Researching Steelband and Calypso Music in the British Caribbean and the U. S.

Virgin Islands
Author(s): Hollis Urban Liverpool
Source: Black Music Research Journal, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Autumn, 1994), pp. 179-201
Published by: Center for Black Music Research - Columbia College Chicago and University of Illinois
Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/779483 .
Accessed: 10/06/2014 20:11

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

University of Illinois Press and Center for Black Music Research - Columbia College Chicago are
collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Black Music Research Journal.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 RESEARCHING STEELBAND AND CALYPSO MUSIC
IN THE BRITISH CARIBBEAN AND THE
U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS

HOLLISURBANLIVERPOOL

The music of both the British Caribbean and the U.S. Virgin Islands is
undoubtedly the calypso, although many other forms of music exist.'
Across these islands are musical forms associated with plantation slav-
ery, such as the bamboula, the kalenda, and kwelbe music; the French
Creole-inspired bele (or belair); English chants and hymns; and the
Spanish parang. The kalenda (sometimes spelled "kalinda" or "ca-
linda"), like the bamboula of the Virgin Islands, is a ritual involving
dance, drums, and stick fights and was part of the enslaved Africans'
celebration to welcome the sugar cane harvest. Such Carnival celebra-
tions were known as Cannes Brulees (French for "canes burning"), or
later Canboulay. The bele is a pleasure dance with drums and chants
and is clearly African in function. With the influx of Asians as inden-
tured workers in the nineteenth century, East Indians and Chinese made
their contribution to the melting pot of Caribbean cultures, but their mu-
sic, although known and played in the area, has not attained a level of

1. The British Caribbean comprises those islands of the Caribbean that were or are pres-
ently ruled by Britain. They include mostly the smaller islands that stretch from Jamaica to
Guyana in South America. The U.S. Caribbean comprises three islands in the Virgin Is-
lands chain: St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John (see the map on page 97). The calypso is
rooted in West African musical forms that in time underwent changes as Caribbean people
adapted to the experiences of a new environment. It is a topical song of praise, derision,
protest, and celebration based on a West African rhythmic pattern, using cut time and a
blend of European and African melodies.

HOLLISURBAN LIVERPOOL is Assistant Director of Culture, Ministry of Community Develop-

ment, Culture, and Women's Affairs, Trinidad and Tobago. Dr. Liverpool is a lecturer at
the University of the West Indies. As the Mighty Chalkdust, he was crowned Calypso
Monarch in Trinidad on five occasions and in August 1994 was chosen Calypso King of
the World in Brooklyn, New York.

179

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
180 BMR Journal

popularity that enables it to be considered a musical genre repre-

sentative of the entire U.S. and British Caribbean.
Afro-Caribbean music then, in the form of the calypso (Liverpool
1993, 265-277) and through the medium of the steelband, has flooded
the U.S. Virgin Islands and the British Caribbean islands-save Ja-
maica-so that the annual Carnival, involving calypso, steelbands, and
masquerades, is the single biggest and most important cultural activity
today.2 Moreover, people of the Caribbean-especially Trinidadians-in-
evitably carry wherever they go their carnival traits and their love for
music and merrymaking. Because of this, the Trinidad Carnival is today
an event involving the participation of thousands of people in cities
(e.g., Toronto, Montreal, New York, Miami, and London) that are espe-
cially populated by Trinidadians.
Yet in London and in the North American cities where migrants from
the Caribbean have instituted Carnival, the majority of people are igno-
rant about the nature of calypso: it is stereotyped in their minds as mu-
sic for tourists. Accordingly, I would like to give a brief description of
the true nature of calypso and of the steelband as an orchestra, so as to
set the records straight and undo some of the Eurocentric damage done
to Caribbean art forms.
As far back as the journey across the Atlantic Ocean to the New
World, enslaved Africans being carried to the Caribbean protested their
capture not only violently but passively, too. To this end they sang
songs of derision, satire, and protest on board ship (Liverpool 1993, 267-
272), especially when they were brought on deck to eat and to wash
themselves (Epstein 1977, 3-17; Falconbridge 1788, 23). Such songs of
satire, praise, derision, and protest were in keeping with the griot tradi-
tion of West Africa whereby court singers either lambasted or praised
their chiefs and reminded them of society's ideals at official ceremonies
and state functions (Liverpool 1993, 252-256; Hill 1975, 73). Throughout
their lives, enslaved Africans continued singing protest songs on planta-
tions in the Caribbean (Ligon 1657, 48; Abrahams and Szwed 1983), and
such songs are clearly reflected in the work songs they adapted for their
religious and secular observances (Lewis 1834, 133-138). These songs
2. The annual carnivals are held on different dates in different islands. Most of them,
however, occur during the months of June, July, and August. The biggest celebration, the
Trinidad Carnival, takes place on the two days before Ash Wednesday. Carnival in St.
Thomas is the largest and most colorful celebration in the U.S. Virgin Islands and is held
around Easter.
The steelband is an ensemble of oil drums, burned, grooved, and tuned to concert pitch
with pans ranging ambiguously from bass, baritone, and alto to the tenor and soprano.
The masquerade is a procession of masks, masked persons, or disguises personifying
various historical, local, and imaginative characters, sometimes satirical in nature or
played for fun.

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Researching Steelband and Calypso Music 181

were sung mainly in the call-and-response form of traditional West Afri-

can music (Epstein 1977, 49; Maultsby 1991, 193-195). Work songs, for
example, are still in use among fishermen in places like Tobago and
Grenada. Researchers have traced many features of Caribbean music, in-
cluding the calypso, to Africa (Elder 1966; Carmichael [1839] 1969; Hill
1972). Developed by enslaved Africans and touched by French, Spanish,
and English influences on the sugar and cocoa plantations of Trinidad,
calypso became the chief weapon in the armory of the enslaved people
as they passively launched blistering attacks on the plantation system,
hoping to dull its sharp edge with their flattery and mimicry of the elite
plantocracy (Pearse [1956] 1988, 147-148). Wherever the Africans went,
they sang (Moreton 1790, 152-158). They sang at the great house of the
plantation master and in his court (DeVerteuil 1987, 92-93). They sang
in the markets where they sold their produce (Sloane 1707, l:xlviii-xlix,
lii). When they met to celebrate the sugarcane harvest in the form of the
Cannes Brulees, singing formed a major part of their arsenal, as they
showed their hatred for the system of enslavement in their stick fights,
in their masquerade, in their mockery of their masters, and in their gen-
eral revelry (Elder 1966, 98-111).
In looking at the calypso, one first has to see how the Trinidadians
reacted and responded to the pressures exerted upon them by the privi-
leged classes when the British tried to Anglicize the previously romance
society (Liverpool 1993, 295-307; Carmichael [1839] 1969). The response
to these pressures fostered the development of a political reaction-the
calypso (Elder 1966, 87-90, 113), which developed from the West African
custom of allowing tribesmen to criticize tribal leaders at specific times.
We must see the calypso against that background of protest. The lead
singers, or chantuelles,3 at the Cannes Brulees celebrations thus inspired
the stick fighters as the masqueraders prepared for carnival revelry.4
When freedom was eventually achieved in 1838, it was the voice of the
chanteuelle that first rang out in ecstasy, as he sought to communicate
the sufferings and torments of his people while at the same time he
mocked and derided in song the whites and mulattos (Liverpool 1993,
400-412). L. M. Fraser, a contemporary historian who witnessed the
Cannes Brulees, described the event thus:
In the days of slavery whenever fire broke out upon an estate, the slaves on
the surrounding properties were immediately mustered and marched to

3. Sometimesspelled "chanterelle,""chantwell,""chantuelle,"or "shantuelle,"from the

Frenchchanter,to sing.
4. This took place mostly in the city's "barrackyards" where the lower classes lived.
They were characterizedby insanitaryconditions and overcrowding,which led to prosti-
tution, crime,and violence.

