The music of Barbados includes distinctive national styles of
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
and
popular music
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...
, including elements of
Western classical
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
and
religious music
Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as ritual. Relig ...
. The
culture of Barbados
The culture of Barbados is a blend of West African and British cultures present in Barbados. English is the official language of the nation, reflecting centuries of British influence, but the Bajan dialect in which it is spoken is an iconic part ...
is a syncretic mix of African and British elements, and the island's music reflects this mix through song types and styles, instrumentation, dances, and aesthetic principles.
Barbadian folk traditions include the
Landship
A landship is a large vehicle that travels exclusively on land. Its name is meant to distinguish it from vehicles that travel through other mediums such as conventional ships, airships, and spaceships.
Military committees
Landship Committee
...
movement, which is a satirical, informal organization based on the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
,
tea meeting
The tea meeting tradition is a part of the culture of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Barbados and the Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the eas ...
s,
tuk band
A tuk band is a kind of Barbadian musical ensemble, which plays tuk or rukatuk music. They consist of a double-headed bass drum, triangle, flute and a snare drum; the traditional fiddle has most recently been replaced by the pennywhistle
The ...
s and numerous traditional songs and dances. In modern Barbados, popular styles include calypso,
spouge
Spouge is a style of Barbadian popular music created by Jackie Opel in the 1960s. It is primarily a fusion of Jamaican ska with Trinidadian calypso, but is also influenced by a wide variety of musics from the British Isles and United States, inc ...
,
contemporary folk
Contemporary folk music refers to a wide variety of genres that emerged in the mid 20th century and afterwards which were associated with traditional folk music. Starting in the mid-20th century a new form of popular folk music evolved from tradit ...
and world music. Barbados is, along with Guadeloupe, Martinique, Trinidad, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, one of the few centres for Caribbean jazz.De Ledesma and Popplewell, pg. 518
Characteristics and musical identity
Bajan culture is syncretic, and the island's musical culture is perceived as a mixture of African and British musics, with certain unique elements that may derive from indigenous sources. Tension between African and British culture has long been a major element of Basian history, and has included the banning of certain African-derived practices and black Barbadian parodies of British traditions. Simple entertainment is the basis for most Barbadians' participation in music and dance activities, though religious and other functional musics also occur. Barbadian folk culture declined in importance in the 20th century, but then rekindled in the 1970s, when many Barbadians became interested in their national culture and history.Millington, pp 813-821 This change was heralded by the arrival of
spouge
Spouge is a style of Barbadian popular music created by Jackie Opel in the 1960s. It is primarily a fusion of Jamaican ska with Trinidadian calypso, but is also influenced by a wide variety of musics from the British Isles and United States, inc ...
, a popular national genre that reflects Barbadian heritage and African origins; spouge helped kindle a resurgence in national pride, and became viewed as Barbados' answer to the popular Caribbean genres
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
and calypso from Jamaica and Trinidad, respectively.Hinkson, ''The Barbados Advocate''
The religious music of the Barbadian Christian churches plays an important role in Barbadian musical identity, especially in urban areas. Many distinctive Barbadian musical and other cultural traditions derive from parodies of Anglican church hymns and British military
drill
A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a bit, either a drill or driverchuck. Hand-operated types are dramatically decreasing in popularity and cordless battery-powered ones proliferating due to ...
s. The British military performed exhibition drills to both provide security for the island's population, as well as intimidate slaves. cited in Millington, pp 813-821 Modern Barbadian
tea meeting
The tea meeting tradition is a part of the culture of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Barbados and the Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the eas ...
Landship
A landship is a large vehicle that travels exclusively on land. Its name is meant to distinguish it from vehicles that travel through other mediums such as conventional ships, airships, and spaceships.
Military committees
Landship Committee
...
tradition and many folk songs come from slaves parodying the practices of white authorities. British-Barbadians used music for cultural and intellectual enrichment and to feel a sense of kinship and connection with the British Isles through the maintenance of British musical forms. Plantation houses featured music as entertainment at balls, dances and other gatherings. For Afro-Barbadians, drum, vocal and dance music was an integral part of everyday life, and songs and performance practices were created for normal, everyday events, as well as special celebrations like Whitsuntide,
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
,
Easter
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
,
Landship
A landship is a large vehicle that travels exclusively on land. Its name is meant to distinguish it from vehicles that travel through other mediums such as conventional ships, airships, and spaceships.
Military committees
Landship Committee
...
and Crop Over. These songs remain a part of Barbadian culture and form a rich folk repertoire.Western classical music is the most socially accepted form of musical expression for Barbadians in
Bridgetown
Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the capital and largest city of Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Island ...
