Barbados: People and Society Though There Are No Noticeable

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Barbados: People and Society Though There Are No Noticeable

Barbados: People And Society by newsdesk Though there are no noticeable sparks in the societal mood, the general environment cannot perhaps be termed as congenial. Undertones of income disparities and racial discrimination sour the social atmosphere. With a history of racial discrimination against the African community, there is a growing sense of pride for its Afro-Caribbean heritage in the contemporary Barbadian. An example of this is the music of the renowned Barbadian Calypso artist, Mighty Gabby, whose themes mainly revolve around the question of racial discrimination. Religion Majority of the population are Protestants out of which dominant strains are Anglicans, Pentecostal and Methodist. About 4% of the population is Roman Catholic. Language English is the official language on the Island. Culture and Crafts As Barbados was almost never involved in any of the colonial wars, there’s practically little or no influence of other cultures such as Spanish (except its name), Dutch or French though there are obvious touches of the ‘stiff upper lip’. Every day life in Barbados displays traces of North American culture. In general, music is an essential element of Barbados culture. Folk music involves traditional African drumming, a bequest of the African slaves who were imported to work at the sugar plantations. The music heritage is also influenced by Trinidadian Calypso music and more recently by reggae from the ghettos of Jamaica. The latter’s influence triggered off the birth of two new music forms – Spouge and Soca. Today, music is an important aspect of any celebration. At most restaurants, menus include food accompanied by music. ‘Crop over festival’ held mid-July, is celebration time among the Barbadians. The festival stretches over a period of three weeks of fun and merriment fog the atmosphere. Celebrations include calypso competitions, costume parades and fairs. Other major events are the Holetown Festival, the Oistins Fish Festival and the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts. The latter interestingly enough is held throughout the month of November and features talent competitions in dance, drama and singing. The festival commences on the last day of November, Independence Day, when the final competitions are held. Various international sporting events are also held through the year. Education With literacy rates almost touching a 100%, Barbadians have a reputation of being a very intellectually alive society. Novelist George Lamming and poet Edward Kamau Brathwaite are claims of Barbados’ cerebral heritage Barbados: People And Society by newsdesk.

Copy Link

Recommended publications

Celebrating Our Calypso Monarchs 1939- 1980
Celebrating our Calypso Monarchs 1939-1980 T&T History through the eyes of Calypso Early History Trinidad and Tobago as most other Caribbean islands, was colonized by the Europeans. What makes Trinidad’s colonial past unique is that it was colonized by the Spanish and later by the English, with Tobago being occupied by the Dutch, Britain and France several times. Eventually there was a large influx of French immigrants into Trinidad creating a heavy French influence. As a result, the earliest calypso songs were not sung in English but in French-Creole, sometimes called patois. African slaves were brought to Trinidad to work on the sugar plantations and were forbidden to communicate with one another. As a result, they began to sing songs that originated from West African Griot tradition, kaiso (West African kaito), as well as from drumming and stick-fighting songs. The song lyrics were used to make fun of the upper class and the slave owners, and the rhythms of calypso centered on the African drum, which rival groups used to beat out rhythms. Calypso tunes were sung during competitions each year at Carnival, led by chantwells. These characters led masquerade bands in call and response singing. The chantwells eventually became known as calypsonians, and the first calypso record was produced in 1914 by Lovey’s String Band. Calypso music began to move away from the call and response method to more of a ballad style and the lyrics were used to make sometimes humorous, sometimes stinging, social and political commentaries. During the mid and late 1930’s several standout figures in calypso emerged such as Atilla the Hun, Roaring Lion, and Lord Invader and calypso music moved onto the international scene.
