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Wednesday November 25, 2020
October was officially declared “Calypso History Month” by TUCO (Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organization) in 2002. And in 2008, the Government of Jamaica announced that the month of February would be officially declared “Reggae Month”. Institutionalized recognition of these two major genres that straddle the extremities of the Caribbean archipelago, both having roots traced to Africa, are acknowledgements of what the people of the region have long known – the peoples’ music runs through the veins of the region.
Harry Belafonte, a figure that exemplified the cross pollination of both streams of these primary Caribbean artforms, reminds us that among its many functions, work songs, with its plantation roots, were principally used to maintain a steady pace and coordinate the speed and repetition of group work while mitigating rampant exploitation. Yet, it also fomented social and political commentary. Both calypso and reggae originated in the struggle for emancipation and self-determination but later evolved to characterize themes as diverse as anti-fascism, women’s rights, anti-racism, the Cold War, apartheid, police brutality, cost of living, independence, African liberation, as well as the full range of human emotions. It is worth noting that Belafonte’s unparalleled commercial success with the 1956 album ‘Calypso’, which blends the folk influences of both Trinidad and Jamaica, became the first LP album to sell over a million copies. As important as its commercial value, the social justice themes in Caribbean music have been a source of agency and a tool for liberation and resistance against oppression.
In this closing 2020 release, Big Drum Nation pays tribute to Caribbean music with a diverse set of reflections on the contributions of calypso and reggae – our foremost institutions – to the cultural and political consciousness of the region’s peoples. We begin with Rhoma Spencer as she reflects on a critical function of the calypso artform, “Calypso as Drama and Its Theatricality”; Richard Hoyen notes the continuing and growing influence of Jamaican reggae legend Bob Marley in “Bob Marley: 75 and Growing”; Sir David Simmons speaks to “The Importance of the Calypso to the People of the Caribbean” in a title commentary; Winthrop Holder, discusses Shadow’s phenomenal work, which samples many philosophical currents, in “Dr. Winston ‘Shadow’ Bailey’s ‘Evolution’: ‘Write That Down In History’!(II)”; while Martin Felix’s LKJ interview, Reggae, art and politics: The revolutionary poetry of Linton Kwesi Johnson, spotlights a celebrated reggae artist, writer and scholar, who has straddled the literary and performance world internationally, and; Richard Grant’s “Bob Marley 1 : 0 Reggae Boys” wraps up the BDN year-end release using Bob Marley as both prayer and symbolism for the perpetuation of Jamaican sporting prowess.
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BDN Editors