, including a variety of vocal music,
chamber
Chamber or the chamber may refer to:
In government and organizations
*Chamber of commerce, an organization of business owners to promote commercial interests
*Legislative chamber, in politics
*Debate chamber, the space or room that houses deliber ...
and
orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
l music, and
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
and
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
. Along with
hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...
s,
oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...
s,
cantata
A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir.
The meaning of ...
s and other religious music, chamber music of the Western tradition remains an important part of Barbadian music through an integral role in the services of the Anglican church.
History
Though inhabited prior to the 16th century, little is known about Barbadian music before the arrival of the Portuguese in 1536 and then the English in 1627. The Portuguese left little influence, but English culture and music helped shape the island's heritage. Irish and Scottish settlers emigrated in the 17th century, working in the
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
industry, bringing still more new music to the island. The middle of the 17th century saw the decline of the tobacco industry and the rise of
sugarcane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...
, as well as the introduction of large numbers of African slaves. Brazilian exiles however, along with sugarcane introduced
Samba
Samba (), also known as samba urbano carioca (''urban Carioca samba'') or simply samba carioca (''Carioca samba''), is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Havin ...
to the island which featured a mixture of Latin music with African influences which soon developed into Soca-Samba which is indigenous to Barbados. Modern Barbadian music is thus largely a combination of English and African elements, with Irish, Scottish, and modern American and Caribbean (especially Jamaican) influences as well.
By the 19th century, the Barbadian colonialists grew to fear slave revolts, and specifically, the use of music as a tool of communication and planning for revolution. As a result, the government passed laws to restrict musical activities among slaves. At the same time, American and other forms of imported music were brought to Barbados, while many important elements of modern Barbadian music, like ''
tuk band
A tuk band is a kind of Barbadian musical ensemble, which plays tuk or rukatuk music. They consist of a double-headed bass drum, triangle, flute and a snare drum; the traditional fiddle has most recently been replaced by the pennywhistle
The ...
''s, also emerged. In the 20th century, many new styles were imported to Barbados, most influentially including
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
,
ska
Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...
,
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
soca
Soca or SOCA may refer to:
Places
* Soča, a river in Slovenia and Italy
* Soča, Bovec, Slovenia
* Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport, by ICAO code
* Soca, a village in Banloc Commune, Timiș County, Romania
* SoCa, Southern California
Other u ...
. Barbados became home to many performers of these new genres, especially soca and calypso, while the island also produced an indigenous style called
spouge
Spouge is a style of Barbadian popular music created by Jackie Opel in the 1960s. It is primarily a fusion of Jamaican ska with Trinidadian calypso, but is also influenced by a wide variety of musics from the British Isles and United States, inc ...
, which became an important symbol of Barbadian identity.
Folk music
Barbadian culture and music are mixtures of European and African elements, with minimal influence from the indigenous peoples of the island, about whom little is known. Significant numbers of Asian, specifically Chinese and Japanese, people have moved to Barbados, but their music is unstudied and has had little impact on Barbadian music.
The earliest reference to Afro-Barbadian music may come from a description of a slave rebellion, in which the rebels were inspired to fight by music played on skin drums, conch trumpets and animal horns. Slavery continued, however, and the colonial and slaveowning authorities eventually outlawed musical instruments among slaves. By the end of the 17th century, a distinctly Barbadian folk culture developed, based around influences and instruments from Africa, Britain and other Caribbean islands.
Early Barbadian folk music, despite legal restrictions, was a major part of life among the island's slave population. For the slaves, music was "essential for recreation and dancing and as a part of the life cycle for communication and religious meaning". African musicians also provided the music for the white landowners' private parties, while the slaves developed their own party music, culminating in the crop over festival, which began in 1688. The earliest crop over festivals featured dancing and call-and-response singing accompanied by ''
shak-shak
The shak-shak (or ''chak-chak'') is a kind of Antillean musical instrument, similar to maracas or shakers. They are played in Barbados, Montserrat, Grenada and elsewhere in the Caribbean. Their uses include Montserratian string bands and t ...
'',
banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
,
bone
A bone is a Stiffness, rigid Organ (biology), organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red blood cell, red and white blood cells, store minerals, provid ...
s and bottles containing varying amounts of water.
Folk song
Barbadian traditional folk songs are heavily influenced by the music of England. Many traditional songs concern events current at the time of their composition, such as the emancipation of the slaves of Barbados, and the coronations of Victoria,
George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936.
Born duri ...
, and
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
; this song tradition dates back to 1650. The most influential Barbadian folk songs are associated with the island's lower-class labourers, who have held on to their folk heritage.
Some Barbadian songs and stories made their way back to England, most famously "Inckle the English Sailor" and "Yarico the Indian Maid", which became English plays and an opera by
George Coleman
George Edward Coleman (born March 8, 1935) is an American jazz saxophonist known for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s. In 2015, he was named an NEA Jazz Master.