[Show full text]
An Investigation Into the Origin of Jamaican Ska Paul Kauppila San Jose State University, [email protected]
San Jose State University SJSU ScholarWorks Faculty and Staff ubP lications Library January 2006 From Memphis to Kingston: An Investigation into the Origin of Jamaican Ska Paul Kauppila San Jose State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/lib_pub Part of the Music Commons, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Paul Kauppila. "From Memphis to Kingston: An Investigation into the Origin of Jamaican Ska" Social and Economic Studies (2006): 75-91. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Library at SJSU ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty and Staff Publications by an authorized administrator of SJSU ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. "FROM MEMPHIS TO KINGSTON": AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE ORIGIN OF JAMAICAN SKA Kauppila, Paul Social and Economic Studies; Mar/Jun 2006; 55, 1/2; ABI/INFORM Complete pg. 75 Social and Economic Studies 55: I & 2 (2006): 75-91 ISSN: 0037-7651 "F"ROM MEMPHIS TO KINGSTON": AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE ORIGIN OF" .JAMAICAN SKA F'AUL KAUPPILA ABSTRACT The distinguishing characteristic of most Jamaican popular music recordings, including reggae and its predecessor, ska, is an emphasis on the offbeat or afterbeat instead of on the downbeat as found in most American popular music. Many explanations have been proposed to explain this tendency. This study critically examines these theories through historical and musicological analyses and concludes that the prevalence of the downbeat is a mixture of Jamaican folk and African-American popular music influences in its earliest incarnation, but was later deliberately emphasized in an attempt to create a unique new musical style.
[Show full text]
Cultural Maintenance and the Politics of Fulfillment in Barbados’S Junior Calypso Monarch Programme
MASK AND MIRROR: CULTURAL MAINTENANCE AND THE POLITICS OF FULFILLMENT IN BARBADOS’S JUNIOR CALYPSO MONARCH PROGRAMME A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAIʻI AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN MUSIC MAY 2016 By Anjelica Corbett Thesis Committee: Frederick Lau, chairperson Ricardo Trimillos Njoroge Njoroge Keywords: Anjelica Corbett, Calypso, Carnival, Nationalism, Youth Culture, Barbados Copyright © 2016 Anjelica Corbett Acknowledgements Foremost, I would like to thank God because without him nothing would be possible. I would also like to thank the National Cultural Foundation, the Junior Calypso Monarch Programme participants, Chrystal Cummins-Beckles, and Ian Webster for welcoming into the world of Bajan calypso and answering my questions about this new environment. My gratitude also extends to the Junior Calypso Monarch Programme participants for allowing me to observe and their rehearsals and performances and sharing their love of calypso with me. I would like to thank Dr. Frederick Lau, Dr. Byong-Won Lee, Dr. Ricardo Trimillos, and Dr. Njoroge Njoroge, and the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa's Music Department for approving this project and teaching me valuable lessons throughout this process. I would especially like to thank my fellow colleagues in the Ethnomusicology department for their emotional and academic support. Finally, I would like to thank my family for support and encouragement throughout my academic career. i Abstract Barbados, like other Caribbean nations, holds junior calypso competitions for Barbadian youth. These competitions, sponsored by Barbados’s National Cultural Foundation (NCF), allow the youth to express their opinions on society.
[Show full text]
Calypso Buys a Bungalow Author(S): Michael Eldridge Source: Callaloo, Vol
There Goes the Transnational Neighborhood: Calypso Buys a Bungalow Author(s): Michael Eldridge Source: Callaloo, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Spring, 2002), pp. 620-638 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3300591 Accessed: 25/01/2009 18:50 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=jhup. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The Johns Hopkins University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Callaloo. http://www.jstor.org THERE GOES THE TRANSNATIONAL NEIGHBORHOOD Calypso Buys a Bungalow by Michael Eldridge Sly Mongoose ..
[Show full text]
Music As Sound, Music As Archive: Performing Creolization in Trinidad
Middle Atlantic Review of Latin American Studies, 2020 Vol. 4, No. 2, 144-173 Music as Sound, Music as Archive: Performing Creolization in Trinidad Christopher L. Ballengee Anne Arundel Communtiy College, Maryland [email protected] This article positions performance as a key concept in understanding creolization. In doing so, it situates music as both sound and archive in analyses of Trinidadian tassa drumming, soca, and chutney-soca. Musical analysis provides useful insights into the processes of creolization, while revealing colonial and postcolonial relationships between groups of people that give shape and meaning to the music, past and present. I draw on notions of music as sound to further analyze the forces that work to control the Trinidadian soundscape by promoting or marginalizing musical styles in an effort to shape musical production according to the ideal of creole culture. I conclude by suggesting that the conventional notion of the archive has from its very beginnings been connected with elite desires to enumerate and historicize positions of power. In this context, musical performances analyzed in this study emerge as subaltern archival practices that run alongside mainstream archives and popular interpretations of history. In listening to Trinidadian music as sound and archive, I trace present and potential social structures while providing new ways of thinking about creolization as performance. Keywords: Indian Caribbean, tassa, soca, chutney-soca, creolization, performance Este artículo posiciona el performance como un concepto clave para entender la creolización. Al hacerlo, sitúa la música como sonido y archivo en los análisis del tamborileo tassa, la soca y la soca-chutney de Trinidad.
