| Calypso | |
|---|---|
| Cultural origins | Trinidad and Tobago |
| Typical instruments | Trumpet, trombone, flute, saxophone, Spanish guitar, bass guitar, conga, bongos, steelpan, violin, bamboo sticks, glass bottle/spoon, claves, maracas, cuatro, concertina, jawbone |
| Mainstream popularity | Early to mid 20th century |
| Subgenres | |
| Oratorical calypso • Extempo • Shouter calypso • Benna | |
| Fusion genres | |
| Chutney • Chut-kai-pang • Rapso • Soca • Gospelypso • Cadence-lypso • Ska • spouge | |
| Regional scenes | |
| Anguilla • Antigua and Barbuda • puerto rican calypso • Aruba • Barbados • Costa Rica • Grenada • Dominica • Saint Kitts and Nevis • Virgin Islands • Venezuela | |
| Other topics | |
| Carnival • Calypsonian • Calypso-like genres • Calypso tent • Picong • Shango • Obeah • | |
| Music of Trinidad and Tobago | |
|---|---|
| General topics | |
| Portal:Music of Trinidad and Tobago | |
| Genres | |
| Media and performance | |
| Music media |
Music television |
| National anthem | Forged from the Love of Liberty (national anthem) |
| Regional music | |
| Local forms | |
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song. This forged a sense of community among the Africans, who saw their colonial masters change rapidly, bringing French, Spanish and British music styles to the island of Trinidad. The French brought Carnival to Trinidad, and calypso competitions at Carnival grew in popularity, especially after the abolition of slavery in 1834. While most authorities stress the African roots of calypso, in his 1986 book, Calypso from France to Trinidad: 800 Years of History, that veteran calypsonian, The Roaring Lion (Rafael de Leon) asserted that calypso descends from the music of the medieval French troubadours.
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The modern music history of Trinidad and Tobago reflects the ethnic groups which form the current culture—French, Spanish, British, the African and New World nations from which the African population derives and subsequent immigration from Asia and India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. A creole culture was formed, combining elements of hundreds of African ethnic groups, native inhabitants of the islands, French, British and Spanish colonizers. French planters and their slaves emigrated to Trinidad during the French Revolution (1789) from Martinique, including a number of West Africans, and French creoles from Saint Vincent, Grenada and Dominica, establishing a local community before Trinidad and Tobago were taken from Spain by the British. Carnival had arrived with the French, and the slaves, who could not take part in Carnival, formed their own, parallel celebration called canboulay.
Stick fighting and African percussion music were banned in 1880, in response to the Canboulay Riots. They were replaced by bamboo sticks beaten together, which were themselves banned in turn. In 1937 they reappeared, transformed as an orchestra of frying pans, dustbin lids and oil drums. These steelpans or pans are now a major part of the Trinidadian music scene and are a popular section of the Canboulay music contests. In 1941, the United States Navy arrived on Trinidad, and the panmen, who were associated with lawlessness and violence, helped to popularize steel pan music among soldiers, which began its international popularization.
It is thought that the name "calypso" was originally "kaiso," which is now believed to come from Efik "ka isu" 'go on!' and Ibibio "kaa iso" 'continue, go on,' used in urging someone on or in backing a contestant.[2] There is also a Trinidadian term, "cariso" which is used to refer to "old-time" calypsos.[3] The term "calypso" is recorded from the 1930s onwards. The word was bastardized into "Calypso" when the early European settlers put the word into print. (Best known from Homer's epic, the Odyssey, Calypso was a nymph who enticed Odysseus into a cave for seven years.)
The official birth of calypso was 1912, when Lovey's String Band recorded the first identifiably calypso genre song while visiting New York City. In 1914, the second calypso song was recorded, this time in Trinidad, by chantwell Julian Whiterose, better known as the Iron Duke and famous stick fighter. Jules Sims would also record vocal calypsos. The majority of these calypsos of the World War I era were instrumentals by Lovey and Lionel Belasco. Perhaps due to the constraints of the wartime economy, no recordings of note were produced until the late 1920s and early 1930s, when the "golden era" of calypso would cement the style, form, and phrasing of the music.
Calypso evolved into a way of spreading news around Trinidad. Politicians, journalists and public figures often debated the content of each song, and many islanders considered these songs the most reliable news source. Calypsonians pushed the boundaries of free speech as their lyrics spread news of any topic relevant to island life, including speaking out against political corruption. Eventually British rule enforced censorship and police began to scan these songs for damaging content.