Early life
Coleman was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He was ...
with music by
Samuel Arnold Samuel Arnold may refer to:
*Samuel Arnold (composer) (1740–1802), English composer and organist
* Samuel Arnold (Connecticut politician) (1806–1869), U.S. Representative from Connecticut
* Samuel Arnold (conspirator) (1834–1906), co-conspira ...
, and firsty performed in London in 1787.
Contemporary Barbadian folk songs, especially through the pioneering albums of author and singer-songwriter
Anthony Kellman
Anthony Kellman (born 24 April 1955) is a Barbados-born poet, novelist, and musician.
In 1990, the British publishing house Peepal Tree Press published his first full-length book of poetry, ''Watercourse'', which was endorsed by the late Martin ...
, show a bold fusion of indigenous rhythms such as tuk and calypso with African, Latin, jazz, pop, and East Indian influences. Kellman's songs such as "Mountain" (from 2000 album "Wings of A Stranger"); "King Jaja" and "My Dog, Your Dog" (from 2005 album "Limestone"); and "If You See My Girl" and "Tuk, Tabla, and Fedounoum" (from 2009 album ''Blood Mates''), exemplify his eclectic style. More than any of his contemporaries, Kellman, through his songs, poems, and novels, demonstrates what it means to be Barbadian through a hybrid mix of African and European cultural elements.
Dance
Barbadian folk dances include a wide variety of styles, performed at
Landship
A landship is a large vehicle that travels exclusively on land. Its name is meant to distinguish it from vehicles that travel through other mediums such as conventional ships, airships, and spaceships.
Military committees
Landship Committee
...
, holidays and other occasions. Dancers and other performers at the crop over festivals, for example, are popular and an iconic part of Barbadian culture, known for dancing in the costumes of sugarcane-cutters. The Landship movement features song and dance meant to imitate the passage of a Royal Navy ship through rough seas; Landship and other occasions also feature African-derived improvised and complexly-rhythmic dances, and British hornpipes,
jig
The jig ( ga, port, gd, port-cruinn) is a form of lively folk dance in compound metre, as well as the accompanying dance tune. It is most associated with Irish music and dance. It first gained popularity in 16th-century Ireland and parts o ...
s,
maypole
A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place.
The festivals may occur on 1 May or Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some countries it is instead erected at ...
dances and Marches.
The ''
Jean and Johnnie
Jean may refer to:
People
* Jean (female given name)
* Jean (male given name)
* Jean (surname)
Fictional characters
* Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character
* Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations
* Jean ...
'' dance was an important part of Barbadian culture until it was banned in the 19th century. This was a popular fertility dance performed outdoors at plantation fairs and other festivals, and was functional in that it allowed women to show off to men, and more rarely, vice versa. The dance was eventually banned because the dance was associated with non-Christian African traditions.
Instrumentation
The Barbadian folk tradition is home to a great variety of musical instruments, imported from Africa, Great Britain or other Caribbean islands. The most central instrument group in Barbadian culture is the
percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
s. These include numerous drums, among them the ''pump'' and the '' tum tum'', made from a hollowed-out tree trunk, the side
snare drum
The snare (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used ...
and a double-headed
bass drum
The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...
of tuk bands. Folk musicians also use gongs made from tree trunks, bones,
rook jaw
Rook (bird), Rook (''Corvus frugilegus'') is a bird of the Corvidae, corvid family. Rook or rooks may also refer to:
Games
*Rook (chess), a piece in chess
*Rook (card game), a trick-taking card game
Military
*Sukhoi Su-25 or Rook, a close air s ...
,
triangle
A triangle is a polygon with three Edge (geometry), edges and three Vertex (geometry), vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC.
In Euclidean geometry, an ...
,
cymbal
A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs soun ...
s, bottles filled with water, and
xylophone
The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in the ...
s.
Rattle
Rattle may refer to:
Instruments
* Crotalus (liturgy), a liturgical percussion instrument
* Rattle (percussion instrument), a type of percussion instrument
* Rattle (percussion beater), a part of some percussion instruments
* Ratchet (instrume ...
s are also widespread, and include the pan-Antillean ''
shak-shak
The shak-shak (or ''chak-chak'') is a kind of Antillean musical instrument, similar to maracas or shakers. They are played in Barbados, Montserrat, Grenada and elsewhere in the Caribbean. Their uses include Montserratian string bands and t ...
'' and the calabash, ''de shot and rattle''. More recently imported folk percussion instruments include the
conga
The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest). ...
and bongo from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Cuba, and the
tambourine
The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...
.
String and wind instruments play an important role in Barbadian folk culture, especially the bow-
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...