[Show full text]
American Music Review the H
American Music Review The H. Wiley Hitchcock Institute for Studies in American Music Conservatory of Music, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York Volume XLIV, Number 1 Fall 2014 The Brooklyn Soca Connection: Frankie McIntosh and Straker Records Ray Allen, CUNY Brooklyn College The emergence of soca (soul/calypso) music in the 1970s was the result of musical innovations that occurred concurrently with a conscious attempt by the Trinidadian record industry to penetrate the bourgeoning world music market. The latter move was prompted in part by the early-1970s international success of Jamaican reg- gae and coincided with the rapid growth of diasporic English-speaking Caribbean communities in North Amer- ica and Europe—sites which promised new production and marketing possibilities for the music. Brooklyn’s Caribbean neighborhoods, which had rapidly expanded in the wake of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, became popular destinations for singers, musicians, arrangers, and record producers. Some lay down roots while other became transnational migrants, cycling back and forth between Brooklyn and their Caribbean homelands to perform and record the new soca sound. Frankie McIntosh, music director and arranger for the Brook- lyn-based Straker Records label, was a key player in the transformation of Trinidadian calypso to modern soca during this period. Before turning to the story of McIntosh and Straker Records a brief re- view of the stylistic characteristics of soca and the critical reception the new music received is in order. By the late 1970s the term “soca” (“so” from soul music, “ca” from calypso) was used in reference to a new style of Caribbean music that blended Trinidadian calypso with elements of African-American soul, funk, disco, R&B, and jazz.1 According to ethnomusicologist Shannon Dudley, soca is differentiated from calypso by its strong, 4/4 rhythmic struc- ture with accents on the second and fourth beats of each measure; emphasis on a syncopated bass line that often incorporates melodic figures; and fast, often frenetic, tempos.
[Show full text]
Narratives of Resistance in Trinidad's Calypso and Soca Music Meagan A. Sylvester, UWI, St. Augustine Trinidad and Tobago Drma
105 Narratives of Resistance in Trinidad’s Calypso and Soca Music Meagan A. Sylvester, UWI, St. Augustine Trinidad and Tobago [email protected] or [email protected] Abstract In Trinidad, the historical, socio-political and economic conditions which gave rise to the birth of Calypso are usually highlighted, in the existing literature, however, there is very little information regarding the oppositional lyrics of current Soca songs. By concentrating on the praxis of cultural resistance exemplified in the narratives of selected Carnival, Calypso and Soca songs, this article expands the existing discourse. Trinidad’s Carnival, post-emancipation, has important societal roles and functions. This article demonstrates that Carnival functions as performative rituals of resistance, individual and community awakening and identity development. Carnival’s established roles, functions and rituals are deliberately designed to disrupt the status quo. Keywords: Carnival, Calypso, Soca, Resistance, Respectability, Reputation Introduction Several synergies exist between the festival, the exuberant behaviours associated with the annual Carnival, and the art form of Calypso music and song. The respected, Trinidadian folklorist, J. D. Elder (1968), for example, states that the music and art of Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival (the premiere, national cultural festival), manifests publicly, the oppression of established economic and social systems. Elder’s view concurs with that of Hill (2007), specifically, that social thought is illustrated visibly, in the communal and individual experiences that are demonstrated through sound. For Milla Riggio (2004), Carnival is an artistic institution in which music, song, dance, costumes, masks, handicraft, religion, poetry and sculpture depict the performers’ and artists’ creativity, worldviews, belief systems and philosophies of life.
