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The Caribbean state of Trinidad and Tobago is best known as the homeland of calypso music, including 1950s stars Lord Kitchener and Mighty Sparrow. Other forms of music include Carnival songs like lavway and leggos , as well as bongo music (which originated at wakes). Yoruban shango and Dahomean rada are also popular among the descendants of indentured servants in Port of Spain.
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Stamp featuring Lord Kitchener and
describing Trinidad and Tobago as the "Land of Calypso" |
Calypso was developed on the island of Trinidad, and has since become one of the major musical ancestors of diverse styles, including reggae, soca and rapsoRapso is a form of Trinidadian music that grew out of the social unrest of the 1970s. It has been described as de power of de word in the riddum of de word . Though often described as a fusion of native soca with American hip hop, rapso is actually unique. The musical genreMusical genres are categories which contain music which share a certain style or which have certain elements in common. See also musical form. Some genres, such as Indian music, are geographically defined; others, like Baroque music, are largely defined b began when AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest continent in both area and population, after Asia. 30,244,050 km2 (11,677,240 mi2) including the islands, it covers 20. 3% of the total land area on Earth, and with over 800 million human inhabitants it accounts for arn slaves were brought to the area to work plantationA Plantation is a deliberately cultivated area, for example: a large farm, growing one species of plant only, eg. Pine plantations produce raw material for paper-making. Tobacco and coffee also grow on plantations. During the 1800s, Slave labour typicallys owned by EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Seans, and the slaves were forbidden to talk to each other (in any case, they spoken dozens of different languages, so communication was inherently difficult). A creoleThe term Creole is used with different meanings in different contexts, which can generate confusion. Generally it refers to a people or a culture that is distinctive or local to a region, but with various additional shades of meaning. Disambiguation See a culture was formed, combining elements of hundreds of African ethnic groups, native inhabitants of the islands, FrenchThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents., BritishThe word Britain is used to refer to the United Kingdom (UK): i. the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (from 1927), the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland ( 1801- 1927) or the United Kingdom of Great Britain ( 1707- 1801). and Spanish colonizers. The Spanish originally moved into the island in 1532, bringing African slaves. In 1783, the French began to immigrate in large numbers due to a Spanish rule encouraging Roman Catholics to relocate to the islands. With St. Lucia and Dominica taken by the British from the French one year later, in 1784, French immigrants came to dominate the island. In 1802, however, the French and African/Spanish creole population of the islands became a British colony, further muddying the cultural development of Trinidadians and Tobagans. Carnival had arrived with the French, and the slaves, who could not take part in Carnival, formed their own, parallel celebration called canboulay , where calypso music began its existence. In 1834, these two celebrations began a merger because the slaves were emancipated, while the islands' ethnic mix further diversified by the mass migration of Indians beginning in 1845. Most were indentured servants and brought their own folk music, primarily from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, to the native mix, resulting in chutney music.
Stick-fighting and African percussion music were banned in 1880, in response to the Canboulay Riots . They were replaced by bamboo sticks beaten together, but these too were eventually banned. In 1937, however, they reappeared, transformed as an orchestra of frying pans, dustbin lids and oil drums. These steel pans are now a major part of the Trinidadian music scene and are a popular section of the Canboulay music contests. In 1941, the United States Navy arrived on Trinidad, and the panmen, who were associated with lawlessness and violence, helped to popularize steel pan music among soldiers, which began its international popularization.
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