,
banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
and acoustic
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
; more modern groups also use an electric and bass guitar. The '' shukster'' is a distinctive instrument, made by stretching a guitar string between two sides of a house. Traditional Barbadian wind instruments are largely metal, but in their folk origins, were made out of locally found materials. Barbadian villagers burned fingerholes, for example, on bamboo tubes, made trumpets out of
conch
Conch () is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point at both ends).
In North Am ...
shells and pipes from
pumpkin
A pumpkin is a vernacular term for mature winter squash of species and varieties in the genus ''Cucurbita'' that has culinary and cultural significance but no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning. The term ''pumpkin'' is sometimes use ...
vines. Many modern groups use
harmonica
The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...
,
accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
,
alto
The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...
and
tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...
,
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
and
trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...
.
Religious music
Though Western classical and other musics play an important role in Anglican church services on Barbados, religion and folk music are closely intertwined in the everyday lives of most Barbadians. The basis for religious folk music is the Anglican
hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...
, a kind of praise song mostly sung on Sundays, a day when Christian Barbadians come together with family members to sing and praise God to ask for strength for the next week's work.
Pentecostal music has become a part of Barbadian religious and musical traditions since the 1920s. Music plays a role in Pentecostal ceremonies, and is provided by emotional and improvised performances accompanied
tambourine
The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...
s. In addition to the Anglican and Pentecostal traditions, Rastafarian music has spread to the island in more recent years, along with African American musical forms, especially
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
, and the Spiritual Baptist religion, which derives from the Trinidadian Shango cult that spread to Barbados in the 1960s. One of the more Internationally known religious music groups from Barbados are The Silvertones of Barbados.
Holidays, festivals and other celebrations
A number of holidays, festivals and other celebrations play an integral role in Barbadian folk, and popular, music. Whitsuntide, Christmas, and Easter are important, each associated with their own musical traditions, as are distinctly Barbadian festivities like the crop over festival and the
Landship
A landship is a large vehicle that travels exclusively on land. Its name is meant to distinguish it from vehicles that travel through other mediums such as conventional ships, airships, and spaceships.
Military committees
Landship Committee
...
movement.
The original crop over festival celebrated the end of the sugarcane harvest. These festivals were held in the great house of the plantations, and included both slaves and plantation managers. Celebrations included drinking competitions, feasting, song and dance, and climbing a greased pole. Musical accompaniment was provided by triangle, fiddle, drums and a guitar, played by slave entertainers. Crop over festivals continue to play a part of Barbadian culture, and always feature music by performers in sugarcane-cutting costumes, even though many modern performers are not themselves sugarcane-cutters.
The Barbadian Landship movement is an informal entertainment organization which mocks, through mimicry and satire, the Royal Navy. Landship began in 1837, founded by an individual known variously as ''Moses Ward'' and ''Moses Wood'', in Britton's Hall in Seamen's Village. The structure of the Landship organization mirrors the structure of the Royal Navy, with a "ship" which is connected to a "dock" (a wooden house similar to a
chattel house
Chattel house is a Barbadian term for a small moveable wooden house that working class people would occupy. The term goes back to the plantation days when the home owners would buy houses designed to move from one property to another. The word " c ...
), and leaders known as ''Lord High Admiral'', ''Captain'', ''Boatswain'' and other navy ranks. Each unit is named like a typical navy ship and may include actual names of British ships or places. Landship performances symbolize and reflect the passage of ships through rough seas. Parades, jigs, hornpipes, maypole dances and other music and dance types are a part of the Landship Society's celebrations. The
Council of the Barbados Landship Association
A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...
regulates the movement.
Barbadian Christmas music is mostly based on church and concert hall performances, where typical North American
Christmas carol
A Christmas carol is a carol (a song or hymn) on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French ori ...
Henry Walford Davies
Sir Henry Walford Davies (6 September 1869 – 11 March 1941) was an English composer, organist, and educator who held the title Master of the King's Music from 1934 until 1941. He served with the Royal Air Force during the First World War, dur ...
and
Thomas Tallis
Thomas Tallis (23 November 1585; also Tallys or Talles) was an English composer of High Renaissance music. His compositions are primarily vocal, and he occupies a primary place in anthologies of English choral music. Tallis is considered one o ...
. In more recent years, calypso, reggae and other new elements have become a part of local Christmas traditions. As recently as the 1960s, Barbados was home to a distinctive practice, in which ''scrubbers'' travelled from house to house singing hymns and receiving rewards from households.