[Show full text]
Rock, Rhythm, and Rap
Columbus State University CSU ePress Theses and Dissertations Student Publications 6-2006 Rock, Rhythm, and Rap Wayne Helmly Columbus State University Follow this and additional works at: https://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/theses_dissertations Part of the Music Education Commons Recommended Citation Helmly, Wayne, "Rock, Rhythm, and Rap" (2006). Theses and Dissertations. 78. https://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/theses_dissertations/78 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Publications at CSU ePress. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of CSU ePress. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from LYRASIS Members and Sloan Foundation http://archive.org/details/rockrhythmrapOOhelm Columbus State University Rock, Rhythm, and Rap by Wayne Helmly A GRADUATE MUSIC PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF MUSIC IN MUSIC EDUCATION Schwob School of Music Columbus, Georgia o June 2006 ©Wayne Helmly 2006 v Abstract This thesis suggests an alternative approach to teaching general music/music appreciation to students in grades 7-12 that incorporates the history of rock and roll and pop music. An approach to teaching rhythm reading skills through rap music is also suggested using Rockin ' Rhythm Raps by Cheryl Lavender (1998). Rare is the student that has not been saturated with popular culture during most of his or her lifetime. The case is made that teaching what is relevant to students, namely the history of vernacular music, can contribute significantly to the development of music appreciation. Sixteen lessons are provided. These lessons are designed for a middle or high school general music/music appreciation class that meets two to three times a week for six weeks.
[Show full text]
July 1974 $1.00 a BERMUDA MONTHLY PUBUCATION
July 1974 $1.00 A BERMUDA MONTHLY PUBUCATION FAME MAGAZINE VOLUME I Number 1 JULY, 1974 STAFF Overseas Correspondents: Mrs. JUNE MASTERS Ella Ferguson, N.Y. Editor and Publisher George Fry, N.Y. ALFRED A. AUGUSTUS Staff Writers: Lois Smith Circulation Manager Jennifer M. Smith Phone 2-4366 Guest Writers: Alma (Champ) Hunt CONTENTS Cecile N. Smith Calvin Shabazz EDITORIAL P.3 Hastings Saltus BAHAMIAN INDEPENDENCE - A YEAR LATER P.S CALENDAR GIRLS 1974 P.7 EDITORIAL 1974 CUP MATCH CAPTAINS P.ll A Community Need Fulfilled JUDY'S YEAR IN THE WORLD OF GLAMOUR P.13 SPECIAL FEATURES: 1974 NEW PORT - BERMUDA YACHT RACE P.16 Miss Bermuda Past PERSONALITY: ROSLYN ROBERTS P.18 Miss Bermuda Present SHOP OF THE MONTH P.20 New Franchise Holder SPORTS IS HER WORLD P.23 The Man Behind the Voice PERSONABLE GENTLEMAN IS NEW FRENCHISE HOLDER P. 25 SPORTS THE MAN BEHIND THE VOICE P.27 16-year-old Debbie Jones MISS BERMUDA 1974 P.30 Cup Match 1974 WHAT MAKES OUR TOURISTS COME BACK P.32 PICTORIAL OVER $10,000 CONTRIBUTED TO CHARITY P.33 Fashions THE WRITER'S DILEMMA P.35 • PERSONALITY: A Natural Gift Letters to the Editor welcomed FAME is published in the middle of each month. Their office is located in The Recorder Building, Court Street, Hamilton. Telephone 2-4366. All correspondence and Advertising Copy should be forwarded to P.O. Box 643, Hamilton 5. Price - $1.00 per copy, with yearly subscriptions available. Subscription: Foreign sealed - 134.04 Foreign unsealed - $19.92 Local sealed - $13.80 Local unsealed - $12.96 Printed Photo-Offset by The Engravers Limited, Mills Creek Industrial Park, Pembroke.
[Show full text]
Calypso Music Music of the Caribbean
Calypso Music Music of the Caribbean Most of the Caribbean population are descendants of West African slaves and settlers from Europe, India and China. The music of the Caribbean differs from island to island, but each kind has its origins in a mixture of African and European influences. African musical influences include: syncopations (offbeat accents) and cross-rhythms use of percussion call and response singing styles European musical influences include: tonal (based in a key) harmonies and melodies instruments eg guitar Calypso Background • Calypso originated in the Caribbean Islands of Trinidad and Tobago. • Its influences come from West African Protest songs and French ballads (Calypso songs are often sung in French-Creole dialect –> patois). • It developed the most during the 19th Century with colonial slaves. • Slaves were forbidden to communicate to each other and so became united through song. • Calypso had its greatest surge in popularity during the first half of the 20th Century. • Key figures in this popularity surge were: - Lord Invader - Attila the Hun - Roaring Lion (also the most important Calypso historian). • Calypso lasted until the 1970’s, but then its popularity rapidly declined and branched off into other styles. Calypso Music • It is considered mainly dance and party music (carnivals) • The main focus is on the lyrics and the song • It uses verse/chorus structure • Instruments included in Calypso songs are Guitar, Banjo, Steel drum, Various percussion instruments. • Calypso music is highly melodic (influenced from Folk) • It uses relatively simple rhythms and is in 4/4 time • It is usually syncopated Calypso Rhythms The Lyrics • The lyrics usually have a sharp satirical tone (originating from the Slaves bitter lifestyles).
