Bomba
Traditional style form Puerto Rico. Mixture of 3 cultures: Spanish, African and Taino cultures. The bass rhythm is played by 2 or more drums. Real meaning is about the relationship between dancer, singer, and percussion. Communal activity, still thrives.
Quatro
One of several instruments of guitar or lute family. Many are smaller than guitar, cuatro usually means 4 strings but current instruments might have more. South America, Trinidad, Tobago, West Indies. National interment of Venezuela.
Steel band
band composed of oil drums that have been tuned to play a rang of pitches
Guiro
Rattle made out of a vegetable gourd
Tamboo Bamboo
Bamboo peacussion band used to accompany Calypso times during Carnivale time in the late 19th and 20th century. Consist of 3 different sized instrument all from bamboo, boom, foul�, cutter.
inexpensive, loud, dance, inclusive, cyclical, improvisatory
Diaspora
A term describing the movement of a group of people (generally sharing ethnic or national history) into forced exile. This exile in a place other than the group's ancestral homeland generally also precludes the possibility of return. The Jewish and Africa
Band
a masquerade organization open to anyone who purchases a costume. bands may have as many as 4,000 members and are often known by the leader's name
Mas-
anything having to do with the carnival band
Rake 'N' Scrape
A traditional Bahamian music, usually played on accordion, saw and goatskin drum. Rake-n-scrape ensembles traditionally accompanied quadrille dancing and are an example of Creole musical style.
Obeah
Bahamian folk belief and practice derived from African religious models and concerned with controlling and deploying powers in service of both good(healing) and evil(vengeance)
Cariso
Traditional French creole song. Early from of calypso, often employing insulting or satirical lyrics
Calypso
A traditional French Creole humorous song that comments on life in the Caribbean. The word cariso was used to describe a French Creole song in the 1780s, and in Trinidad. Early 19th century, calypso was connected to kalenda (Stick fighting) a central part
Rumba
Cuban dance from that developed at the end of the 19th century. The typical Rumba ensemble consists of a lead vocalist, a chorus, clave, palitos, and congas. The name derives from the Cuban Spanish word rumbo which means "party" or "spree". It is secular,
Metropole
From Metropolis, or "mother city." Also used for any colonizing "mother country.
Bele
drumming also called be lair. Developed in rural Martinique and is played on a drum of the same name. Two performers, one uses hands and feet the other uses sticks, intricate cross rhythmic. Accompanied by call and response singing and by dancing.
Bomba
puerto rican tradiition that emerged from the slave barracks, probably during the early decades of the 18th century. it is relatively rare to hear today. Special days, end of harvest, bdays. christenings, weddings. Ecompases a wide range of rhythms and su
Junkanoo
A bahamian festival, celebrated on Boxing Day (dec. 26) and New Year's Day and including music, costume arts and dance.
Zouk
A fast tempo style of rhythmic music originating from the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, popularized by the group Kassav in the 1980s
Punta
A song genre that symbolically reenacts the cock-and-hen mating dance and is usually composed by women. Punta is performed during festivals, at wakes, and at celebrations that follow dugu ceremonies (religious ceremonies during which a family appeals to t
Punta Rock
Popular music style developed by the Garifuna peoples, featuring call-and-response vocals and a rich percussion accompaniment of drums and rattles.
Chutney
Fusion of calypso and East Indian music
Spicy pickles Indian cuisine
Dance music
Instrumentation
Dholak, harmonium, dhantal
modern chutney
blend of indian folk melodies, indian film music, soca/calypso rhythms
(found online, not in book) is a form indigen
Chutney-Soca
Popular music style of the Trinidad that combines elements of two earlier styles, soca and chutney.
Soca
Trinidadian popular music that developed in the 1970s and is closely related to calypso. Used for dancing at Carnival and at fetes, soca emphasizes rhythmic energy and studio production�including synthesized sounds and electronically mixed ensemble effect
Merengue
Dominican Republic dance music in 4/4 meter developed from danza and contradanza. 1930s Rafael Trujillo, dictator of Trinidad, appropriates the merengue as national music. Uses it to define Dominican culture (Iberian) against Haitian culture (African)
Mardi-Gras
also Fat Tuesday in English, refers to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after the Epiphany or King's Day and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday", reflecting the practice of the last night
Ash Wednesday
a day of fasting, is the first day of Lent in Western Christianity. It occurs 46 days (40 weekdays plus 6 Sundays) before Easter and can fall as early as 4 February or as late as 10 March. Ash Wednesday is observed by many Western Christian denominations,
Lent-
a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar of many Christian denominations that begins on Ash Wednesday and covers a period of approximately six weeks before Easter Day. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer thro
The Mighty Sparrow-
Slinger Francisco ORTT CMT (born July 9, 1935), better known as Mighty Sparrow, is a calypso singer, songwriter, and guitarist of Trinidadian citizenship. Known as the "Calypso King of the World", he is one of the best-known and most successful calypsonia
George Symonette
after the hotel lost popular entertainer Blind Blake to The Royal Victoria Hotel, George made quite an impact as Blind Blake's replacement. Always accompanying his own singing, he mastered and transferred the rhythmic riffs usually played on the guitar to
Lord Caresser
Caresser began singing in the 1930s and continued performing through the 1940s. His calypsoes include:
� 1937 - Edward the VIII
� 1938 - Shango
� 1940 - Do You Remember Me?
� Also - The More They Try to Do Me Bad; Paramaribo; Old Ginger (with Lord Executo
Lord Invader
was a prominent calypsonian with a very distinctive, gravelly voice. He was born in San Fernando, Trinidad. He became active in calypso in the mid-1930s, and was considered a country bumpkin by his contemporaries, because of his humble beginning. It was G