Tuk bands and tea meetings
Tuk bands are Barbadian musical ensembles, consisting of a bow-
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...
or pennywhistle flute, kittle triangle and a snare and double-headed bass drum. The kittle and bass drum provide the rhythm, while the flute gives the melody.All About Barbados: Tuk bands The drums are light-weight so they can be carried easily, and are made by both rural villagers and drummers using cured sheepskin and goatskin. Tuk bands are based on the British military's regimental bands, which played for many years for special occasions, like visiting royalty and coronations. The tuk sound has evolved over the years, as has the instrumentation, with the bow-fiddle used before being most commonly replaced by the pennywhistle flute. Tuk bands are now most common in Landship events, but are still sometimes independent. On their own, tuk bands are generally accompanied by a range of iconic Barbadian characters, including "shaggy bears", "mother sally", "the steel donkey" and "green monkeys". The upbeat modern sound of tuk ensembles are a distinctly Barbadian blend of African and British musics.
Tea meeting
The tea meeting tradition is a part of the culture of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Barbados and the Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the eas ...
s are celebrations held in society lodges or school halls, and feature both solo and group performance, theatrical
rhetoric
Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...
and oratory, and other activities. After declining following
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, tea meetings have recently been revived and have regained their widespread popularity. They are held at nighttime, beginning at 9:00 pm and continuing until midnight, when there is a two-hour break for food and drink before the tea meeting is resumed.
Popular music
Barbados has produced few internationally popular musicians, with worldwide pop superstar
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the ...
being the most famous. It has however created a well-developed local scene playing imported styles like American
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
spouge
Spouge is a style of Barbadian popular music created by Jackie Opel in the 1960s. It is primarily a fusion of Jamaican ska with Trinidadian calypso, but is also influenced by a wide variety of musics from the British Isles and United States, inc ...
style. Calypso was the first popular music in Barbados, and dates back to the 1930s. Barbadian calypso is a comedic song form, accompanied by guitar and banjo. More recent styles of calypso have also kept a local scene alive, and produced a number of famous calypsonians. Spouge is a mixture of calypso and other styles, especially
ska
Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...
, and became very popular in the 1960s, around the same time as the Barbadian jazz scene grew in stature and became home to a number of famous performers. Modern Barbadian popular music is largely based around
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
,
ragga
Raggamuffin music, usually abbreviated as ragga, is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The instrumentals primarily consist of electronic music. Similar to hip hop, sampling often serves a prominent role in raggamuffin music.
Wayne Sm ...
and
soca
Soca or SOCA may refer to:
Places
* Soča, a river in Slovenia and Italy
* Soča, Bovec, Slovenia
* Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport, by ICAO code
* Soca, a village in Banloc Commune, Timiș County, Romania
* SoCa, Southern California
Other u ...
, and includes some elements of indigenous styles. Artists like Terencia Coward have used modern popular music with instrumentation borrowed from folk '' tuk'' bands. Two of the more popular bands of Barbadian popular music are Krosfyah and Square One ow defunct Artists such as Shirley Stewart, the lead singer of the band The Escorts International has gone on to produce hit songs like the classic
Walk Away From Love
"Walk Away from Love" is a song recorded by American singer David Ruffin in 1975. The million-selling single, produced by Van McCoy and written by Charles Kipps, was number one on the US R&B Singles Chart for one week in early 1976, and crossed o ...
which is one of the most-played songs on the party scene in Barbados and through the world.
Walk Away From Love
"Walk Away from Love" is a song recorded by American singer David Ruffin in 1975. The million-selling single, produced by Van McCoy and written by Charles Kipps, was number one on the US R&B Singles Chart for one week in early 1976, and crossed o ...
remained at number one on the charts for months both in Barbados and throughout the Caribbean. The new wave of singers, largely soca, include Rupee, Lil' Rick and Jabae with lead vocalist Bruce and Barry Chandler, all recent winners at crop over. A more experimental artist such as poet and fiction writer Anthony Kellman writes thoughtful poetic lyrics delivered in a musical style deeply rooted in Barbadian indigenous folk music with strong elements of African and Latin influences. His albums ''Wings of a Stranger'', ''Limestone'', and ''Blood Mates'' have been described as groundbreaking due to his highly original style.
Calypso
Prior to the 1930s, Barbadian calypso was called ''banja'', and was performed by labourers in village-tenantry areas. Itinerant minstrels like Mighty Jerry, Shilling Agard and Slammer were well-known forerunners of modern Barbadian calypso. Their song tradition embraced sentimentality, humor, and opinionated lyrics that continued to the 1960s, often by then accompanied by guitar or banjo.
The mid-20th century brought new forms of music from
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
and the
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...
to Barbados, and the Barbadian calypso style came to be viewed as lowbrow or inferior. Promoters like Lord Silvers and Mighty Dragon, however, kept the popular tradition alive through shows at the Globe Theatre, featuring pioneers
Mighty Romeo
Mighty may refer to:
*Mighty (The Planet Smashers album), ''Mighty'' (The Planet Smashers album)
*Mighty (Kristene DiMarco album), ''Mighty'' (Kristene DiMarco album)
*The Mighty (1929 film), ''The Mighty'' (1929 film), a 1929 American action film
...
