and are now an entrenched part of the culture of Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
.
Though Trinidadian popular music is by far the most well-known style of Lesser Antillean music, the other Anglophone islands are home to their own musical traditions. Carriacou and Grenada
Grenada
Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...
are home to Carnival celebrations that feature distinct form of calypso, canboulay
Canboulay
Canboulay is a precursor to Trinidad and Tobago Carnival. The festival is also where calypso music has its roots. It was originally a harvest festival, at which drums, singing, dancing and chanting were an integral part...
feasts, calinda
Calinda
Calinda is a martial art, as well as kind of folk music and dance in the Caribbean which arose in the 1720s. Calinda is the French spelling, and the Spanish equivalent is calenda; it is a kind of stick-fighting commonly seen practiced during Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago...
stick-fighting songs and the steelband accompanied jouvert, as well as the Big Drum dance, which is also found in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines share other musics as well including the funereal music of the saraca
Saraca
Saraca L. is a genus in the family Fabaceae of about seventy plant species of tree native to the lands from India, China and Ceylon to Malaysia and Celebes....
rite, a call-and-response form with both European and African lyrics.
French Antilles
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
and Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...
, though the islands of Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia is an island country in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It covers a land area of 620 km2 and has an...
and Dominica
Dominica
Dominica , officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of . The Commonwealth...
are also home to French Antillean music. Creole music is characterized by the prominence of the quadrille
Quadrille
Quadrille is a historic dance performed by four couples in a square formation, a precursor to traditional square dancing. It is also a style of music...
dance, distinct from the French version and related to the Haitian mereng. The quadrille is a potent symbol of French Antillean culture. Martinique and Guadeloupe are also home to their own distinct folk traditions, most influentially including Guadeloupan gwo ka
Gwo ka
Gwo ka is both a family of hand drums and the music created with them, which is a major part of Guadeloupean folk music. There are seven rhythms in gwo ka, which are embellished by the drummers...
and Martinican tambour
Tambour
In classical architecture, a tambour is the inverted bell of the Corinthian capital around which are carved acanthus leaves for decoration....
and tibwa. Gwo ka is a type of percussion music which consists of seven basic rhythms and variations on them. It has been modernized into gwo ka moderne, though traditional rural performances (lewoz
Lewoz
Lewoz are the traditional rural musical performances in Martinique and Guadeloupe, as opposed to the modernized gwo ka moderne....
) are still common. Tambour and ti bwa ensembles are the origin of several important Martinican popular styles, including chouval bwa
Chouval bwa
Chouval bwa is a Martinican traditional music.-Origins:Belair or bèlè drumming is at the rhythmic heart of chouval bwa, the traditional roots music of Martinique; the belair itself is a huge tambour drum that players ride as though it were a horse....
and biguine
Biguine
Biguine is a style of music that originated in Guadeloupe and Martinique in the 19th century.-History:Two main types of French antillean biguine can be identified based on the instrumentation in contemporary musical practice, which is call the drum biguine and the orchestrated biguine . Each of...
, and also exerted an influence on zouk. Lucian folk music features ensembles of fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
, cuatro
Cuatro (instrument)
The cuatro is any of several Latin American instruments of the guitar or lute family. The cuatro is smaller than a guitar. Cuatro means four in Spanish, although current instruments may have more than four strings....
, banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and chak-chak
Shak-shak
The shak-shak is a kind of Antillean musical instrument, similar to maracas. They are played in Barbados, Montserrat, Grenada and elsewhere in the Caribbean...
(a rattle
Rattle (percussion)
A rattle is a percussion instrument. It consists of a hollow body filled with small uniform solid objects, like sand or nuts. Rhythmical shaking of this instrument produces repetitive, rather dry timbre noises. In some kinds of music, a rattle assumes the role of the metronome, as an alternative to...
), with the banjo and cuatro being of iconic importance, and recreational, often lyric song forms called jwé
Jwé
Jwé is a kind of rural music from Saint Lucia, performed informally at wakes, beach parties, full moon gatherings and other informal events, including débòt dances. Jwwé uses raunchy lyrics and innuendos to show off verbal skills, and to express political and comedic commentaries on current events...
