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Soca music is a genre of music defined by Lord Shorty, its inventor, as the "Soul of Calypso", which has influences of African and East Indian rhythms. It was originally spelled "sokah" by its inventor but through an error in a local newspaper when reporting on the new music it was erroneously spelled "soca"; Lord Shorty confirmed the error but chose to leave it that way to avoid confusion. It is a genre of music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the early 1970s and developed into a range of styles during the 1980s and after. Soca was initially developed by Lord Shorty in an effort to revive traditional calypso, the popularity of which had been flagging amongst younger generations in Trinidad due to the rise in popularity of reggae from Jamaica and soul and funk from the United States. Soca is an offshoot of Calypso/Kaiso, with influences from East Indian rhythms and hooks.
The music of Trinidad and Tobago is best known for its calypso music, soca music, chutney music, and steelpan. Calypso's internationally noted performances in the 1950s from native artists such as Lord Melody, Lord Kitchener and Mighty Sparrow. The art form was most popularised at that time by Harry Belafonte. Along with folk songs and African- and Indian-based classical forms, cross-cultural interactions have produced other indigenous forms of music including soca, rapso, parang, chutney, and other derivative and fusion styles. There are also local communities which practice and experiment with international classical and pop music, often fusing them with local steelpan instruments.
The steelpan is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists.
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 musical elements are a hybrid of instruments and styles from numerous West African 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 music of Saint Kitts and Nevis is known for a number of musical celebrations including Carnival. The last week in June features the St Kitts Music Festival, while the week-long Culturama on Nevis lasts from the end of July into early August.
The music of Antigua and Barbuda is largely African in character, and has only felt a limited influence from European styles due to the population of Antigua and Barbuda descending mostly from West Africans who were made slaves by Europeans.
The Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is an annual event held on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday in Trinidad and Tobago. This event is well known for participants' colorful costumes and exuberant celebrations. There are numerous cultural events such as "band launch fetes" running in the lead up to the street parade on Carnival Monday and Tuesday. It is said that if the islanders are not celebrating it, then they are preparing for it, while reminiscing about the past year's festival. Traditionally, the festival is associated with calypso music, with its origins formulated in the midst of hardship for enslaved West and Central Africans; however, recently Soca music has replaced calypso as the most celebrated type of music. Costumes, stick-fighting and limbo competitions are also important components of the festival.
The Canboulay riots were a series of disturbances in the British colony of Trinidad in 1881. The riots came about in response to efforts by the colonial police to restrict aspects of the island's annual Carnival festival. In Port of Spain, San Fernando and Princes Town, angered Trinidadians rioted in response to the actions of the police; several people were killed as a result of the riots. Canboulay music forms an important part the musical traditions of Trinidad. The "chantwell" or chantuelle who was also an integral part of the celebrations was the forerunner of the calypsonian and later soca music.
The culture of Trinidad and Tobago reflects the influence of Indian-South Asian, African, Indigenous, European, Chinese, North American, Latino, and Arab cultures. The histories of Trinidad and Tobago are different. There are differences in the cultural influences which have shaped each island. Trinidad and Tobago is an English-speaking country with strong links to the United Kingdom.
The dhantal (dandtal) is a long steel rod based percussion instrument, which was adapted from the iron "bows" that yoked the oxen that pulled the carts on the estates in Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, other parts of the Caribbean, Fiji, Mauritius, and South Africa. The original beater was an actual horseshoe, a shape which is still retained in the dhantal's modern context as a musical instrument. Its top may be blunt or tapered to a fine point to allow for greater resonance, and its end is shaped into a circle that rests on the ground, table, or other surface when it is played. It is usually about a meter long and 3/8" to 1/2" thick.
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. After Emancipation (1834), it developed into an outlet and a festival for former indentured laborers and freed slaves who were banned from participating in the masquerade carnival events – derived from European Christian traditions – of the colonial elite, and whose drums and religious observances were also outlawed in the late 19th century. Consequently, Canboulay has played an important role in the development of the music of Trinidad and Tobago, for it was the banning of percussion instruments in the 1880s that led to the surreptitious innovations that gave birth to steelpan music. It is re-enacted in Port of Spain each Carnival Friday in Trinidad.
The Antiguan Carnival is a celebration of the emancipation of slavery in the country held annually from the end of July to the first Tuesday in August. The most important day is that of the j'ouvert, in which brass and steel bands perform for much of the island's population. Barbuda's Carnival, held in June, is known as Caribana. The Antiguan and Barbudan Carnivals replaced the Old Time Christmas Festival in 1957, with hopes of inspiring tourism in Antigua and Barbuda. Some elements of the Christmas Festival remain in the modern Carnival celebrations.
Elliott Anthony "Ellie" Mannette was a Trinidadian musical instrument maker and steel pan musician, also known as the "father of the modern steel drum".
The Venezuelan festival known in Spanish as Calypso de El Callao is held every year in Bolívar state, during carnival celebrations. It is a fusion of Trinidad and Tobago calypso music, Caribbean traditions and Venezuelan folklore.
Winston "Spree" Simon was a Trinidadian inventor, pioneer and musician of the steelpan.
The Trinidad All-Steel Pan Percussion Orchestra (TASPO) was formed to participate in the Festival of Britain in 1951. The group was the first steelband to travel abroad from Trinidad and Tobago, presenting the newly invented steelpan to an international audience.
Sterling Betancourt MBE, FRSA is a Trinidad-born pioneer, arranger and musician on the steelpan, a major figure in pioneering the Pan in Europe and the UK (1951).
Anthony Williams, ORTT, CM, also known as "Muffman", was an inventor, pioneer and musician of the steel pan.
The Esso Trinidad Steel Band was a steel band from Trinidad, active from 1942 to 1976.
Alexander's Ragtime Band was one of the first all-steel percussion bands in Trinidad and Tobago and is considered a forerunner of the steelband. The band was organised at the Big Yard in Newtown in western Port of Spain, and first emerged on Carnival Monday morning in 1939. Named for the film Alexander's Ragtime Band, the band was louder and more mobile than tamboo bamboo bands that were popular at the time, and represented a change in musicality. They inspired the rapid adoption of steel percussion by bands in Port of Spain, leading to the development of the steelpan.
References
- ↑ Jeffrey Ross Thomas, Forty Years of Steel: An Annotated Discography of Steel Band and Pan Recordings, 1951--1991 (Westport: Greenwood Group, 1992), xiv.
- ↑ Encyclopedia of Percussion, ed. by John H. Beck, 2nd edn (Oxford: Routledge, 2013), p. 365.
- ↑ Stephen Stuempfle, The Steelband Movement: The Forging of a National Art in Trinidad and Tobago (Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995), 23.
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