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
182 BMR Journal

the spot, horns and shells were blown to collect them and the gangs were
followed by the drivers cracking their whips and urging with cries and
blows to their work. After Emancipationthe Negroes began to represent
this scene as a kind of commemorationof the change in their condition and
the procession of the Cannes Brulees used to take place on the night of
August lst., the date of their emancipation.(Fraser1881)
In a journal of 1883, a Dominican priest also wrote of the slaves cele-
brating their emancipation with song and dance: "They resolved to cele-
brate each year this day a solemn festival for perpetual memory . . .
remembrances of African life" (Cothonay 1893, 62; my translation).5 Au-
gust 1 was the anniversary of their emancipation, so that Carnival for
them became not just a song about the need for freedom, but a freedom
song (Hill 1972, 23-31). When, therefore, Sparrow sings The Slave, a ca-
lypso he composed in the 1960s, we are filled with empathy for the en-
slaved Africans:
I'm a slave from a land so far.
I was caught and I was broughthere from Africa.
I'm a slave from a land so far.
I was caught and I was broughthere from Africa.
Well it was licks like fire from the white slave master;
EverydayAh down on mi knees.
And it took weeks and weeks to cross the seas
To reach to the West Indies.
Chorus
Then they made you work, Oh yes Ah work
Good Lord!No pay.
And then Ah toil and toil and toil and toil
So hard each day.
I'm crying, I'm dying ... Oh LordAh want to be free. (Slinger1963b)
After Emancipation, as people flocked to the city searching for jobs
and turning their backs on estate labor, the calypsonian, following in the
tracks of the chantuelle, assumed greater significance as the voice of ur-
banization; now Afro-Caribbeans had to deal with a ruling class of
whites and French Creoles (Rohlehr 1983) and a crown colony govern-
ment of planters (Millette 1970; Rohlehr 1990, 6-8) in a style that was
African in music, content, and character (Liverpool 1986a, 9). The calyp-
sonian thus had to deal with the relationships that existed between the
landed gentry and the landless, the European and the African, the haves

5. "Ils resolurent de celebrer chaque anne, ce jour-la, une fete solenelle, pour perpetulle
memoire . . . souvenirs de la vie Africaine."

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Researching Steelband and Calypso Music 183

and the have-nots, commenting in song on the various conflicts that

arose in the society and the difficulties faced by ex-slaves and immi-
grants as they adjusted to post-Emancipation society. He had to deal,
too, with the musical forms that were introduced as social and cultural
processes of assimilation and syncretism unfolded and created changes
in the society. He disseminated gossip, recirculated rumors, spread the
news, and resisted the colonials in the nineteenth and twentieth centu-
ries. The strain put on the society to master the English language (Roh-
lehr 1990, 56-57), the verbal violence of the kalenda,6 the political events
of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries all, in many ways, affected his
personality, which was creative, observant, intelligent, and scrutinized
by the authorities, resulting at times in censorship, police control, regu-
lations, special laws, arrests, and degrading statements from the media
(Liverpool 1993, 400-462). And just as every effort was made during the
period of enslavement to keep the Africans out of the early Carnival
festivals (Liverpool 1993, 186-189), so too, every effort, including the
passing of laws, was instituted to silence the calypsonian in the first half
of the twentieth century (Rohlehr 1990, 278-315).7 Picong (from the
French word "piquant," meaning sharp or biting), along with humor
and wit were the calypsonian's weapons as he strode from yard to yard
and later from tent to tent,8 singing and introducing as he went various
forms of calypso such as the oratorical or ballad-type, the narrative
(whereby events of the day were narrated in story form), the extempora-
neous calypso (composed on the spot), and the double and single tones
(Moore 1972).9 At the same time he exposed the sexual and political
scandals of the upper class.
6. During the stick-fight ritual or "kalenda," stick fighters and chanterelles/chantuelles
sang songs of protest, defiance, and wish-fulfillment in an inwardly turned spirit of ag-
gression and hostility. By doing so, they were suppressing their own hatred for the system
and acting out their anger.
7. The campaign by the upper classes to silence calypso during the nineteenth century
and again from the 1930s to the 1950s included well-directed editorials from the press to
the police and authorities, ordinances aimed at censoring articles in newspapers, pam-
phlets, books, films, calypso records, and publications, as well as licenses for the regulat-
ing and control of calypso tents and performances (Legislative Council of Trinidad and
Tobago 1935).
8. "Yards" here means the barrack yards in the city. By 1921 tarpaulins, and bamboo
and coconut branches were used to cover sections of the yard, and so the term "tent" came
into use.
9. The oratorical/sans humanite or ballad-type calypso was based on the use of the
minor key, eloquent speeches in song, and an eight-line strophic stanza. It was also termed
a "ballad" by some singers because of its resemblance in style to the European ballad
forms. Other singers used the term ballad to denote those forms sung in the major key.
According to Lord Beginner (Egbert Moore), a chantuelle and calypsonian of the 1920s to
the early 1960s, four-line songs were termed "single tone," and eight-line songs were
named "double tones." The double-tone calypso contained sixteen bars played in cut time.

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
184 BMR Journal

In the eighteenth century the historian Bryan Edwards mentioned that

calypsoes were bitter criticisms of the system of enslavement, and he
noted that the enslaved Africans practiced a method of "ridicule and
derision which is exercised not only against each other, but also, not
unfrequently, at the expence of their owner or employer" (quoted in
Abrahams and Szwed 1983, 292). Historian and musician Edward Long
(1774, 423) described Caribbean music as "generally impromptu," with a
"subject matter" that was "one of derision, and not unfrequently at the
expense of the overseer, if he happens to be near or listening." The Afri-
cans in the U.S. Virgin Islands and the British Caribbean have continued
these derisive and rebellious traditions: throughout the twentieth cen-
tury, they have fought against colonialism and neocolonialism, political
bigotry, nepotism, greed, debauchery, and all forms of degradation
meted upon the people. The calypso is today a potent political weapon,
and its historical pages are filled with incidents whereby it succeeded in
righting many wrongs, correcting abuses, or otherwise stirring people to
political action. In 1920, for example, one singer, Patrick Jones, attacked
the crown colony system:
Class legislationis the order of this land
We are ruled with an iron hand.
Class legislationis the order of this land
We are ruled with an iron hand.
Britainboasts of democracy,
Brotherlylove and fraternity,
But Britishcolonists have been ruled in perpetualmisery
Sans humanite. (ones 1957)
As the twentieth century unfolded, the creolization of the various im-
migrant groups, the world wars, the influx of foreigners, and above all,
the maturation of the society in terms of political development and edu-
cation affected the calypsonian and calypso, bringing about social, eco-
nomic, and structural changes in the art form and changing, too, to a
great extent, the calypsonians' attitudes, styles, and use of musical struc-
ture. From an urban lad singing picong songs in a yard, the contempo-
rary calypsonian in the twentieth century has extended his art to include
French, Spanish, and North American melodies. Picong consisted of
sharp biting attacks on one another to the deafening applause of the
audience; singers used the eight-line oratorical pattern to sing these ex-
temporaneously composed songs. In the 1920s, when the calypsonian
moved from the open barrack yard and estate to the covered tent, he
embarked on a new brand of performance, that of the professional en-
tertainer. When he went to the United States in the 1930s to make re-

