Calypso In The Caribbean Essay

Pansy

ENG 401

Dr. Champagne

December 11, 2013

Calypso in the Caribbean “She say she don’t like bamboo/but she don’t mind meh cane/She say cane juice real sweet/it does reach to she brain” are song lyrics from the calypso song “Sweet Cane Juice” sung in Roger McTair’s short story, “Visiting”. According to Britannica Encyclopedia, calypso is “a type of folk song primarily from Trinidad though sung elsewhere in the southern and eastern Caribbean islands. The subject of a calypso text, usually witty and satiric, is a local and topical event of political and social import, and the tone is one of allusion, mockery, and double entendre”. This music genre is one of the most important traditions in Caribbean music history. Calypso music was developed

While working, the slaves were forbidden to converse with each other. Instead of speaking, they sang songs that they knew from their native land, West Africa. The slaves used a song or chant called kaiso “which originated in West Africa, and later evolved into Calypso” (“A brief history of kaiso”). “Kaiso songs are generally narrative in form and often have a cleverly concealed political subtext” (“A brief history of kaiso”). Early calypso music was sung in Creole French to imitate slave owners. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, “During the carnival season before lent, groups of slaves led by popular singers, or shatwell, wandered through the streets singing and improvising veiled lyrics directed toward unpopular political

After the abolishment of slavery in the 1830s, calypso became more popular. “Calypso traveled outside Trinidad in the 1920s and 30s and, in a highly commercialized form, became very popular in the United State during the late 1940s and 1950s” (Lagassé, Paul 1). By the 1930s, Atilla the Hun, Roaring Lion, and Lord Invader were idols in the calypso music industry. In addition, the boom for calypso in the 1930s faced hardships because the music was considered too provocative (Sunshine 582). “Probably the most famous of the many 20th –century calypso artists are, in Trinidad, the Mighty Sparrow, and in the United States, Harry Belafonte” (Lagassé, Paul 1). In 1956, Harry Belafonte recorded the “Banana Boat Song” or better known as “Day-O.” This song is the most internationally famous calypso song and is still used in present times for movies and sports events. Calypso music is still popular and now contains a more up-beat tempo mixed with rhythm and blues, dance, and rap