. The French Creole folk music of Dominica are based around the quadrille, accompanied by ensembles called jing ping
Jing ping
Jing Ping is a kind of folk music originated on the slave plantations of Dominica, also known colloquially as an accordion band. In Dominican folk music, jing ping bands accompany a circle dance called the flirtation, as well as the Dominican quadrille....
. Folk storytelling
Storytelling
Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...
(kont) and songs (bélé) are also a major part of the country's musical identity.
Zouk
Music authors Charles De Ledesma and Gene Scaramuzzo trace zouk's development to the Guadeloupean gwo kaGwo ka
Gwo ka is both a family of hand drums and the music created with them, which is a major part of Guadeloupean folk music. There are seven rhythms in gwo ka, which are embellished by the drummers...
and Martinican bèlè (tambour and ti bwa) folk traditions. Ethnomusicologist Jocelyn Guilbault, however, describes zouk as a synthesis of Caribbean popular styles, especially cadence-lypso
Cadence-lypso
Cadence-lypso, popularized as simply Cadence is a cultural music of Dominica based in Guadeloupe in the early 1970s. Cadence-lypso is a fusion of Dominican and Caribbean/Latin rhythms and has totally revolutionized the music scence in its genre, and it has now become the main dance Music of...
, biguine, kompa direk and kadans rampa. Zouk arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s, using elements of previous styles of Antillean music, as well as imported genres.
In the 1950s, Haitian compas and cadence rampa
Cadence rampa
Cadence rampa is a variety of music from the Caribbean country of Haïti. Cadence rampa is originally a modern Haitian Méringue popularized by the talented sax player Webert Sicot in the early 60s...
became the dominant pop sounds of the Lesser Antilles, especially Webert Sicot
Webert Sicot
Webert Sicot was an Haïtian sax player, composer and band leader. H is recognized as one of the creators of konpa dirèk, a style of Haïtian dance music born in the 1950s.- Biography :...
and Nemours Jean Baptiste
Nemours Jean Baptiste
Nemours Jean Baptiste was a Haitian saxophonist, writer, and band leader. He is credited with being the inventor of compas, a style of Haitian music. The BBC has described him as Haiti's most influential band leader....
. The Haitian compas and cadence became popularized in the French Antilles as kadans
Kadans
Kadans is a French Creole music genre, which started off in Haïti, and made popular in Dominica and the French Antilles of Martinique and Guadeloupe. Kadans is the French creole term for cadence.-History:...
, a sophisticated form of music that helped unite all the former French colonies by them combining their own cultural influences. These were followed by the Antillean mini-jazz
Mini-jazz
Mini-jazz is a type of jazz music characterized by swing dancing and jazzy melodies with influences from rock music.-History:...
bands like Les Gentlemen, Les Leopards and Les Vikings de Guadeloupe in the late 1970s, who drew on the Haitian sound of Sicot and Baptiste. Later in the decade and into the 1980s, the French Antilles became home to a style of cadence music called cadence-lypso
Cadence-lypso
Cadence-lypso, popularized as simply Cadence is a cultural music of Dominica based in Guadeloupe in the early 1970s. Cadence-lypso is a fusion of Dominican and Caribbean/Latin rhythms and has totally revolutionized the music scence in its genre, and it has now become the main dance Music of...
.
Gordon Henderson's Exile One
Exile One
Exile One is a legendary musical group of the 1970s from Dominica based in Guadeloupe. Gordon Henderson is the leader and founder of the famous musical group "Exile One" and the one who coined the name "Cadence-lypso" for a genre of music that revolutionized modern creole music worldwide....
innovated this style by combining the French Antillean kadans (cadence) and Calypso
Calypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
of the English-speaking Caribbean, as well as turned the mini-jazz combos into guitar-dominated big bands, paving the way for the success of large groups like Experience 7
Experience 7
Experience 7 was a Guadeloupean cadence band formed in the mid 1970s, led by Guy Houllier and Yves Honore. It was also one of the very first band to emphasized future Zouk pioneer band such as Kassav'...
