Music of the Anglophone Caribbean | ||||
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Regional music | ||||
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The music of Turks and Caicos Islands is best known for its ripsaw music. It is accompanied by an array of instruments, including maracas, triangles, box guitar, conga drums, goat and cowskin drums, accordion, concertina and, most prominently and uniquely, the carpenter saw.
Ripsaw is a unique fusion of Mento and Burru, [1] [2] originating specifically from the Middle and North Caicos; [3] which replaces the grater (Instrument) used in traditional Mento, with a handsaw (Instrument) to achieve a similar yet more variable sound. [4] The saw is played by scraping an object, usually an old knife blade, along the saw's teeth, while bending the saw to produce a different timbre. The saw is scraped with a metal object, such as a screwdriver; which is called ripping the saw. [5] The sound is similar to a paper being ripped, and is believed to be the origin of the term ripsaw.
A closely related style called rake and scrape is known in the Bahamas, closely associated with Cat Island, the home of many Turks and Caicos islanders, who moved there looking for work in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Many Bahamian musicians are from the islands, including The Cooling Waters, Sly Roker, Bradley Dean, Marvin Handfield, Perry Delancy, and Leo Jones. Many of these expatriates have since returned to Turks and Caicos, bringing with them Bahamian junkanoo music. [6]
Modern ripsaw pioneers include Tell and the Rakooneers and Lovey Forbes, who created a new style called combina in the early 1980s, using genres from across the Caribbean and the US as inspiration; these included jazz, calypso, soca and reggae. [7]
The organisation TUCA helps to promote Turks and Caicos folk music and dance. The Turks and Caicos Music and Poetry Festival is a major annual event, attracting such artists as (in 2004) Chaka Khan, Maxi Priest, Boyz II Men, Joe, Shocking Vibes Band, TCI All Star Band and Blakout Crew. [8] [9] The first First Annual Turks & Caicos Ripsaw Festival was held in 2003. [6]
The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and northern West Indies. They are known primarily for tourism and as an offshore financial centre. The resident population in 2023 was estimated by The World Factbook at 59,367, making it the third-largest of the British overseas territories by population. However, according to a Department of Statistics estimate in 2022, the population was 47,720.
The music of Jamaica includes Jamaican folk music and many popular genres, such as mento, ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub music, dancehall, reggae fusion and related styles.
The music of the Bahamas is associated primarily with Junkanoo, a celebration which occurs on Boxing Day and again on New Year's Day. Parades and other celebrations mark the ceremony. Groups like The Baha Men, Ronnie Butler,Kirkland Bodie and Twindem have gained massive popularity in Japan, the United States and other places. Other popular Bahamian artists include Stileet and Stevie S.
Before European colonization, the Turks and Caicos Islands were inhabited by Taíno and Lucayan peoples. The first recorded European sighting of the islands now known as the Turks and Caicos occurred in 1512. In the subsequent centuries, the islands were claimed by several European powers with the British Empire eventually gaining control. For many years the islands were governed indirectly through Bermuda, the Bahamas, and Jamaica. When the Bahamas gained independence in 1973, the islands received their own governor, and have remained a separate autonomous British Overseas Territory since. In August 2009, the United Kingdom suspended the Turks and Caicos Islands' self-government following allegations of ministerial corruption. Home rule was restored in the islands after the November 2012 elections.
Grand Turk is an island in the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British Overseas Territory, tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and northern West Indies. It is the largest island in the Turks Islands with 18 km2 (6.9 sq mi). Grand Turk contains the territory's capital, Cockburn Town, and the JAGS McCartney International Airport. The island is the administrative, historic, cultural and financial centre of the territory and has the second-largest population of the islands at approximately 4,831 people in 2012.
Ripsaw is a style of Mento, which originates from the Turks and Caicos Islands. A very closely related variant, rake-and-scrape, is played in the Bahamas. Its most distinctive characteristic is the use of the common handsaw as the primary instrument, along with various kinds of drums, box guitar, concertina, triangle and accordion.
Rake-and-scrape is the traditional music of The Bahamas, alongside Junkanoo. It combines African musical elements with European musical elements to create a sound comparable to other Caribbean music while remaining distinct.
Turks and Caicos Creole, or Turks and Caicos Patwah, also called Caicosian Patwah, is an English-based creole spoken in the Turks and Caicos Islands; a West Indian territory in the Lucayan Archipelago.
Darian Forbes is a sprinter from Turks and Caicos Islands who specializes in the 200 metres.
The potcake dog or American Village Dog is a mixed-breed dog type found on several Caribbean islands. Its name comes from a traditional local dish of seasoned rice and pigeon peas; overcooked rice that sticks to the bottom of the cooking pot is commonly mixed with other leftovers and fed to the dogs. Although appearance varies, potcakes generally have smooth coats, cocked ears, and long faces.
Cameron Robert Hepple is a Bahamian footballer who plays for Lyford Cay.
The following is an alphabetical list of topics related to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
The Bahamian dry forests are a tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, covering an area of 4,900 km2 (1,900 sq mi). They are found on much of the northern Bahamas, including Andros, Abaco, and Grand Bahama, where they are known as coppices. Dry forests are distributed evenly throughout the Turks and Caicos.
Miss Turks and Caicos or Miss Universe Turks and Caicos is a national Beauty pageant in Turks and Caicos, currently under the ownership of Gabriela Clesca Vallejo.
Christopher Bryan is a former association football player who played as a defender for the Turks and Caicos Islands national team.
Sharlene Linette Cartwright-Robinson JP is a Turks and Caicos Islander politician and lawyer who served as the 4th Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands from 20 December 2016 to 20 February 2021. She was the territory's first female premier. She was also the first woman to become first, deputy head, and then, head of the People's Democratic Movement (PDM).
Angela Palacious is a Bahamian minister of religion and author.
The Holy Cross Church is a religious building that is affiliated with the Catholic Church and is located in Osborne Road in the city of Cockburn Town the largest in the Grand Turk Island and the capital of the British overseas territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Antilles.
The COVID-19 pandemic in the Turks and Caicos Islands is part of the ongoing global viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which was confirmed to have reached the British Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands on 23 March 2020, and the first death occurred on 5 April. On 12 May, all cases were declared resolved, but on 20 June, new cases had been discovered. On 4 July 2021, all cases resolved again. On 8 July, new cases were discovered.
Chelonoidis alburyorum is an extinct species of giant tortoise that lived in the Lucayan Archipelago from the Late Pleistocene to around 1400 CE. The species was discovered and described by Richard Franz and Shelley E. Franz, the findings being published in 2009.