Proquest Dissertations

IN OUR HOUSE: THE REALIZATION OF 'SELF' THROUGH SOUND IN CLIVE BRADLEY'S MUSICAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE CALYPSO "IN MY HOUSE" FOR THE DESPERADOES STEEL ORCHESTRA CHANTAL M. ESDELLE A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAMME IN MUSIC YORK UNIVERSTIY TORONTO, ONTARIO February 2010 Library and Archives Bibliothgque et Canada Archives Canada 1*1 Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'6dition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-62314-5 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-62314-5 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliothdque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduce, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non- support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimis ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. I+I Canada ABSTRACT The music created during Trinidad and Tobago's Carnival, like the festival itself, is instrumental in reconstructing and retaining cultural tradition, building community, and recording history. The steelband, a community institution that produces music for Carnival on the national instrument, the steelpan, has been instrumental in effecting this. In this thesis I examine how this is done by looking at the specific example of the Desperadoes Steel Orchestra in the Laventille community in Port-of-Spain Trinidad, and the music arranged for the band by Clive Bradley. I analyze how Bradley uses the text of the calypsos, and the experiences of the members of Desperadoes, to create musical arrangements that serve as an historical reference of relationships and events for the community and the members of the band. I use the musical example of his arrangement of the calypso "In my House" to investigate the process of creating, preparing and performing a piece that is easily accessed as a vessel for individual and communal memory. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My interest in the music of Trinidad and Tobago was first inspired by my parents, both of whom were active participants in Carnival. In the case of my mother this involved working with the NCC (National Carnival Commission) and its predecessor the CDC (Carnival Development Commission), and serving as the Public Relations Officer for one of the country's most prominent steelbands, Trinidad All Stars. The live and recorded music they shared with me instilled a great appreciation and reverence for Trinidadian music. This love for music could not have been developed without the musical training I received from Louise Mcintosh at Pan Pipers Music School in Trinidad and Tobago. It was there that I not only began my training as a musician but also began to play the steelpan. My experience as a pannist has been invaluable throughout my exploration of Trinidadian music and so, I must recognize the insight gained from my tenure with several steelbands in Trinidad. My association with the steelband fraternity, since the age of 13, has allowed me to gain an understanding of the significance of steelbands in the development of community and relationships. To all the bands and my colleagues in the Steelband movement I, therefore, express my thanks. I am particularly thankful to Desperadoes for embracing me and claiming me as one of their own. To my fellow band members, Robert Greenidge, Curtis Edwards, Anthony McQuilkin, Nigel Flemming, and Stacy Rose, I express my gratitude for your support and the invaluable information you shared with me about band. v Creating this academic record has been made possible by York University. I would like to thank my professors at York, particularly Michael Marcuzzi, Rob van der Bliek and Louise Wrazen, who all took great care in introducing me to the style and form of academic research and scholarly writing. I would also like to thank my colleagues at York whose discussions and papers at our seminars enriched and aided my graduate experience and the development of this thesis. Embarking upon this degree has required that I be separated from my immediate family for long periods of time. I must thank my husband, Robert Young, for supporting me, my aunt, Ruth Esdelle, for helping me situate myself in Toronto, and my brother and close friends for being available to me throughout this process. Finally, to Mr. Bradley, my sincerest apologies for not chronicling your musical work and history when you first asked me ten years ago. Although you are no longer on this earth to witness the beginning of this work I know that, even from beyond the great divide, you can appreciate the fact that I have finally begun. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 1. Who is you? A consideration of the social, historical, and cultural circumstances that cultivated Trinidadian society, Carnival, and the community organization called the Steelband 16 Economics, Immigration, Class and Culture 17 Carnival and Cannes Brulees 24 Steelpan, Music for Carnival 28 2. Laventille, Desperadoes, and Clive Bradley 32 Laventille 32 Desperadoes 34 Preparing for Panorama 41 Bradley 44 3. Developing an arrangement for Panorama: Musical Analysis of Clive Bradley's arrangement of the calypso, "In my House," for the Desperadoes Steel Orchestra 50 The Performance 51 Instrumentation and Orchestration 53 The Arrangement 57 4. Chronicling the Carnival Story in song: Bradley's representation of community, connection, and relationships in his Panorama arrangements for Desperadoes 70 Laventille Fosters Community through Desperadoes 71 vii Bradley tells his Story 77 The Story of "In My House" 87 Conclusion 93 Appendix 99 Appendix A Background information on the Desperadoes members interviewed and referenced 99 Appendix B Lyrics of "In my House" 104 Appendix C Audio CD Track Listing 106 Appendix D Desperadoes Steel Orchestra Steelpans 107 Appendix E Analysis Chart 113 References 124 Discography 127 viii LIST OF FIGURES Fig la: Bass line Section B (0:51-1:50) bars 1-8 as played by low basses 53 Fig lb: Bass line Section B (0:51-1:50) bars 1-8 as played by tenor basses 53 Fig 2: Scored melody of the verse and chorus of "In my House" 55 Fig 3: The three motives 57 Fig 4: Frontline pans descant line in Section D 59 Fig 5: Minor melodic phrase (based on Motif 1) for the stops in Section I 62 Fig 6: Section K bars 1-8 63 ix Introduction Through the centuries, Latin America has been despoiled of gold and silver, nitrates and rubber, copper and oil: its memory has also been usurped. From the outset it has been condemned to amnesia by those who have prevented it from being.. .1 am a writer who would like to contribute to the rescue of the kidnapped memory of all America.. .(Eduardo Galeano. Memories of Fire, Genesis, xv) The western Europeans situated themselves in the Americas for profit. Galleano reminds us that the resulting capitalist economic system instituted in the Americas, a major tenet of it being slavery, not only resulted in the exploitation of the primary resources of the Americas but also instigated the decimation of the cultural heritage and history of the people who constituted the labour force: indigenous people, African people who were enslaved and brought to the Americas, and the indentured labourers who came from Africa, India, Southern Europe, the Middle East and China. He suggests that as an American writer he may be able to rescue the memory of the American experience through his work. Many, like Galleano, have attempted to rescue this memory. How, then, have they attempted to do this? Wilfried Raussert suggests in his monograph, Negotiating Temporal Differences: Blues, Jazz and Narrativity in African American Culture (2000), that jazz and blues have been used to represent social and cultural change as well as historical and physical time for individual African Americans and the African American community, while Edwin Hill suggests in his PhD dissertation, "Black Soundscapes, White Stages, the meaning of sound in the Black Francophone Atlantic," that "while colonial conquest must always deal with landscapes colonial subjects must always deal with soundscapes" (2007, 5). 1 Both authors suggest that not only did the resulting oppression of economic and social systems influence the creation of musical forms but also that social thought and communal and individual experience was expressed through this temporal state of sound. J.D. Elder suggests that the music and art in Trinidad's Carnival serves a similar function since carnival is an artistic institution in Trinidad and Tobago whose music, dance, costumes, masks, handicraft, religion, poetry and sculpture are representative of the performers worldview, belief system, and philosophy of life (Riggio 2004, 48-49).

Load more