, among others. Drawing on these influences, the supergroup Kassav'
Kassav'
Kassav' is a Francophone zouk band formed in Paris in 1979. The core members of the band are Jocelyne Béroard, Jacob Desvarieux, Jean-Philippe Marthély, Patrick St. Eloi, Jean-Claude Naimro, Claude Vamur and Georges Décimus...
invented zouk and popularized it with hit songs like "Zouk-La-Se Sel Medikaman Nou Ni". Kassav' formed from Paris in 1978. Kassav' soon added elements of rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and other influences and became some of the biggest stars in the Caribbean, France and elsewhere as zouk diversified into multiple subgenres. These include zouk-love
Zouk-love
Zouk-love is a genre of popular French West Indian music originating from the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe & Martinique. Zouk means "party" or "festival" in the local creole of French, although the word originally referred to, and is still used to refer to, a popular dance, based on the Polish...
, pop ballads by artists like Edith Lefel
Edith Lefel
Edith Lefel . Edith Lefel was born in Guyana and grew up in Martinique; she has become a popular zouk-love singer. Her career began to take off in 1984, when she worked with Jean-Michel Cabrimol's group Maffia. In 1987, Lefel began working with the well-established Martinican band Malavoi...
and Gilles Floro
Gilles Floro
Gilles Floro , was a popular French Antillean zouk love singer.- External links :*...
, and zouk funk and ragga-zouk bands like Lord Kossity
Lord Kossity
Lord Kossity is a hip hop mogul and rapper from Martinique, French Antilles, in the West Indies. His family is originally from Martinique but he was born in the suburbs of Paris, France and moved back to the French Antilles with his family when he was 11 years old.He began his career in the 1990s...
who fused the genre with other influences.
Though zouk is the most well-known form of modern French Antillean music, the island of Martinique has also produced the chouval bwa and biguine styles, which were especially popular in the early 20th century. Chouval bwa is includes multiple distinctive instruments and internationally famous performers like Claude Germany
Claude Germany
Claude Germany is a French Antillean musician, known as a pioneer of zouk chouv, a sort of electric zouk.- References :...
, Dede Saint-Prix, Pakatak and Tumpak, while biguine has achieved international fame since the 1920s and has since been modernized and adapted for pop audiences, making it a major influence on zouk. Between the 1930s and 1950s, the dance biguine was popular among the islands' dance orchestras. The biguine uses a cinquillo variant related to that found in other Caribbean genres like mereng and kompa direk. In the 1940s and 1950s, these dance bands absorbed influences from Cuban, American and Haitian popular music.
Dutch Antilles
The islands of CuraçaoCuraçao
Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...
, Bonaire, Aruba
Aruba
Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...
, Sint Eustatius and Saint Martin
Saint Martin
Saint Martin is an island in the northeast Caribbean, approximately east of Puerto Rico. The 87 km2 island is divided roughly 60/40 between France and the Kingdom of the Netherlands ; however, the Dutch side has the larger population. It is one of the smallest sea islands divided between...
share musical styles, as well as maintain their own sets of folk and popular dances, ranging from the impromptu Statian road block to calypso, zouk and soca
Soca music
Soca is a style of music from Trinidad and Tobago. Soca is a musical development of traditional Trinidadian calypso, through loans from the 1960s onwards from predominantly black popular music....
. African, indigenous and European ancestry predominate, though more recent immigrants have brought musical styles from Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and India. In popular music, the islands are known for the Combined Rhythm
Combined rhythm
Combined rhythm is a style of popular Dutch Antillean music, influenced by zouk, merengue and soca. The lyrics of combined rhythm are generally in the local Papiamento language.- Performers :*Gibu i su Orkesta*Expresando Rimto i Ambiente*OK Band...
