"Calypso rhythms can be traced back to the arrival of the first African slaves brought to work in the sugar plantations of Trinidad. Forbidden to talk to each other, and robbed of all links to family and home, the African slaves began to sing songs. They used calypso, which can be traced back to West African kaiso, as a means of communication and to mock the slave masters.
Trinidad was colonized by the Spanish, received large numbers of French immigrants, and was later ruled by the British. This multi-colonial past has greatly impacted the development of calypso in Trinidad. Many early calypsos were sung in a French-Creole dialect called patois ("pat-was"). These songs, usually led by one individual called a griot, helped to unite the slaves.
Calypso singing competitions, held annually at Carnival time, grew in popularity after the abolition of slavery by the British in the 1830s. (It was the French who brought the tradition of Carnival to Trinidad.) The griot later became known as the chantuelle and today as the calypsonian.
The year 1914 was a landmark year in the history of calypso. This is the year that the first calypso recording was made. The late 1920s gave birth to the first calypso tents. Originally, calypso tents were actual tents where calypsonians would practice before Carnival. Today calypso tents are showcases for the new music of Carnival season.
By the late 1930s, exceptional calypsonians such as Atilla the Hun, Lord Invader and the Roaring Lion were making an indelible impression on the calypso music world. Lord Kitchener rose to prominence in the 1940s and dominated the calypso scene until the late 1970s. Lord Kitchener continued to make memorable hits until his death in 2001."
I forget where I found this record but it was probably Brick Lane a few years ago. Its a bit worse for wear but some great music here amid the pops and crackles! I tried to find out about the two artists here but no mention of them on the internet search engines I tried. Alas the Lord Kitchener track jumped so had to leave it off.
Eric Hayden - Give Her The No.1
Little Nora - Tomato
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4 comments:
As with modern pop music which we like to believe that "we" created in the fifties and sixties but in actual fact has its roots in a multitude of 'roots' music, including the gorgeous blues, so does reggae (another sixties "creation") along with Ska, owe a big debt to calypso which in turn, as your post so elequently informs us, to an even older musical genre.
i see that between hazel and archie and yourself that the 'empire' is growing and is about to take over the world.
next stop Poland?
I can't remember why I deleted the last comment- probably 'cos it was rubbish! The fact is I'm not very good at being elequent so lifted most of that from another website. I do love calypso though and ska and bluebeat and reggae (well some of it!) and can see what a major influence all that music made to the rest of the pop music world ( shame about "Oobla-Di-Obla-da"!)
Yes, these blogs do tend to take over aftera while. I obviously have too much time on my hands!
Yessir... ska happened when mentos (post-calpyso, pre-reggae) musicians met punk musicians and both groups said, "Hey, that's cool!".
Of course, I'm still down with the Duke who classified music genres very simply... There are two kinds of music, good music and bad music.
It makes life so much simpler.
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