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Researching Steelband and Calypso Music 185

cordings for companies like Decca and Brunswick, he pulled jazz move-
ments and chords into his repertoire. When, too, the U.S. sailors visited
the shores of Trinidad following the Land-Lease Bases Agreement of
1941,10the calypsonian served the U.S. servicemen dishes of sensual but
creative smut while catering to the servicemen's tastes and money
(Moore 1972).11
As stevedores and shipworkers moved from island to island in the
Caribbean, as communication occasioned by radio became more and
more a reality, and as migration throughout the area continued, the ca-
lypso spread from territory to territory, in most cases growing and feed-
ing on the African presence and the islands' existing African musical
bases, to become, by the 1950s, the music of the Caribbean.
By 1952 St. Thomas had had its first Carnival, and since then, with the
influx of residents from the nearby British islands of St. Kitts, Antigua,
and Tortola, the calypso there has soared. Many a politician has had to
be fearful of the calypso,12 while many calypsoes all over the Caribbean
have been banned by radio stations or the authorities, at times either
because they deem the lyrics to be unworthy or because some capitalists
and politicians fear the spoken word (Rohlehr 1990, 278-315; Liverpool
1986a, 51-53). Outstanding in this regard are The Law Is an Ass by Short-
pants (1979); Chalkdust's ThreeBlind Mice, which was banned from Guy-
ana by Prime Minister Burnham in 1976, and Crazy's Paul Yuh Mother
Come, which was banned from certain radio stations in the region in
1993.
History has played a decisive role in shaping and changing the calyp-
sonian's outlook, oratory, music, and themes. From an enslaved African
to a post-Emancipation chantuelle to a twentieth-century calypsonian;
from basic African rhythms to a present-day soca style;'3 from sugar and

10. Britain and the United States signed the Land-Lease Bases Agreement whereby Brit-
ain gave to the U.S. areas in the British Caribbean to be used as naval bases in return for
twelve used warships to protect the islands during the Second World War.
11. Smut is the name given to songs dealing with the sex act. Singers use figures of
speech and puns to convey a double meaning to the delight of the audience.
12. Several songs in St. Thomas from 1973 to the present have dealt with politics and
politicians. Among the outstanding ones were Swing with King (Governor Cyril King) by
Duke in 1975, The Cheese Stands Alone by Blakie in 1978, The System Corruptby Potter and
Eat Yuh Heart Out by Chalkdust in 1990, Things Bad by Chalkdust in 1993, and For Really
(Governor Farrelly) by Louis Ible in 1994.
13. While the old calypso beat was one with a regular bass pulse, the soca or soul
calypso saw a change. Still played in cut time, the bass lines are accentuated, and a variety
of rhythm patterns blending with the bass lines are executed. The music is therefore more
danceable; it has more soul. This style, which started about 1977, is still African. The ca-
lypso itself continues to borrow from European melodies, jazz improvisations, and Asian
embellishments.

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
186 BMR Journal

cocoa plantations to kalenda and Dame Lorraineyards in the nineteenth

century;14from calypso tents in the 1920s to neon-lit forums in the 1960s;
and from protesters to entertainers, calypsonians have today become
skilled craftsmen and professional artistes.15
Before turning our attention to the state of the music in the Caribbean
today, it is important to see the links with the U.S. mainland. From as
early as 1912, Victor and Columbia recording companies made the first
recordings of the calypso as played by Trinidadians. Lionel Belasco
(who appeared with his band in many U.S. cities from the 1930s to the
1950s), chantuelle Julian Whiterose, and Lovey's Calypso Band were all
recorded between 1912 and 1914.16 One Johny Walker appeared on the
Victor label in 1921. Walker was followed by Phil Madison in 1923. Sam
Manning and Wilmoth Houdini began recordings in 1927, and by 1934
Eduardo Sa Gomes, a Trinidadian businessman, arranged for calypsoni-
ans Lion and Attila to make recordings in New York with Gerald
Clarke's orchestra. In March 1935 recording sessions, sponsored by Sa
Gomes, were held with calypsonians Beginner, Tiger, and Attila. King
Radio arrived in New York for the same purpose in 1936, while Execu-
tor and Caresser were contracted in 1937 (Liverpool 1986a, 25-26). Thus
started an overseas recording trend that included, as the years went by,
Growler, Invader, Dictator, the Iron Duke, Sparrow, Melody, Duke,
Chalkdust, Relator, Crazy, Gypsy, and many others. Today more than
70 percent of calypso recordings and records are made in the United
States, and in New York in particular. Thus, not only is the United
States, to a large extent, determining the economic and marketing ar-
rangements of such records, but the values of resident mainland peo-
ples-including those from the Caribbean-are slowly determining the
type of calypso being produced in terms of style, content, theme, and
musical accompaniment. To be more specific, U.S. buyers and producers
are influencing the calypso types that are financially rewarded and
thereby changing the styles of many composers bent on capitalizing on
the U.S. market.
When calypsonian Attila returned from his first recording session in
the United States in 1935, he described the experience as "a national
triumph" (quoted in Quevedo 1983, 93). It was indeed, for since then

14. Dame Lorraine is French for "fashionable lady." It was a burlesque dance whereby
Africans mimicked and flattered whites. It took place on the Sunday before Carnival Mon-
day but slowly went out of practice in the early 1950s.
15. In Trinidad, and in the Caribbean generally, the word "artiste" refers to performers,
while "artist" refers to painters, sculptors, and other visual artists.
16. Belasco worked as a musician in the early recordings of 1912-1914. His band, how-
ever, made recordings between 1927 and the 1950s.

