MusicIn this music mad nation, it is perhaps not surprising that there is a vibrant music industry, with five major recording studios, including Eddie Grant’s Ice Label, and another five smaller ones, as well as local manufacturing companies. They turn out recordings by local bands, such as Krosfyah, Square One, Coalishun, the Merrymen and 4D People, as well as international stars such as Mighty Sparrow, Sting and Mick Jagger. As elsewhere, DJs have become cult figures in the nightclubs and on the radio. Look out for names like Jon.Doe, Donnay Da’ Mixmasta, Malcolm X and Cindy Rouse. CalypsoCalypso is the musical form for which Barbados is most famous, although it was originally developed in Trinidad. Calypsonians (or kaisonians, as the more historically minded call them) are the commentators, champions and sometimes conscience of the people. This unique musical form, a mixture of African, French and, eventually British, Spanish and even East Indian influences, dates back to Trinidad’s first ’shantwell’, Gros Jean, late in the 18th century. Since then it has evolved into a popular, potent force, with both men and women (also children, of late) battling for the Calypso Monarch’s crown during Crop Over, Barbados’ carnival. Calypsonians perform in ’tents’ (performing halls) in the weeks leading up to the competition and are judged in Pic-O-De-Crop semi-finals, which hones down the list to seven final contenders who compete against the reigning Calypso king. The season’s calypso songs blast from radio stations and sound systems all over the islands and visitors should ask locals to interpret the sometimes witty and often scurrilous lyrics, for they are a fascinating introduction to the state of the nation. Currently, party soca tunes dominate although some of the commentary calypsonians are still heard on the radio. There is also a new breed of ’Rapso’ artists, fusing calypso and rap music. Chutney, an Indian version of calypso, is also becoming increasingly popular and is also being fused with soca, to create ’chutney soca’. Mac Fingall is a local calypso singer and entertainer, frequently found at cricket matches (his passion) or the races if he is not MC at Crop Over competitions. His great friend Red Plastic Bag, with whom he has recorded several albums, is also frequently heard around the island. The band which has won most prizes, however, is Krosfyah (formerly called Crossfire), known as the kings of soca and led by Edwin Yearwood, their singer/songwriter who has been a triple crown winner at Crop Over. Pan musicPan music has a shorter history, developing in the 20th century from the tamboo-bamboo bands which made creative use of tins, dustbins and pans plus lengths of bamboo for percussion instruments. By the end of the Second World War some ingenious souls discovered that huge oil drums could be converted into expressive instruments, their top surfaces tuned to all ranges and depths (eg the ping pong, or soprano pan, embraces 28 to 32 notes including both the diatonic and chromatic scales). Aside from the varied pans, steel bands also include a rhythm section dominated by the steel, or iron men. ReggaeReggae is tremendously popular in Barbados and is played everywhere, all day and all night. David Kirton is probably the leading Barbadian modern roots reggae artist, with several albums under his name since his debut album, Stranger, in 1999. Biggie Irie, a huge singer with a rich mahogany voice, is credited with being one of the key players in the resurgence of reggae bands in Barbados in the 1990s. Reggae jazz saxophonist, Arturo Tappin, has played at every jazz and reggae festival in the Caribbean and has toured the world with big-name artistes. However, Bajans like to vary their reggae so there is also a fusion of reggae and soca, known as ragga-socca, which has a faster rhythm than reggae but slower than up-tempo soca. Ringbang, created in 1994, is a mixture of all the varied types of Caribbean music with the emphasis on the beat rather than the melody. TukTuk is one of the most traditional forms of folk music, having its origins in the slave culture of the 17th century and it is an important means of expression for the black masses in Barbados. It was banned by the English as subversive; plantation overseers believed that the drums were being used to send messages, and it had to wait until after emancipation to resurface officially. Since the revival of Crop Over in 1974, tuk bands have flourished. The instruments used in a tuk band are the kettle drum, bass drum and tin flute, as played by the landship. There are several school tuk bands as it is promoted among the younger generation to preserve the island’s cultural heritage. The music is lively, with a pulsating rhythm influenced by British regimental band music as well as African dances. It is ’jump up’ music, used at holiday times and carnival for masquerades, when tuk bands travel from village to village, playing popular tunes and inviting the audience to join in at will. Musical groups and choirsMusical groups and choirs include the Barbados Chamber Music Ensemble, the Barbados Symphonia, Sing Out Barbados, the Barbados Festival Choir, Ellerslie Folk Chorale, the Barbados