, like local favorites the Happy Peanuts
Happy Peanuts
Happy Peanuts is a well known band from the island of Curaçao. Their styles include tumba and combined rhythm.- References :*...
and Expresando Rimto i Ambiente. Kaseko
Kaseko
Kaseko is a musical genre from Suriname, a fusion of African, European and American styles. The term kaseko derives from casser le corps which referred to a swift dance during the period when slavery was legal in the region...
music from the mainland country Suriname
Suriname
Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...
is also popular. Traditional music of Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles, however, is primarily African, characterized by the use of complex, highly developed polyrhythms, dance styles and drums like the tambú. Other African-derived instruments include metal percussion rods, agan, the rasp
Rasp
A rasp is a tool used for shaping wood or other material. It consists of a point or the tip, then a long steel bar or the belly, then the heel or bottom, then the tang. The tang is joined to a handle, usually made of plastic or wood. The bar has sharp teeth...
wiri, aerophones like the cachu trumpet, becu transverse double-reed wind instrument, and the bow benta.
The tambu is an instrument, and a form of music and dance found on Aruba, Bonaire (where it is sometimes known as bari), and Curaçao. The tambu is an especially important symbol of Curaçaoan identity. Instrumentation for the tambu uses the agan, chapi, triangle
Triangle (instrument)
The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the percussion family. It is a bar of metal, usually steel but sometimes other metals like beryllium copper, bent into a triangle shape. The instrument is usually held by a loop of some form of thread or wire at the top curve...
, wiri and other instruments, many of which are also part of the African-derived muziek di zumbi, or spirit music, of Curaçao. Curaçao's folk music also includes a rich tradition of work song
Work song
A work song is a piece of music closely connected to a specific form of work, either sung while conducting a task or a song linked to a task or trade which might be a connected narrative, description, or protest song....
s with apentatonic lyrics sung in Guene or a Papiamento
Papiamento
Papiamento is the most widely spoken language on the Caribbean ABC islands, having the official status on the islands of Aruba and Curaçao. The language is also recognized on Bonaire by the Dutch government....
variant called seshi. The Simadan harvest festival is found across the islands, and features the cachu trumpet, made from a cowhorn. Bonaire's Simadan festival is also notable for the use of the becu, an aerophone made from the stalk of a sorghum
Sorghum
Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of grasses, one of which is raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants either cultivated or as part of pasture. The plants are cultivated in warmer climates worldwide. Species are native to tropical and subtropical regions of all continents...
plant, and the kinkon, made from a conch
Conch
A conch is a common name which is applied to a number of different species of medium-sized to large sea snails or their shells, generally those which are large and have a high spire and a siphonal canal....
shell and known elsewhere as the carco. Folk song forms range from the harvest seu, simadan and wapa. Other songs were imported beginning in the 19th century, including the South American joropo
Joropo
The Joropo is a musical style resembling the waltz, and an accompanying dance, having African and European influences originated in Venezuela and performed in Colombia and Venezuela. It's a fundamental genre belonging to its typical music or música criolla...
and pasillo
Pasillo
Pasillo is a South American genre of music extremely popular in the territories that composed 19th century Gran Colombia: Colombia; Ecuador, where it is considered the national musical style; and to a lesser extent in the mountainous regions of Venezuela and Panamá...
, Spanish Caribbean merengue
Merengue music
Merengue is a type of music and dance from the Dominican Republic. It is popular in the Dominican Republic and all over Latin America. Its name is Spanish, taken from the name of the meringue, a dessert made from whipped egg whites and sugar...
and other new songs, dances and instruments. This diverse mixture was the origin of the Dutch Antilles' most distinctive and long-standing popular tradition, the tumba.