Even with this censorship, calypsos continued to push boundaries, with a variety of ways to slip songs past the scrutinizing eyes of the editor. Double entendre, or double-speak, was one way, as was the practice of denouncing countries such as Hitler's Germany and its annexation of Poland, while making pointed references toward England's policies on Trinidad. Sex, scandal, gossip, innuendo, politics, local news, bravado and insulting other calypsonians were the order of the day in classic calypso, just as it is today with classic hip hop. And just as the hip-hop of today, the music sparked shock and outrage in the moral sections of society.
Countless recordings were dumped at sea in the name of censorship, although in truth, rival U.S. companies did this in the spirit of underhanded competition, claiming that the rivals' material was unfit for U.S. consumption. Decca Records lost untold pressings in this manner, as did its rival, RCA's Bluebird label.
An entrepreneur named Eduardo Sa Gomes played a significant role in spreading calypso in its early days. Sa Gomes, a Portuguese immigrant who owned a local music and phonograph equipment shop in Port of Spain, promoted the genre and gave financial support to the local artists. In March 1934 he sent Roaring Lion and Attila the Hun to New York City to record; they became the first calypsonians to record abroad, bringing the genre out of the West Indies and into pop culture.[4] Lord Invader was quick to follow, and staying in New York City after a protracted legal case involving the theft of his song "Rum and Coca-Cola", a hit by the Andrews Sisters, made his home there along with Wilmoth Houdini, and became one of the great calypsonians of the USA.
The first major stars of calypso started crossing over to new audiences worldwide in the late 1930s. Attila the Hun, Roaring Lion and Lord Invader were first, followed by Lord Kitchener, one of the longest-lasting calypso stars in history—he continued to release hit records until his death in 2000. 1944's "Rum and Coca-Cola" by the Andrews Sisters, a cover version of a Lord Invader song, became an American hit despite the song being a very critical commentary on the explosion of prostitution, inflation and other negative influences accompanying the American military bases in Trinidad at the time.[5]
Calypso, especially a toned-down, commercial variant, became a worldwide craze with the release of the "Banana Boat Song", or "Day-O", a traditional Jamaican folk song, whose best-known rendition was done by Harry Belafonte on his album Calypso (1956); Calypso was the first full-length record to sell more than a million copies. (Ironically, the music style on that album was mento.) The success of that album inspired hundreds of "Folkies", or the American folk music revival to imitate the "Belafonte style", but with a more folk-oriented flavor. The Kingston Trio would be a good example.
1956 also saw the massive international hit "Jean and Dinah" by Mighty Sparrow. This song too was a sly commentary as a "plan of action" for the calypsonian on the widespread prostitution and the prostitutes' desperation after the closing of the U.S. naval base on Trinidad at Chaguaramas.
In the Broadway-theatre musical Jamaica (1957), Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg cleverly parodied "commercial", Belafonte-style calypso.
Several films jumped on the calypso craze in 1957 such as Island in the Sun (20th Century Fox) that featured Belafonte and the low-budget films Calypso Joe (Allied Artists), Calypso Heat Wave (Columbia Pictures), and Bop Girl Goes Calypso (United Artists).
Robert Mitchum released an album, Calypso...Is Like So (1957), on Capitol records, capturing the sound, spirit, and subtleties of the genre.
Dizzy Gillespie recorded a calypso album "Jambo Caribe" (1964) with James Moody and Kenny Barron.
Soul shouter Gary "US" Bonds released a calypso album Twist up Calypso (1962) on Legrand records, shortly after returning home from his military post in Port of Spain.
Calypso had another short burst of commercial interest when Tim Burton's horror/comedy film Beetlejuice (1988) was released, and used Belafonte's "Jump In The Line" as the soundtrack´s headliner.
Calypso is part of a spectrum of similar folk and popular Caribbean styles that spans benna and mento, but remains the most prominent genre of Lesser Antillean music. Calypso's roots are somewhat unclear, but it can be traced to 18th-century Trinidad. Modern calypso, however, began in the 19th century, a fusion of disparate elements ranging from the masquerade song lavway, French Creole belair,[6] and the stick fighting chantwell. Calypso's early rise was closely connected with the adoption of Carnival by Trinidadian slaves, including camboulay drumming and the music masquerade processions.
Early forms of calypso were also influenced by jazz such as Sans Humanitae. In this extempo (extemporaneous) melody calypsonians lyricise impromptu, commenting socially or insulting each other, "sans humanité" or "without humanity" (which is again a reference to French influence).
Calypso evolved very closely with other pan-Atlantic musical genres such as jazz, mento, compas, son and highlife.
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