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Researching Steelband and Calypso Music 187

calypso has brought to the Caribbean untold benefits in terms of inter-

national recognition and in terms of foreign exchange, as thousands of
visitors and tourists pour into the islands annually to witness the vari-
ous Carnival festivities. Attila himself points out that "when recordings
were being made for the Brunswick Recording Co., the takes were dis-
tinguished by the presence of some of the biggest personalities in
American popular music-glittering names like Bing Crosby and Rudy
Valee [sic]." He went on to say that Lion's Ugly Woman "took New York
by storm" (quoted in Quevedo 1983, 50). In fact, Rudy Vallee aired the
recording of Ugly Woman on NBC Radio in a coast-to-coast broadcast,
making both Lion and calypso very popular. Harry Belafonte, whom
most Caribbean people do not consider to be a calypsonian,l7 heard the
calypso from these early recording sessions. He exploited calypso's
popularity and released in the early 1950s records (of past calypsoes al-
ready sung by Caribbean bards) that sold millions on the international
market. Following that initial success, Belafonte employed one of the top
calypso bards, Lord Melody, to compose or recompose works that
would cater to mainland U.S. tastes. From the combination of Melody's
skill and Belafonte's style and voice, the outside world heard calypsoes
such as Mama Looka Boo Boo, Scratch Mi Back, and Shame and Scandal in
Mi Family. Kenny St. Bernard (Lord Dictator) sold 100,000 copies of his
Ode to MacArthur in 1953 (Liverpool 1986a, 26), and on August 29, 1938,
Time magazine wrote of the "Calypso boom," mentioning greats like At-
tila, Caresser, Lion, and Growler. On May 6, 1939, the New Yorkercar-
ried an article on calypso in which the editor spoke of the great work of
calypsonian Houdini and his promotion of calypso in the United States.
The Duke of Windsor and President Roosevelt were reportedly great
admirers of calypso, and the Duke valued the Abdication of the King of
England record that his friends had bought him (Mitchell 1982, 35). A
special bicentennial issue of Everybody's noted the cultural impact of
West Indians in the United States:
Americanwhite and black teenagers of both the 1940s and 1950s grew up
singing calypsoes. Rum and Coca Cola sold over four million and Ugly
Woman,DonkeyCity and Bum-Bum-Bum sold approximately one million
each. Calypso vibratedout of the 450,000juke boxes across the country. No
night clubs were prominent without calypsoes. From the Apollo Theater in
New York city to the Chicago Blue Angel Calypso Club to the posh night
clubs of Hollywood, the Calypso was the entertainment.(Hall 1976,40)
The prominence that calypso enjoyed in the United States in the 1930s

17. A calypsonian is one who composes and performs his own work and ideas in his
own inimitable style.

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
188 BMR Journal

and 1940s can also be seen from the fact that U.S. servicemen brought
home from the Caribbean countless calypsoes such as Mathilda and Rum
and Coca Cola. So widely known was the latter that the Andrew Sisters
recorded it without permission and sold several million copies. Lord In-
vader, the original composer, sued and won several thousand dollars
(Nizer 1961). Proof of how the calypsonian lived then is the fact that
Lord Invader died penniless (Moore 1972).
In the 1940s and beyond, events such as the death of Professor George
Washington Carver and the Civil Rights marches taking place in the
United States became themes for a number of calypsoes. From Ode to
MacArthur by Dictator to Alabamaby Lord Christo, from Afro-American
enslavement to the death of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., and
from the actions of presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy to Reagan's
Caribbean Basin Initiative, all became fair game for the singers as they
communicated U.S. social, economic, and political history and events to
an eager Caribbean public. Today the trend continues. American jazz,
soul, and country and western have influenced the twentieth-century ca-
lypsonian. From the early 1940s, calypsonian Roaring Lion used many
melodies borrowed from U.S. theater and films in his calypso choruses.
Such tunes included songs from Rudy Vallee, Frank Sinatra, and the
Mills Brothers. Because of the impact of films, radio, and, more recently,
television, calypsonians began to sing about many controversial and
threatening features of U.S. social living: transvestitism, homosexuality,
divorce, violence, and promiscuity. The smut songs became more pro-
nounced, so much so that calypso and calypsonians until the 1970s were
despised by religious groups and upper- and middle-class persons (Roh-
lehr 1972, 8); many children felt the stinging hands of their parents
when they were heard singing calypsoes. The Mighty Sparrow thus sang
in 1963 the following lines:

Calypsoniansreally ketch hell for a long time.

To associateyuhself with them was a big crime.
If your sister talk to a steelbandsman
The family want to breakshe hand;
Put she out; lick out every teeth in she mouth;
Pass yuh outcast. (Slinger1963a)

The Developmentof the Steelband

In 1881 Carnival riots occurred in Port of Spain, Trinidad, as the
Freedmen showed their disgust for the crown colony system and its
authorities who were then trying desperately to stop the annual celebra-
tions. Accordingly, in 1884, following the Summary Offences Ordinance,
the use of the drum was banned (U.K. Public Records Office 1884). Ob-

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Researching Steelband and Calypso Music 189

viously, the drum was seen not only as a musical instrument but as a
potent force in rallying the African community to action. The revelers
therefore resorted to making music with bamboo stems, which were cut
into pieces of varying lengths and then hammered on the ground, pro-
ducing different tones. The music was called "tamboo-bamboo" from
the French word tambour,or drum (Liverpool 1993, 431). When the tam-
boo bands took the place of drums, the musical structure already in
place continued. The ensemble consisted of three different-sized bamboo
instruments-the bass, the foule, and the cutter. Bamboos were used es-
pecially by lower-class musicians, who could not pay for European mu-
sical instruments. String bands played for upper-class events (Hill 1972,
45-46).
Goat-skin drums having been banned, many container drums found
their way into the tamboo-bamboo bands. Observant beaters soon be-
came aware of the different notes produced when the drums were sunk
in different surface areas from the constant beatings the drums received
(TrinidadGuardian, March 3, 1938, 3). To produce music, the pan beaters
pounded an assortment of oil, biscuit, and kettle drums, paint cans,
kerosene tins, garbage bins, and motor-car hubs.l8 By the 1940s these
gave way to drums of steel (Port of Spain Gazette, February 2, 1940, 7),
which were found to possess better resonance and tone and which were
discarded by the oil companies and the U.S. military forces stationed in
Trinidad. Here again one can see a link with the outside, for as U.S. and
British corporations then monopolized the British Caribbean oil indus-
try, they provided the citizens with large oil drums that were turned by
the lower classes into musical instruments.
The steelband is capable of playing any form of music, from calypso
to European classical music, and its music is living testimony of the
creativity and dedicated spirit of Trinidadians who continued to ham-
mer, bur, groove, and tune the pans into beautiful instruments. In
some ways one could see the steelband instruments as the visible rem-
nants and discards of an industrial world and an industrial world econ-
omy based mostly on oil exploration and refining.

The Calypso Today:State of the Music

While in the early twentieth century there were few calypsonians, to-
day there are hundreds of youngsters throughout the Caribbean laying
claim to the title of calypsonian. Until the 1970s singers had to win com-
petitions in their district and then sing for a number of years before