The smaller islands of Saint Martin, Saba and Sint Eustatius largely share in the same folk instruments, dances and songs as their neighbors; however, these islands remain largely unstudied. Saba is home to a vital percussive music tradition, most closely associated with private parties, using instrumentation similar to Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba. Saint Martin is home to a national dance form called the ponum, which dates to the 19th century and was only displaced by string bands in the mid-20th century. Saint Martin is also home to a calypso-like quimbe
Quimbe
Quimbe is a topical song form from Sint Maarten in the Netherlands Antilles. It traditionally accompanies the ponum dance and drumming, but is now often performed without accompaniment. Lyrics include gossip, news and social criticism, and use clever puns and rhymes. Performance is often...
song form, that remains a major part of the island's culture.
Indo-Antillean
Indo-Caribbean people in the Lesser Antillean music area are clustered in Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. Indo-Caribbean folk traditions include the chowtalChowtal
Chowtal, aside from being the name of a "taal" or meter in Hindustani classical music, is a form of folksong of North India's Bhojpuri region, sung by amateurs during the vernal Phagwa or Holi festival....
songs from the springtime festival phagwa, and Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
bhajan
Bhajan
A Bhajan is any type of Indian devotional song. It has no fixed form: it may be as simple as a mantra or kirtan or as sophisticated as the dhrupad or kriti with music based on classical ragas and talas. It is normally lyrical, expressing love for the Divine...
s which are still sung at temples despite there being few people who understand Hindi. Guyanese and Trinidadian Indo-Caribbeans developed a tradition that fused elements of calypso with the folk music of North India, a style that was referred to as local music.
Indo-Caribbean music plays a vital role in various annual festivals like the springtime phagwa, where chowtal is traditionally performed competitively and in teams. Indo-Caribbean Shia Muslims celebrate Hosay (Muharram
Muharram
Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year in which fighting is prohibited...
) with float
Float (parade)
A float is a decorated platform, either built on a vehicle or towed behind one, which is a component of many festive parades, such as those of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, the Carnival of Viareggio, the Maltese Carnival, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Key West Fantasy Fest parade, the...
s accompanied by barrel drums called tassa
Tassa
Tassa is a form of kettle drum, presumably of Persian derivation. Tassa drums are widespread all over India. Typically, one or more tassa drums are played together with a heavy bass drum called dhol, perhaps along with brass cymbals or a metal shaker...
. Wedding music
Wedding music
Wedding music applies music played at wedding celebrations, including the ceremony and any festivities before or after the event. The music can be performed live by musicians and/or vocalists or use pre-recorded songs, depending on the format of the event, traditions associated with the...
is another important part of Indo-Caribbean music, and is dominated by tan singing. Tan singing is based around the dholak
Dholak
The Dholak is a North Indian, Pakistani and Nepalese double-headed hand-drum Madal. The name dholki may also refer to a slightly different instrument that uses high-pitch tabla style syahi masala on its treble skin. This instrument is also known as Naal or Dholki....
drum and dhantal
Dhantal
The dhantal is a long steel rod which was adapted from the axle used to connect the yokes of the bullocks that transported the cane-filled carts on the estates in Trinidad and Tobago. The metal horseshoe used on the estate's horses and mules was used to strike the dhantal. In this way the dhantal...
, and sometimes includes verbal duels influenced by picong
Picong
Picong or Piquant is light comical banter, usually at someone else's expense. It is the way in which West Indians tease, heckle and mock each other in a friendly manner...
. Indo-Caribbean popular music gained international attention in the late 1980s, with the rise of chutney music
Chutney music
Chutney music is a form indigenous to the southern Caribbean, originating in Trinidad. It derives elements from traditional Indian music and popular Trinidadian Soca music.-History:...
. Chutney is a dance music, in its modern form accompanied by soca
Soca music
Soca is a style of music from Trinidad and Tobago. Soca is a musical development of traditional Trinidadian calypso, through loans from the 1960s onwards from predominantly black popular music....
instrumentation, such as synthesizers and pressure drums. This style is called chutney-soca
Chutney-soca
In Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana & Suriname Chutney-Soca music is a crossover style of music incorporating Soca elements and Hindi-English lyrics, Chutney music, with Indian instruments like the dholak and dhantal....
.
Further reading
English AntillesFrench Antilles
Indo-Antillean
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