, Sir Don Marshall, Lord Radio and the Bimshire Boys and Mike Wilkinson. These performers set the stage for the development of popular Barbadian calypso in the 1960s.
In the early 1960s, Barbadian calypso grew in popularity and stature, led by
Viper
The Viperidae (vipers) are a family of snakes found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipers), hinged fangs tha ...
,
Mighty Gabby
Anthony Carter (born 30 March 1948), better known as Mighty Gabby or simply Gabby, is a Barbadian calypsonian and folk singer, and a Cultural Ambassador for the island of Barbados.
Career
Born in Emmerton, Carter was given the nickname "Gabby ...
and The Merrymen. The first calypso competitions were held in 1960, and they quickly grew larger and more prominent. The Merrymen became the island's most prominent contribution to calypso by the 1970s and into the 80s. Their style, known as ''
blue beat
Blue Beat Records is an English record label that released Jamaican rhythm and blues (R&B) and ska music in the 1960s and later decades. Its reputation led to the use of the word ''bluebeat'' as a generic term to describe all styles of early Jamai ...
'', incorporated Barbadian folk songs and ballads, as well as American
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
,
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
, and a distinctive sound created by harmonica, guitar and banjo.
By the beginning of the 1980s, ''
kaiso
Kaiso is a type of music popular in Trinidad and Tobago, and other countries, especially of the Caribbean, such as Grenada, Belize, Barbados, St. Lucia and Dominica, which originated in West Africa particularly among the Efik and Ibibio peop ...
'', a form of stage-presented calypso pioneered in Trinidad, was widespread at crop over and other celebrations. The foundation of the
National Cultural Foundation The National Cultural Foundation (NCF) is a statutory body in Barbados, created by an Act of Parliament in March 1983. It organises several major local Barbadian events, including Congaline, National Independence Festival of Creative Arts and th ...
in 1984 helped to promote and administer calypso festivals, which attracted tourists, stimulating the calypso industry. As a result, calypso has become a very visible and iconic part of Barbadian culture, and some calypsonians have become internationally renowned, including
Mighty Gabby
Anthony Carter (born 30 March 1948), better known as Mighty Gabby or simply Gabby, is a Barbadian calypsonian and folk singer, and a Cultural Ambassador for the island of Barbados.
Career
Born in Emmerton, Carter was given the nickname "Gabby ...
and
Red Plastic Bag
Stedson Wiltshire, better known by the sobriquet of Red Plastic Bag, RPB, or merely Bag, is a calypsonian from Barbados. He has won the Barbadian calypso monarch competition a record ten times. Hailing from the eastern, rural Barbadian parish of ...
.
Spouge
Spouge is a style of Barbadian popular music created by Jackie Opel in the 1960s. It is primarily a fusion of Jamaican
ska
Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...
with Trinidadian calypso, but is also influenced by a wide variety of musics from the British Isles and United States, include
sea shanties
A sea shanty, chantey, or chanty () is a genre of traditional Folk music, folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large Merchant vessel, merchant Sailing ship, sailing vessels. The term ''shanty ...
, hymns and spirituals. Spouge instrumentation originally consisted of cowbell, bass guitar, trap set and various other electronic and percussion instruments, later augmented by
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...
,
trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...
and
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
s. Of these, the cowbell and the guitar are widely seen as the most integral part of the instrumentation, and are said to reflect the African origin of much of Barbadian music.
Two different kinds of spouge were popular in the 1960s, ''raw spouge'' (''Draytons Two style'') and ''dragon spouge'' (''Cassius Clay style''). The spouge industry grew immensely by the end of the 1970s, and produced popular stars like The Escorts International,
Blue Rhythm Combo
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obse ...
, the
Draytons Two
The Draytons Two were a popular Barbadian spouge band of the 1970s known for their own and unique style of syncretic spouge, the raw spouge. ''Raw Spouge'' is also the title of their first studio album published through Jamaican record label WIR ...
and
The Troubadours
The Troubadours are an English rock band comprising members from Liverpool, Runcorn and Wigan. The band was originally formed by Mark Frith and Johnny Molyneux in 2005, and they split in late 2009 but reformed in late 2011. Their debut singl ...
. Recent years has seen a resurgence of interest in spouge among some quarters, with people like
Desmond Weekes Desmond or Desmond's may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Desmond'' (novel), 1792 novel by Charlotte Turner Smith
* ''Desmond's'', 1990s British television sitcom
Ireland
* Kingdom of Desmond, medieval Irish kingdom
* Earl of Desmond, Irish a ...
of the Draytons Two indicating that spouge should be encouraged because it is a national form that can reach international audiences and inspire the nation's pride in their cultural heritage.
Jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
is a genre of music from the United States which reached Barbados by the end of the 1920s. The first major performer from the island was Lionel Gittens, who was followed by
Percy Green
Percy Green II, born in the Compton Hill neighborhood of St. Louis, is a social worker and Black activist in St. Louis, Missouri. He was active in the St. Louis chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and was a founding member of ACTI ...
swing
Swing or swinging may refer to:
Apparatus
* Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth
* Pendulum, an object that swings
* Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus
* Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse
* Swing rid ...
, a kind of pop-jazz, Barbadian calypso and
waltz
The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position.
History
There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...
es. With little recorded music on the island, radio broadcasts such as Willis Conover's ''
Voice of America
Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...
'' had a major influence. In 1937, riots over poverty and disenfranchisement occurred, and people like
Clement Payne Clement Osbourne Payne (1904 – 7 April 1941)"Payne, Clement", in Keith A. P. Sandiford, ''A Black Studies Primer: Heroes and Heroines of the African Diaspora'', Hansib Publications, 2008, p. 363.Barbados Labour Party was formed by C. A. Braithwaite and
Grantley Adams
Sir Grantley Herbert Adams, CMG, QC (28 April 1898 – 28 November 1971) was a Barbadian politician. He served as the inaugural premier of Barbados from 1953 to 1958 and then became the first and only prime minister of the West Indies Federa ...
.Pinckney, pp 58-88
As political awareness among the black majority on the island spread, so did bebop, a kind of jazz which was associated, in the United States, with social activism and
Afrocentrism
Afrocentrism is an approach to the study of world history that focuses on the history of people of recent African descent. It is in some respects a response to Eurocentric attitudes about African people and their historical contributions. It ...
. The first Barbadian bebop musician from the island was Keith Campbell, a pianist who had learned to play many styles while living in Trinidad during a time when American soldiers were stationed there, providing a ready market for bands that could play American music. Other musicians of this period included Ernie Small, a trumpeter and pianist, and bandleader St. Clare Jackman.
In the 1950s, R&B and
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
became popular on the island, and many jazz bands found themselves pushed aside. A wave of Guyanese musicians also appeared on the island, including Colin Dyall, a saxophonist who later joined the Police Band, and the
Ebe Gilkes Quartet The Ebe Gilkes Quartet was a Guyanese band that became very popular on Barbados in the 1950s, led by Trinidadian jazz pianist Edwin "Ebe" Gilkes.
Other members:
* James Gilkes
* Jesus Gilkes
* Gilkes Gilkes
*Arturo Tappin
History
In the 1950s, ...
. Though mainstream audiences were still listening to R&B and rock, modern jazz retained a small core of followers into the 1960s. The foundation of the
Belair Jazz Club
Belair or Bélair may refer to:
People
*Sanité Bélair (1781–1802), Haitian freedom fighter
Places Historic locations
* Belair (Nashville, Tennessee), United States
* Belair Development, Maryland, United States
*Belair Mansion (Bowie, Marylan ...
in Bridgetown in 1961 helped to keep this scene alive. With independence in 1966 came a focus on black Barbadian culture, and music like calypso, reggae and spouge, rather than the preoccupation with British standards of musical development.
Calypso jazz
Calypso is a style of Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago during the early to the mid-19th century and spread to the rest of the Caribbean Antilles and Venezuela by the mid-20th century. Its rhythms can be traced back to Wes ...
arose during this period, pioneered by groups like the
Schofield Pilgrim Schofield Pilgrim was a Barbadian jazz group of the late 20th century, most notable for helping to pioneer the calypso jazz genre. They collaborated with American jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker
Charles Par ...
. The genre had developed by 1965, when original works like "Jouvert Morning" and "Calypso Lament" were composed. Artists like the pianist Adrian Clarke became popular during the 60s as well.
In the early 1970s, jazz fan and critic Carl Moore launched a project to keep jazz alive on the island, while
Zanda Alexander Zanda may refer to:
* ''Zanda'' (bird), a genus of three species of black cockatoo
* Zanda County, county in Tibet
* Zanda, Tibet, seat of Zanda County
* Zanda (given name)
* Princess Zanda, a fictional Marvel Comics character
* "Zanda", a song by ...
's performance in Bridgetown in 1972 is said to be the first Caribbean jazz festival.
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, ...
's 1976 performance in Trinidad also inspired Barbadian musicians, as did the radio program ''Jazz Jam'', which was broadcast starting in the mid-70s on the Caribbean Broadcast Corporation. In 1983, however, the Belair Jazz Club closed, and was not replaced by any long-term clubs. Later in the 1980s, jazz declined greatly in popularity, though The National Cultural foundation organized the International Barbados/Caribbean Jazz Festival, which after a brief hiatus due to lack of sponsorship was resurrected by Gilbert Rowe of GMR international tours. Other performances were organized by a group called the Friends of Jazz. More jazz calypso fusion musicians appeared on the scene during this period, including Arturo Tappin, Nicholas Brancker, Andre Woodvine and Raf Robertson .