[Show full text]
3 AC 18-19 Music Master-16Pg
MUSIC TOURING ARTIST PERFORMANCES Adaawe In Living with the Earth, students discover the important relationship between animals, plants and the Earth. Adaawe is seven dynamic, diverse women who create Meet Slugo, our 6-foot-tall banana slug, learn how dirt rich, organic music of the voice and drum. Their music made your lunch and rap with Nature Man on this is an international fusion of African Diaspora music and musical excursion. rhythms. It is filled with celebration, inspiring and educational. The group has performed locally and Travel with us through the habitats of coastal California nationally at colleges, schools, performing arts venues, in Awesome Ocean. Sing, dance and learn about tide pools, music festivals and community events. A spirit of sea otters, whales and the giant kelp forest. Swim and celebration and strength is the inspiration behind the sway and do the Tide Pool Boogie! group. Penguin Parade is a delightful show about animals and The show will take students on a trip to West Africa. their habitats. Find out what animals need, where Each piece includes songs, dances, drumming and penguins lay their eggs and what “Catacae” means. You history. Children will sing, dance and play the will be dancing like your favorite animal. instruments. They will learn African proverbs that they can take with them and apply to their lives long after the Singing in the Garden is a celebration of soil, plants and performance. school gardens. You will meet Ms. Dirt, the puppet; learn about the six plant parts that plants and people need; and do the Water Cycle Boogie.
[Show full text]
1-Barbade Et Trinidad : Une Ressemblance En Trompe L’Œil
UNIVERSITÉ DES ANTILLES ET DE LA GUYANE THÈSE En vue de l’obtention du doctorat De l’Université des Antilles et de la Guyane ÉVOLUTION DE L’IMAGINAIRE DANS LES SOCIÉTÉS BARBADIENNE ET TRINIDADIENNE DE 1995 À NOS JOURS (MUSIQUE, DANSE ET CONTEXTE CARNAVALESQUE) Thèse de doctorat en études anglophones soutenue par : Viviane PETRUS-FOUCAN épouse COROSINE le 3 décembre 2013 Sous la direction de Gilbert Elbaz Jury : Professeur Mario MENENDEZ, Institut d’Etudes Politiques,(Sciences Po) Rennes, Membre de Recherche du centre sur l’action politique en Europe,Rattaché au CNRS – Etudes Nord- Américaines Professeur Chistine RAGUET, Université Sorbonne –Nouvelle, Paris3, (Département du monde anglophone, UFR LLCSE) Institut du Monde Anglophone Claudie GOURG, Littérature, langues, thèâtre anglophone Business English – ELT, Université Antilles-Guyane – Pôle Guyane Gilbert ELBAZ, à la faculté de lettres Professeur, Civilisation Etasusienne, Faculté de lettres de Schoelcher, Université Antilles-Guyane- Pôle Martinique 2 REMERCIEMENTS Je tiens à remercier Charles, mon époux. Sans lui, rien n’aurait été possible. Merci à mes enfants : Valérie et Olivier Merci à Dahomé Maryse. On a besoin d’amis quand on se lance dans l’épreuve d’un doctorat. Merci à mes amis de Trinidad : Edith Johnson et son mari Yves, Nicole Joseph-Chin et Pédro, son mari et Keith Dalippour leur soutien. Je remercie Michael Anthony. Ce fut un tel événement de le rencontrer. Je lui suis vraiment reconnaissant. Merci à Glenroy Taitt, Chermaine de Suza, et Daddy Lee, disparu depuis notre rencontre Concernant Barbarde, je tiens à remercier Martin Wood pour sa gentillesse et sa disponibilité. Il m’a sensibilisée à l’histoire et à la littérature caribéenne anglophones.
[Show full text]