18. "Biscuit" drums (about eighteen inches in diameter) were obtained from the Biscuit
Factory in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
190 BMR Journal

being allowed to compete with the masters in the big centers in the cit-
ies. Today, because of the electronic media, many youngsters have, by
making records, shortened the route to the title of calypsonian. In 1986
the Mighty Chalkdust composed a calypso in which he complained that
the "kaiso [calypso] boat was overcrowded" from "too much quacks
and invalids" (Liverpool 1986b).
Before the 1960s singers took on a nom de guerre that showed their role
and function; today such meaningful names have changed. One could
have found men carrying the names of warlords (such as the Duke of
Marlborough), names of ferocious animals (such as the Roaring Lion),
and names of serious intent (such as Executor and Terror). Today,
youngsters call themselves names that border at times on the ridiculous,
names that have little or no bearing on the art; for example, there is a
Lord Have Mercy and a Mighty Joker.
Before the 1970s the calypso as an art form was not accepted in many
upper-class areas or by many upper-class people. It was not sung in
churches, and schoolchildren in many Catholic schools were made to do
penance during Lent to atone for the many sins that were committed
"during the season of license and festivities.... Every calypso was an-
other wound in Christ's side and in the Sacred Heart of his mother"
(Rohlehr 1972, 8). Today most members of the upper classes and many
churches identify with the art form, and their attitude has helped to re-
move the social stigma that once characterized it. As late as 1968 the
Mighty Chalkdust was dismissed from his teaching post in Trinidad by
the Ministry of Education for singing calypsoes for financial gain while
being employed with the Teaching Service Commission (Liverpool 1968;
Liverpool 1986a, 50). The fact is that teachers and public servants then
were not allowed to sing calypso, for it was looked upon as a degraded
art (Simon 1969, 32-36). Today, mainly because of Chalkdust's fight
with the ministry and because of the changing attitude of the singers
both in terms of social behavior and education, the policy of Caribbean
governments has changed.19 Not only is calypso sung by public servants
and teachers but by many other professional men and women. The
Mighty Composer put it very nicely in 1969 when he sang that although
long ago it was looked upon as something degrading to sing or jump in
a steelband, today "even Magistrate and Police beating dey pan and
jumping in peace" (Composer 1969). Schools, corporate bodies, and so-
cial organizations hold annual calypso competitions, while the profes-
sional calypsonians themselves enjoy a much higher standard of living.

19. For example, in 1988 Lord Relator and Chalkdust were invited to sing at the Heads
of Government of Caricom Conference in St. Lucia by Mr. A.N.R. Robinson, then prime
minister of Trinidad and Tobago.

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Researching Steelband and Calypso Music 191

In fact, some live by the art-a great change from 1968 when they were
described as "social libertines given to wine, women and song" (Simon
1969, 33). However, while schoolchildren sing the calypso, it is not offi-
cially on any curriculum in any school in the Caribbean. Yet there are
local teachers, such as Llewelyn Macintosh at St. Mary's College, Lance
Heath at Tranquility Secondary, Mwamba Ope Kojo at Presentation Col-
lege, and Americans Rudy Wells in St. Thomas and Carolyn Fulton at
Skyline Elementary in Tacoma, who use the calypso extensively to sup-
plement lessons in social studies, Caribbean history, and music.
The history of the calypso is filled with incidents of censorship, and
the pages of past newspapers contain many articles demanding that the
calypso be scrapped for vilifying either the names of prominent persons
or of the government itself. There were, for example, twelve calypso rec-
ords by singers Ziegfield and Black Prince in 1939 that were prevented
from entering Trinidad from the United States (Rohlehr 1990, 309). In
1950 numerous letters from the press called for a ban on Tiger's two
songs Leggo the Dog Gemma and Daniel Must Go. The first of these was
described by Tiger's critics in the Guardian as "vile," "cowardly," and
"scurrilous" (Liverpool 1986a, 52). In fact, the manager of the Victory
tent, Attila, was charged by the police for allowing Tiger to sing a ca-
lypso in contravention of the Theatre and Dance Halls Ordinance of
1934 (Rohlehr 1990, 391-400). There have been many other attacks on
the elites throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and I offer
the uproar over Tiger in 1950 as one example.
Governments or their agencies have also resorted to banning from the
airwaves many calypsoes, either because of upper-class pressure or be-
cause of the political undertones present in such calypsoes. In 1990, for
example, there were vigorous complaints from calypsonians in Antigua
and St. Thomas with regard to the nonplaying of their composed works
on the local radio stations (Blake 1990). One singer in the U.S. Virgin
Islands, after seeing his calypso banned because he used the word "Cha-
Cha" (it being a derogatory term for French Creoles there), retaliated
with a song whose chorus echoed the words, "Look how the system
corrupt, look how the system corrupt" (Potter 1990).
Every year calypsonians and their representative organizations com-
plain that only about 40 percent of their recorded music is played on
local radio and that too little time is given to calypso music while too
much North American music is allowed to saturate the air waves (Blake
1990; Relator 1983a). Moreover, they claim that degenerate American
songs such as Push, Push, in the Bush and other smutty foreign trash are
played while political songs are banned (Honore 1981). The argument
continued in 1990, with the radio stations reemphasizing their often-spo-

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
192 BMR Journal

ken point that they have to cater to all tastes and cultures (Blake 1990).
On the radio and television, however, many advertising jingles use the
calypso, while the Government Broadcasting Units use calypso in many
circles to illustrate "various programmes of information on Government
activities" (Warner 1982, 76).
Each year society expects the calypsonian to come up with new songs.
The calypso tents are packed with patrons anticipating the comments
and dance tunes of their favorite singing stars during the few weeks
before Carnival that constitute the official Calypso season.20 Each year,
too, hundreds of calypsoes go unrecorded. Because of the economic
woes in the British Caribbean and because of the dollar's declining
worth and the lack of foreign exchange, the production of a long-play-
ing record exceeds $12,000, or $70,000 T&T (Trinidad and Tobago) cur-
rency. As a result, managers and businessmen tend to record only the
songs that they favor or that favor them; these are usually the smutty
and "the jump and wine" forms that stress the entertainment aspect of
calypso. Social and political commentaries thus suffer from annual re-
cording woes and many insights into the social history of the Caribbean
have been regrettably lost (Clark 1994).
Because of the great impact of U.S. mainland music on the Caribbean
from the 1960s to the present, the calypso has lost some of its pre-1960
features. The tendency today is to regard the melodies that accompanied
the single- and double-tone songs of the past as "oldtimish" and not
"original" (Moore 1972). Most singers opt for sweet harmonic chord pat-
terns and melodies, some of which are taken from U.S. popular music
(Liverpool 1988). Moreover, the musical heights the steelband has
reached have put an additional burden on calypsonians to supply it
with adequate music. Fewer singers today stress the oratorical (minor
key) calypso melodies that were prominent in the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries (Moore 1972; Blake 1990). From my experience as a
teacher and history examiner, I would report that the majority of youths
in the Caribbean know little about the calypso and its history, nor do
they care about it. They embrace U.S. popular culture and only begin to
savor their indigenous cultural traits on attaining the mature age of
thirty or older. I have observed, however, that those who have migrated
to the United States, Canada, or Britain seem to be drawn more to the
steelband and the calypso in terms of their appreciation, their desire for
documentation, and their attendance at cultural shows.
It is sad that serious calypso singers (such as Gabby and Plastic Bag

20. In Trinidad, the calypso tents usually open their doors during the first or second
week of January, while Carnival is celebrated on the two days before Ash Wednesday.