National Youth Orchestra and the Cavite Chorale. There are also numerous gospel groups, including the Nazarene Silvertones, Promise, Gratitude, the New Testament Church of God Chorale, the Wesley Singers, Sister Marshall and Joseph Niles and the Consolers. The Choir of the Cathedral Church of St Michael and All Angels (Bridgetown cathedral) is a mixed choir of 38 choristers: 7 boy trebles, 14 sopranos, 6 altos, 5 tenors and 6 basses. They can be heard every Sunday at Choral Matins (1100) and Evensong (1800) and every first and third Sunday of the month a the Sung Eucharist (0900). Three concerts are performed annually, A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols for Christmas, Harvest Thanksgiving on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday and A Solemn Music for Good Friday. BooksTwo Barbadian writers whose work has had great influence throughout the Caribbean are the novelist George Lamming and the poet Edward Kamau Brathwaite. Lamming’s first novel, In The Castle Of My Skin (1953), a part-autobiographical story of growing up in colonial Barbados, deals with one of the major concerns of anglophone writers: how to define one’s values within a system and ideology imposed by someone else. Lamming’s treatment of the boy’s changing awareness in a time of change in the West Indies is both poetic and highly imaginative. His other books include Natives Of My Person, Season Of Adventure and The Pleasures Of Exile. Brathwaite is also sensitive to the colonial influence on black West Indian culture. Like the St Lucian Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott and others, he is also keenly aware of the African traditions at the heart of that culture. The questions addressed by all these writers are: who is Caribbean man, and what are his faiths, his language, his ancestors? The experience of teaching in Ghana for some time helped to clarify Brathwaite’s response. African religions, motifs and songs mix with West Indian speech rhythms in a style which is often strident, frequently using very short verses. His collections include Islands, Masks and Rights Of Passage. In 1942, Frank Collymore founded the literary magazine, Bim, which gave generations of writers an outlet for their poetry, short stories and literary criticism. Its name was the nickname given to the planters by their slaves. Collymore was not only an editor but also a short story writer with a keen eye for social customs. Timothy Callender was first published in Bim and is an accomplished short story writer. His collection, It so happen, focuses on the Barbadian village and the characters found there. His fictional village is full of eccentrics who he exposes in a series of moral fables. Other Barbadian writers include Bruce St. John, Karl Sealy, John Wickham, June Henfrey and Geoffrey Drayton. FictionCallender, T, It So Happen (1975, paperback 1991), Heinemann. Stories from a fictional village with a cast of characters and rumshop. Has a moral edge and humorous resolutions. Collymore, F, The Man Who Loved Attending Funerals and Other Stories (1993), Heinemann. The founder of the literary magazine, Bim, wrote his own stories with a keen, often humorous, observation of society. Drayton, G, Christopher (1959, paperback 1972), Heinemann. A novel of childhood, exploring the gap between the white planter class and the impoverished black, a planter’s young son learns about personal relationships and social reality beyond his comfortable and protected world. Henfrey, J, Coming Home and other Stories (1994), Peepal Tree. A collection of short stories about black women and the double oppression of race and gender, including Freedom Come about Bussa’s rebellion of 1816 and the effect it had on the slaves. Lamming, G, In the Castle of My Skin (1953, paperback 1987), Longman. Another novel about childhood in Barbados, this time from the perspective of a boy growing up in a poor village environment under the oppression of colonial society. His other works include Native of My person, Season of Adventure and T he Pleasures of Exile. MemoirsBrathwaite, EK, Sun Poem, (1982), Oxford University Press. An autobiographical work in which the author evokes his childhood. Clarke, A, Growing Up Stupid Under the Union Jack, (1980), McClelland and Stewart. A memoir of growing up in Barbados during the Second World War. The author mocks the colonial system of education and traces the move away from Britain towards North America as a role model. Non-fictionCummins, A, et al, Art in Barbados (1999), Ian Randle Publishers & Barbados Museum & Historical Society. Examines the work of Barbadian artists over six decades, with beautiful colour reproductions. Fraser, HS, Treasures of Barbados, Macmillan Caribbean. An attractive guide to Barbadian architecture. TraveloguesLeigh Fermor, P, The Traveller’s Tree, A Journey through the Caribbean Islands. (paperback 1984), Penguin. A seminal piece of travel writing, perceptive and knowledgeable. Barbados and other islands are written about from the point of view of an outsider, an Irish Englishman in 1947.
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Barbados - £7.99
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