Chapter 11 - The Caribbean

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About

Chapter 11 introduces the music and associated cultural activities from the Caribbean, including the islands of Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago, the Bahamas, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic. The discussions focus on the unique traditions created through the cross-cultural interaction of Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa, producing traditional, as well as many popular music styles, such as Reggae and Calypso. History is consequently an important element of the discussion throughout, particularly as it relates to the invention of the steel drum in Trinidad. Afro-Cuban sonis important to introduce here as salsa music, which draws heavily from this tradition, is discussed in a later chapter.

Key Terms

  • Abakwa
  • Arawak
  • Basser
  • Bata
  • Batuque
  • Bolero
  • Calypso
  • Canción
  • Capoeira
  • Carib
  • Cascara
  • Cha-cha
  • Chéqueres (also Shekere)
  • Cimarrons
  • Claves
  • Comparsa
  • Conga (also Tumbadora)
  • Contradanza
  • Cross-rhythm
  • Cumina
  • Danza (also Danzon and Danzonete)
  • Dub (also Dancehall)
  • Ekón
  • Ganja
  • Goombay
  • Guaracha
  • Guiro
  • Jaleo
  • Langaj
  • Lwa (also Loa)
  • Mambo
  • Maracas
  • Maroons
  • Mento
  • Merengue
  • Mummer
  • Orisha
  • Orus
  • Palito
  • Pan
  • Panorama
  • Parang
  • Paseo
  • Rada
  • Rake and scrape
  • Rasta
  • Rastafarianism
  • Reggae
  • Rhymer
  • Rock Steady
  • Rumba (also Rhumba)
  • Salsa
  • Shango
  • Ska
  • Soca
  • Son
  • Steel Drum
  • Tamboo-bamboo
  • Tambora
  • Timbales
  • Tumbadora (also Conga)
  • Tumbao
  • Umbanda
  • Zouk

Flashcards

Practice Quiz

On Your Own Time Links

Links and Further Resources

Haiti


Audio:
Rhythms of Rapture: Sacred Musics of Haitian Vodou. Smithsonian-Folkways: SFW40464, 1995.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/rhythms-rapture-sacred-musics/id151593754
Book:
McAlister, Elizabeth. Rara! Vodou, Power, and Performance in Haiti and Its Diaspora. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.
http://rara.wesleyan.edu/
http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520228238
Book:
Rouget, Gilbert. Music and Trance: A Theory of the Relations between Music and Possession. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985.
http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo5956162.html
Popular Artists—Haiti:
Boukman Eksperyans
Boukan Ginen

Jamaica


Book:
Bradley, Lloyd. This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music. New York: Grove Press, 2001.
http://www.amazon.com/This-Reggae-Music-Story-Jamaicas/dp/0802138284
Book:
King, Stephen. Reggae, Rastafari, and the Rhetoric of Social Control. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2007.
http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/612
Book:
Veal, Michael. Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2007.
http://www.upne.com/0-8195-6571-7.html
DVD:
The Harder They Come. Dir. Henzell, Perry. New World Pictures, 1972.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070155/plotsummary
Website:
Bob Marley—Official Website
http://www.bobmarley.com/
Website:
Carlos Jones—Official Website
http://www.carlosjones.com/
Website:
Jimmy Cliff—Official Website
http://www.jimmycliff.com/
Popular Artists—Jamaica:
Bob Marley
Jimmy Cliff
Peter Tosh
Bunny Wailer
Toots and the Maytals
Burning Spear
Lee “Scratch” Perry
King Tubby
Steel Pulse
Desmond Dekker
Sly and Robbie

Trinidad and Tobago


Book:
Dudley, Shannon. Carnival Music in Trinidad: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Music/WorldMusicEthnomusicology/?view=usa&ci=9780195138337
Book:
Dudley, Shannon. Music from behind the Bridge: Steelband Aesthetics and Politics in Trinidad and Tobago.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general
Book:
Guilbault, Jocelyne. Governing Sound: The Cultural Politics of Trinidad's Carnival Musics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo5298970.html
Book:
Regis, Lewis. The Political Calypso: True Opposition in Trinidad and Tobago. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1998.
Book:
Stuempfle, Stephen. The Steelband Movement: The Forging of a National Art in Trinidad and Tobago.
Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996.
Website:
National Carnival Commission of Trinidad and Tobago
http://www.ncctt.org/home/
Website:
Soca Monarch
http://socamonarch.net/
Popular Artists—Trinidad and Tobago:
Lord Kitchener
Calypso Rose
Mighty Sparrow
Destra Garcia
Bunji Garlin
KMC
Arrow
David Rudder
Rikki Jai

The Bahamas


Audio:
The Bahamas: The Real Bahamas in Music and Song. Nonesuch Records: 79725, 1966.
http://www.nonesuch.com/albums/the-bahamas-the-real-bahamas-in-music-and-song
Audio:
The Bahamas: Islands of Song. Smithsonian-Folkways: SFW 40405, 1997.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-bahamas-islands-of-song/id151591784
Book:
Charters, Samuel. The Day Is So Long and the Wages So Small. London: Marion Boyers Publishers, 2002.
http://www.marionboyars.co.uk/Amy%20individual%20book%20info/The%20Day%20is%20So%20Long.html
Book:
Rommen, Timothy. Funky Nassau: Roots, Routes, and Representation in Bahamian Popular Music. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2011.
http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520265691
Popular Artists—the Bahamas:
Joseph Spence
Baha Men
T-Connection

Cuba


Audio:
Cuban Counterpoint: History of the Son Montuno. Rounder Records: R102013, 1992.
http://www.allmusic.com/album/cuban-counterpoint-history-of-the-son-montuno-r102013
Book:
Fernandez, Raul. From Afro-Cuban Rhythms to Latin Jazz. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2006.
http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520247086
Book:
Manuel, Peter. Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae. 2nd Edition. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2006.
http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1175_reg.html
Website/Audio/DVD:
Buena Vista Social Club
http://www.buenavistasocialclub.com/
Website:
Mamborama
http://www.mamborama.com/cuba_music.html
Website:
Salsa & Merengue—Cuban Son Montuno
http://www.salsa-merengue.co.uk/VidTutor/rhythm/son_phrasing_part_one.html
Popular Artists—Cuba:
Celia Cruz
Buena Vista Social Club
Los Van Van
Haila
César “Pupy” Pedroso
Arsenio Rodriguez
NG La Banda

The Dominican Republic


Book:
Austerlitz, Paul, and Robert Farris Thompson. Merengue: Dominican Music and Dominican Identity.
Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1997.
http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1060_reg.html
Book:
Manuel, Peter. Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae. 2nd Edition. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2006.
http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1175_reg.html
Book:
Sellers, Julie. Merengue and Dominican Identity: Music As National Unifier. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2004.
http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-1815-2
Popular Artists—the Dominican Republic:
Juan Luis Gerra
Milly Quezada
Antony Santos
Fernando Villalona
Omega el Fuerte