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Researching Steelband and Calypso Music 193

from Barbados; Potter, Slim, Ashanti, Galloway, Pat, and Blakie from the
U.S. Virgin Islands; Chalkdust, Duke, Stalin, Rio, Smiley, Shortpants,
Penguin, Relator, Valentino, and Cro Cro from Trinidad and Tobago)
are rarely heard in the United States. This is because their works have a
Caribbean flavor, their lyrics are based on Caribbean events, and their
calypsoes remain structurally within the "traditional genre" (Simon
1969). Accordingly, it is generally believed that U.S. audiences either do
not understand or are not particularly interested in their comments. On
the other hand, because of the popularity of U.S. popular music in the
Caribbean, those singers who borrow from U.S. popular music or who
stress themes of love and compose for the dancehall enjoy tremendous
popularity on the mainland.2' What may be worse is the fact that
younger singers such as Machel Montano ape the styles of these musi-
cians and identify with them. Indeed, many agree with the opinion that
the "pan [steelband] is in danger" (Merchant 1985), since so few steel-
bands are called upon to play for carnival revelers who prefer recorded
music chosen and programmed by disc jockeys. In an obvious response
to the impact of U.S. popular music and the fact that the recording in-
dustry for calypso is centered in New York, Lord Relator reminded us in
a 1983 calypso that "we now importing we own calypso" (Relator
1983b). Yet there are still singers, like Lord Valentino, who have a mis-
sion-that of keeping society free-so they sing out on any person or
thing that tends to degrade Africans and the underprivileged classes.
The calypso tent tradition which began in 1920, from which singers
sought to earn money from their art, has continued. The tent is today as
it was yesterday, not just a meeting place of singers and patrons or a
mere musical hall, but it is a social institution. When one goes to the
calypso tent, today a neon-lit hall, the news of the day can be heard, the
views of the singers can be distinguished, and the scandals-political
and social-that took place during the year can be ascertained. As in
traditional African societies, the calypso, via the tent, also provides for a
fair degree of cohesion, as the society is led to recreate collectively a
dialogue among social groups that cuts across race and kinship.
But for all their contributions, many calypsonians and steelband per-
formers still live in abject poverty. Many are homeless. The majority of
them are unemployed. In fact, in 1994 two popular calypso singers in
Trinidad, Penman and Magician, are vagrants living on the streets. Sev-
eral calypso artistes, sad to relate, died in abject poverty, the recipients

21. Some of these singers are Arrow from St. Kitts; Ajala, Preacher Iwer George, and
Superblue from Trinidad; and Ras Iley from Barbados.

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
194 BMR Journal

of charity and wards of social welfare, buried as paupers or through the

subscriptions of friends and sympathetic admirers.22

The Future of CaribbeanMusic: Areasfor FurtherInvestigation

An understanding of the present state of affairs leads us inevitably
into the sphere of the future. What must be done to preserve this rich
heritage? How best can the musical link between the Caribbean and the
United States be strengthened? My list of recommendations may appear
lengthy, costly, and magnanimous, but this is simply because so little
has been done and there is so much to do.
First, there is the need for the publication of calypso lyrics that will
tell of our way of life. As one singer, in trying to explain calypso, said,
"It's a way of life, a way of love from centuries ago.... It's an editorial
in song of the life that we undergo" (Duke 1968). Every year beautiful
lyrical poetry from all the islands in the Caribbean, depicting social and
political events and commenting on cultural and economic situations, go
unpublished, unsung, unknown. The few writers who have published
their works have done so at their own expense, and many of these
books are unavailable since only a small number can be published.
There is therefore a need to republish these as well as the hundreds of
manuscripts, typescripts, and theses that now lie idle at the University
of the West Indies. The British Caribbean has very few publication com-
panies, and to produce books, given Caribbean resources, is very expen-
sive. Accordingly, I estimate that more than 80 percent of the books
used in the Caribbean are imported, and those companies interested in
local publications limit themselves to the publication of school text-
books. The publication of lyrics, theses, and out-of-print books will serve
to link U.S. scholars and thinkers with the Caribbean and spread knowl-
edge and light where there is presently darkness.
In terms of short-term study, the focus ought to be on research, re-
cording, and teaching facilities. There are hundreds of research topics
and themes that need to be investigated so that young people in the
Caribbean can understand their music, their history. For example, the
histories of the calypso, the steelband, and Carnival have not been re-
searched thoroughly enough so that results could have been printed.
Only fragments of history have been produced by scholars scattered
throughout the islands. Moreover, the music developed differently in
each island because of different historical, political, and legal circum-

22. A friend buried Lord Executor; the NJAC, a political party and action group, buried
Lord Beginner; and calypsonians and friends buried Lord Melody. Many others, too nu-
merous to mention, were buried likewise.

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Researching Steelband and Calypso Music 195

stances (Liverpool 1993, 133-174). In 1988, for instance, Barbadian histo-

rian Trevor Marshall caused a big furor in Trinidad when he debunked
the stereotyped belief that Trinidad gave Barbados its calypso. While
Trinidad's calypso, according to Marshall (1986, 1-16), influenced the
Barbadian calypso considerably, enslaved Africans in Barbados laid the
foundation of that music years ago.
Research is needed to establish fully the musical links with West Af-
rica, to uncover the hundreds of slave songs deposited by our forebears,
and to debunk the belief that the French gave the Caribbean its carnival.
Positive identification of the enslaved Africans' celebrations ought to be
researched for the benefit of future generation, and these ought to be
compared with festivities and celebrations in Latin America and the
United States. How, for example, does carnival in Brazil compare with
that of Trinidad or New Orleans? What are the linkages, if any?
The advent of the musical phenomenon known as the steelband pre-
sents another fertile field for investigation. What, for instance, were the
stages by which an assortment of garbage cans, paint cans, oil tins, and
biscuit drums, garnered from rubbish heaps and thumped by an obscure
and outcast band of carnival players, became or were transformed into a
steel orchestra? What is the impact on the musical consciousness of Car-
ibbean people as thousands of them devote thousands of hours to mak-
ing this kind of music? Why has the steelband not provided gainful em-
ployment for its players? All of these areas await careful research.
Sad to say, too, students in the British Caribbean, especially those in
history or music, know very little of the history of their music or of
Latin American or even Afro-American history. Except for a few courses
on Caribbean, African, and Latin American history and heritage avail-
able at the University of the West Indies, the culture of Africans in the
wider African continuum (the Western Hemisphere, Africa, and Europe)
is simply not taught. Yet the same students are exposed daily to Euro-
pean culture. Students in the U.S. Virgin Islands are better off, for at
least they are exposed to U.S. and Afro-American history, but even that
is limited. How then can Africans in the continuum appreciate and re-
spect one another, or even learn of each other's existence?
Calypsonians in the U.S. Virgin Islands are able to use recording fa-
cilities in nearby Puerto Rico. This is cheaper than going to New York,
though expenses are incurred in board, lodging, and transportation.
Since very few modem recording facilities exist in the Caribbean and
since most calypsonians have to go to New York to get proper sound
recordings (Relator 1983b), there is a need for the establishment of na-
tional recording companies supervised by government personnel and
run by a board of directors comprised of representatives of government,