Rock
Rock music is alive and well in Barbados, there have been several bands through the years that perform alternative, rock and even metal music. Most recently the Alt/Rock/Metal band Standing Penance formed in 2009. The band continues to operate in present-day and is the only act of this genre to be signed to an American record label.
Education and musicology
Academic study of Barbadian music remains limited. Some song collections and other activities have been conducted, but there remain significant holes in scholarship, such as the musics of recent immigrants from China and India, who presumably have brought with them styles of
Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
and Chinese musics. Due to a lack of archaeological and historical records, the island's indigenous music is unknown. Since the 1970s, an increase in general interest in Barbadian culture has spurred greater study of music, and given an incentive to radio and television stations to create and maintain archives of cultural practices.
On modern Barbados, oral transmission remains the primary mode of
music education
Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do origina ...
, and there are few opportunities for most people to become formally educated in music of any kind. The elders of the island, who are the most educated in oral traditions, are held in high esteem due to their knowledge of folk culture. Modern Barbados is home to several institutions of musical education. There are dedicated schools for
ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
: Dance Place and the Liz Mahon Dancers. A number of schools sponsor orchestras, steelbands and tuk bands, including the St. Lucy Secondary School Steel Orchestra. Music is a part of the curriculum for early childhood as well as primary and secondary education. The Barbados Community College has an associate degree programme in music. However, the
University of the West Indies
The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in th ...
, though it has a campus on Barbados, does not offer degree programs in music. As a matter of fact, only recently has the university started offering students the opportunity to pursue a minor in music.
Music institutions and festivals
The main
music festival
A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...
in Barbados is Crop Over, which is celebrated with song, dance,
calypso tent
Calypso tents are venues in which calypsonians perform during the Carnival season. They usually are cinema halls, community centers, or other indoor buildings which have seating and stage arrangements to host the entertainers, guests and patrons; ...
competitions and parades, especially leading up to the first Monday in August, ''Kadooment Day''. The crop over festival celebrates the end of the
sugarcane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...
harvest, and is inaugurated by the ritual delivery of the last of the harvest on a cart pulled by mules. The champion sugarcane workers are crowned King and Queen for the event.Cameron, pp 770-771 In addition to crop over, music plays an important role in many other Barbadian holidays and festivals. The Easter
Oistins Fish Festival
The Oistins Fish Festival is a folk festival that has taken place in Oistins, Barbados every Easter since 1967. The purpose of the festival is to acknowledge the people involved in the fishing industry
The fishing industry includes any industry o ...
, for example features a street party with music to celebrate the signing of the ''
Charter of Barbados
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
'' and the fishing industry of the island, and the
Holetown Festival
Holetown (UN/LOCODE: BB HLT), is a small city located in the Caribbean island nation of Barbados. Holetown is located in the parish of Saint James on the sheltered west coast of the island.
History
In 1625, Holetown (formerly as St. James Tow ...
, which commemorates the arrival of the first settlers in 1627.
The annual December Classical/Pops Festival comprises an all-star orchestra accompanied by pop and rock stars, Broadway performers, opera singers, and film composers as featured guests.
Opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
,
cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...
and sports are a major part of the Easter Holders Season. On 30 November, the Barbadian Independence Day, military bands in parades play marches, calypsos and other popular songs. This is preceded for several weeks by the
National Independence Festival of Creative Arts
The National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) is a festival organized by the National Cultural Foundation, held annually to commemorate the independence of Barbados.
Music and other performing arts have been a part of the festival s ...
National Cultural Foundation The National Cultural Foundation (NCF) is a statutory body in Barbados, created by an Act of Parliament in March 1983. It organises several major local Barbadian events, including Congaline, National Independence Festival of Creative Arts and th ...
(NCF); the other is
Congaline
Congaline is a large village on the Caribbean island of Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies ...
, a recently organized street party that begins in April and ends on May Day. NCF also assists with the Holers Opera Season, Oistins Fish Festival, Holetown Festival and the
B'dos Jazz Festival
The Barbados Jazz Festival was an annual music festival on the Caribbean island of Barbados. It was a week-long celebration held annually in January in Bridgetown.
The festival began in 1993. Acts who performed included James Blunt, Dwane Husbands ...
Cavite Choral
Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite ( tl, Lalawigan ng Kabite; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Located on the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest o ...
. There are also dance and
ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
Dance Strides
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...
Dancing Africa
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...
. The island's music industry is home to several recording studios, the largest being ''Blue Wave'', a 48-track system, and ''Paradise Alley'', a 24-track system. Others include Chambers' Studio, Gray Lizard Productions and Ocean Lab Studios.