Music of the Cayman Islands

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Anglophone caribbean music

British Caribbean	Other Anglophone islands
Anguilla	Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica
Bermuda and Montserrat	Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda
Turks and Caicos	Barbados and the US Virgin Islands
Caymans	Grenada and St. Kitts and Nevis
UK Virgin Islands	St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Timeline and Samples

Pop genres

Calypso - Chutney - Dancehall - Dub - Junkanoo - Ragga - Rapso - Reggae - Ripsaw - Rocksteady - Scratch - Ska - Soca - Spouge - Steelpan

Other islands

Aruba and the Dutch Antilles - Cuba - Dominica - Dominican Republic - Haiti - Martinique and Guadeloupe - Puerto Rico - Saint Lucia

The Cayman Islands, a Caribbean island chain, is a Crown Colony of the United Kingdom. Whilst there are several acts that cater to tourists, Caymanians themselves enjoy a wide selection of international pop music and their own folk styles. The Cayman National Cultural Foundation, established in 1984, helps to preserve and promote Cayman folk music, including the organization of festivals such as Cayman Islands International Storytelling Festival, the Cayman JazzFest, Seafarers Festival and Cayfest. There is also a Pirate's Week Festival. The Cayman JazzFest, founded in 2004, is a well-known jazz festival, that draws on the islands' "deep connection" with jazz.^[1]

The official national anthem of the Cayman Islands is "God Save the Queen". "Beloved Isle Cayman", words and music by organist Leila Ross-Shier is the official national song.^[2]

The fiddle is a popular folk instrument. Christmas music is an important part of the Cayman folk tradition, and it consists of serenading, or group singing of carols on Christmas Eve. Instruments include the fiddle, accordion, mouth organ, grater and drums.^[3]

There is a Cayman Music & Entertainers Association which represent local musicians' interests, and professional studios such as Hopscotch Studios offer recording and post-production services. Several local popular musicians are well-known, including the band Cloudburst, Barefoot Man,Chuck and Barrie aka Sea N' B, Heat and Nicholas Johnson.^[4]

Local artist J.G. scored a number one hit at local radio station, X107.1 with his track Summer Is Over which was the most played song the week of Monday, December 11, 2006.