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
196 BMR Journal

artistes, and musicians. In this way, the social commentaries, the politi-
cal innuendoes, and the satirical compositions, along with the music of
the steelbands, may be preserved for posterity.
So many youngsters will profit if classes in calypso composition and
singing can be instituted in the schools. Even more basic, they will bene-
fit if they are exposed to music, which is now only taught at selected
schools in a few islands. Some argue that steelband players do not need
formal musical training, for they believe it spoils creativity (Goddard
1980). But in my experience, a knowledge of music at an early age in-
creases children's interest in the subject and makes them appreciate and
adapt to an instrument in their youth. Such training also tends to push
youngsters more forcefully into the steelband yard. In the field of ca-
lypso, the musically trained singer will naturally have the ability to
compose better calypsoes, if not lyrically, at least musically (Cape 1984).
Unlike the case of reggae, to play calypso today or at least to accom-
pany the singers, musicians must be able to read sheet music (as ex-
plained by reggae artiste Byron Lee [quoted in Liverpool 1986a, 352]).
The majority of singers in the British Caribbean depend on the small
number of reading musicians available in Trinidad and Tobago, An-
tigua, and St. Thomas, and these musicians are in constant demand. As
a result, before 1970 Trinidad's calypso and calypsonians dominated the
Caribbean lands, for singers in the smaller islands never had suitable
accompanying music to make their compositions sound harmonious, in-
terestingly arranged, and likable. Beginning in 1966 the Carnival Com-
mittee in the U.S. Virgin Islands procured the services of musicians from
Trinidad, while at the same time they sent their own performers to
schools in the United States. The result has been fantastic. Trinidadians
used to bring their bands with them to play for concerts in the Virgin
Islands; now no such "foreign" bands are needed.
These facts demonstrate the need for courses in music theory, sight
reading, and the arranging of music for musicians in the area, including
Trinidad and Tobago, if the calypso is to compete on the market with
other international music.23
There is also a need for seminars, conferences, and forums to explain
to young teachers and administrators how their lessons can be infused
with music and how the lessons of the calypso can be applied to any
realm of learning. Applying the calypso to classroom teaching will help
change the classroom from a dull place into one where, by educating the
emotions, the senses, the autonomic nervous system, education will be a

23. There are many musicians in the United States, but, save for a few migrant Carib-
bean musicians in New York, they cannot play calypso music well, since calypso calls for a
certain flair, a certain rhythm that is not easily caught.

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Researching Steelband and Calypso Music 197

joy and an ecstasy for children. If any education is to be real, it must

also cater to the affective side of our children. Calypso and carnival can
be used to bring that joy, that value, that attitude, that missing link in
the education of Caribbean children. In fact, I am convinced that our
children cannot become "educated" unless they are bathed in the refine-
ment of their own culture.
How can our Carnival be properly marketed so as to attract more
tourists? Why is it that Caribbean people flood their homes with records
of Michael Jackson while neglecting their own artistes? These and many
other questions, it seems to me, are problems to be solved by proper
marketing and promotion experts. There is a need to establish a team of
marketing experts from the United States and the Caribbean who can set
up an economic structure whereby the carnival arts, including the steel-
band and calypso, can be successfully marketed in the Caribbean and
overseas. Why, one may ask, is it not possible for the singers and play-
ers to make a living from their art? Why do some mainland singers
make millions of dollars while Caribbean singers die penniless after pro-
ducing many records? The career of Lord Melody, who composed for
Harry Belafonte, illustrates this point. Although he had sung calypso for
forty years, in 1989 Melody, stricken with cancer, had to depend on
friends and benefactors to pay for his medical needs. He was so poor
that his friends had to pool their resources to give him a decent burial.
I believe we should also work to determine how every Caribbean
schoolchild can be exposed to the steelband. Most schools were not built
with sound-proof walls or performing halls to contain steelbands, and
the knowledgeable pan players are not teachers; as a result, at present,
few schools possess steelbands. Schoolchildren in the Caribbean who are
interested learn the art of pan playing in a panyard, where they may be
exposed to gambling, womanizing, and obscenities. In any case, such
pan playing in most islands is only seasonal-in preparation for Carni-
val. Why must the child's training stop after Carnival? Why is our music
seasonal? How can the facilities for pan playing be extended year-round
to Caribbean schoolchildren? Such questions can be answered if the
steelband and the calypso are included in the curriculum of each is-
land's education system.
In addition to calypso and steelbands, children should be exposed to a
variety of older musical forms, such as the bongo, which is played and
danced at wakes and funerals; the kwelbe (quelbe), or songs of the en-
slaved of the U.S. Virgin Islands; the bele (belair); the Big Drum Dance
of Carriacou; the music of the Rose and Maguerite flower societies of St.
Lucia; the Christmas quesh (from the French creche) songs in Trinidad,
the result of French and African mixtures; the African limbo; and the

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
198 BMR Journal

Spanish parang.24 Today all these musical forms are slowly dying and
are now performed mostly by the aged or by a few younger people at
select centers on special occasions. Indeed, there are thousands of Carib-
bean children who have never heard a parang. Unless such musical
forms are unearthed, recorded, performed, and brought to the forefront
quickly, in a few years they will vanish from the Caribbean.
Finally, there is a dire need to establish a folk institute that will serve
as a library, a teaching faculty, a museum, and an archive. In such a folk
institute, records, tapes, instruments, recordings, pictures, books, maga-
zines, handbills, posters, and letters all pertaining to the history and de-
velopment of Caribbean music could be housed. At present there exists
no facility in the British Caribbean, save the radio stations, that enables
residents to hear Caribbean music. The various carnival bodies do not
possess academic libraries or specialize in keeping archival material.
There is no place in the Virgin Islands or the British Caribbean, save the
private collections of interested citizens, to hear past calypso records, the
voices of deceased bards, past calypso competitions, or the sound of the
early steelband. There is no place to understand the problems of the
early calypsonians, to gain informative data on the jailing of our first
missionary singers on Ellis Island, New York, or to gather information
on royalties received in the past. There is presently no facility in the
Caribbean where research on our music and its historical past can be
conducted, and such a folk institute needs to be implemented. This insti-
tute can also work hand in hand with the University of the West Indies,
so that courses in the arts can be taught. Such courses could be part of
the study program for teachers in secondary and primary schools or
part of a program for a university degree in fine arts or music-both
unavailable at present in the British Caribbean.
I have said nothing about funding, and to be truthful, I have no idea
where the necessary funds may be obtained. No financial foundations,
research societies, or rich friends dedicated to culture exist in the British
Caribbean, so that if ever a culturally threatened area existed, that area
is certainly the British Caribbean. At present, the University of the West
Indies has embarked on a financial drive just to stay alive, for as a re-
gional institution, it is facing death daily. Caribbean governments, faced
with bread-and-butter issues, are hardly equipped to promote cultural
matters. Indeed, one of the causes of the attempted coup in Trinidad

24. A parang, from Spanish parranda(a spree), is the result of the links between migrant
Spaniards from Venezuela and their homeland. In Trinidad around Christmastime, groups
of paranderos (parang singers) go from house to house singing, playing music, and danc-
ing in memory of the birth of the child Jesus. Special drinks and dishes are made and
consumed for the occasion.

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Researching Steelband and Calypso Music 199

and Tobago in 1990 was the fact that the Prime Minister dared to spend
money to erect a cultural monument to a deceased woman named Gene
Miles, who had fought corruption in high places with all the resources
at her command. The leader of the coup, Imam Yasin Abu Bakr, told the
nation on television that the decision of the government was "the last
straw that broke the camel's back" (Daily Express 1990, 24).
In conclusion, let me remind the readers of Black Music ResearchJour-
nal that the need to know our fellow Africans, their works, their contri-
butions, and their methods of adjustment to the pressures of life is more
urgent now than ever. Technology and communicative methods have
brought us closer together, and the least we can do in the circumstances
is to learn to live with one another. But to do so, it is imperative that we
understand the circumstances that drove us apart, hold on to the links
that we kept intact, and build ties that will strengthen us for the future.
Music provides that great indestructible bridge upon which we may all
walk, each from a different starting point, to meet at the rendezvous
where happily we can hug, dance, and rejoice as prodigal sons who
have come home.

REFERENCES

Abrahams,Roger D., and John F. Szwed, eds. 1983.AfterAfrica.New Haven: Yale Univer-
sity Press.
Blake, Kenneth [Chairmanof St. Thomas Carnival Committee]. 1990. Interview by the
author.U.S. VirginIslands,April 21.
Cape, Roy. 1984.Interviewwith the author.Stockholm,Sweden, September16.
Carmichael,A. [1839]1969. Domesticmannersand socialconditionsof the white,colouredand
Negropopulationof theV.I.,vol. 2. New York:Negro UniversitiesPress.
Clarke,Adrian.1994.How Trinikaisos have fallen.DailyNation,March30, 7(A).
Composer.1969. Steelband's progress.Performedat the Young BrigadeCalypso Tent, Port
of Spain,Trinidad,January23.
Cothonay, Bertrand.1893. Journald'un missionairedominicaindes AntillesAnglaises.Paris:
PrivatelyPrinted.
Daily Express:Trinidadundersiege;theMuslimeenuprising.1990.Trinidad:ExpressNewspa-
pers.
DeVerteuil,Anthony. 1987. A historyof DiegoMartin,1784-1884.Trinidad:Paria Publish-
ing.
Duke. 1968.Whatis calypso.Performedat the CalypsoMonarchCompetition,Queen's Park
Savannah,Trinidad,March.
Elder,J. D. 1966.The evolution of the traditionalcalypso of Trinidadand Tobago:A socio-
historicalanalysisof song change.Ph.D. diss., Universityof Pennsylvania.
Epstein, Dena. 1977. Sinful tunesand spirituals:Blackfolk music to the Civil War.Chicago:
Universityof IllinoisPress.
Falconbridge,Alexander.1788.An accountof theslavetradeon thecoastof Africa.London:J.
Phillips.

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
200 BMR Journal

Fraser, L. M. 1881. Colonial Office original correspondence(1838-1900), vol. 289. London: Co-
lonial Office 295, no 6460, U.K. Public Record Office.
Goddard, George. 1980. Interview with the author. Diego Martin, August 10.
Hall, Herman. 1976. From Houdini to Sparrow. Everybody's:Special Bicentennial Issue: 38-
44.
Hill, Errol. 1972. The Trinidad Carnival:Mandatefor a national theatre.Austin: University of
Texas Press.
. 1975. The calypso. In David Frost introduces Trinidadand Tobago,edited by Michael
Anthony and Andrew Carr, 73-83. London: Andre Deutsch.
Honore, Brian. 1981. Letter to National Broadcasting Service Radio 610, Este, September 29.
Port of Spain, Trinidad.
Jones, Patrick. 1957. Calypso lore and legend:An afternoonwith PatrickJones. Cook LP 5016.
Legislative Council of Trinidad and Tobago. 1935. Theatres and Dance Halls Ordinance,
1934-1935. Council Paper no. 27.
Lewis, Matthew Gregory. 1834. Journalof a West Indian proprietor,kept during a residenceon
the island of Jamaica.London: J. Murray.
Ligon, Richard. 1657. A true and exact history of the island of Barbados.London: H. Moseley.
Liverpool, Hollis [Chalkdust]. 1968. To hell with the ministry. Performed at the Calypso
Monarch Competition, Queen's Park Savannah, Trinidad, March.
1986a. Kaisoand society. St. Thomas, V.I.: Virgin Islands Commission on Youth.
[Chalkdust]. 1986b. Quacks and invalids. Port of Spain gone insane. Strakers GS 2267.
[Chalkdust]. 1988. Two chords and Leston Paul. The master. Strakers GS 2283.
1993. Rituals of power and rebellion: The Carnival tradition in Trinidad and To-
bago, 1783-1962. Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan.
Long, Edward. 1774. History of Jamaica,vol. 2. London: T. Lowndes
Marshall, Trevor. 1986. Notes on the history and evolution of calypso in Barbados. In Pa-
pers: Seminar on calypso,January 6-10. St. Augustine: ISER/UWI.
Maultsby, Portia K. 1991. Africanisms in African-American music. In Africanisms in Ameri-
can culture, edited by Joseph Holloway, 185-210. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
McIntosh, L. 1994. Letter to the author. March 5.
Merchant. 1985. Pan in danger. Performed at the Calypso Monarch Competition, Queen's
Park Savannah, Trinidad, February.
Millette, James. 1970. The genesis of crown colony government.Trinidad: Moko Enterprises.
Mitchell, Joseph. 1982. Houdini's picnic. Everybody's6, no. 1:35-37.
Moore, Egbert [Lord Beginner]. 1972. Interview by the author. Port of Spain, January.
Moreton, J. B. 1790. Manners and customs in the West India Islands. London: W. Richardson.
Nizer, Louis. 1961. The case of the plagiarized song, "Rum and Coca Cola." In My life in
court, 265-328. New York: Doubleday.
Pearse, Andrew, ed. [1956] 1988. The Mitto Sampson on calypso legends of the nineteenth-
century. CaribbeanQuarterly4, no. 3/4. Reprint, in The TrinidadCarnival, 140-163. Port of
Spain: Paria Publishing.
Potter, Cecil. 1990. The system corrupt.Performed at Lionel Roberts Stand, St. Thomas, V.I.,
April 19.
Quevedo, Raymond. 1983. Attila's kaiso: A short history of Trinidad calypso. Port of Spain:
Extra-mural Department, University of the West Indies.
Relator [Willard Harris]. 1983a. Radio stations. Performed at Spektakula Forum, February.
.1983b. Importation of calypso. Nostalgia. Rape 0003-Stereo. (2 record set).
Rohlehr, Gordon. 1972. The developmentof calypso, 1900-1940. St. Augustine, Trinidad: Uni-
versity of the West Indies.
. 1983. History of calypso. In Seminar papers: The social and economic impact of Carni-
val, November 24-26. St. Augustine: Institute of Social and Economic Research, Univer-
sity of the West Indies.
.1990. Calypsoand society in pre-independenceTrinidad.Trinidad: Rohlehr.

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Researching Steelband and Calypso Music 201

Shemel,Sidney, and WilliamKrasilovsky.1990.Thisbusinessof music.New York:Billboard

Books.
Simon,Pete. 1969.Calypso.Art andman.Act 2, Sc. 1 (February):32-38.
Slinger,Francisco[Sparrow].1963a.Theoutcast.NationalNLP 4199.
.1963b. Theslave.NationalNLP 4188;HilarySP 3003.
Sloane, Hans. 1707. A voyageto the islandsof Madera,Barbados,
Nieves,St. Christopher
and
vol. 1. London:PrivatelyPrinted.
Jamaica,
U.K. Public RecordOffice.1884.Peace PreservationOrdinanceNo. 1. In Acts (January25).
London:ColonialOffice297.
Warner,Keith.1982.TheTrinidadcalypso,a studyof thecalypsoas oralliterature.
Washington,
D.C.:ThreeContinentsPress.

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.42 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:11:20 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions