Music

RIP Calypsonian Rootsman (Yafeu Osei)

Reading Time 1 mins   By Clevil James Calypsonian Rootsman (Yafeu Osei) passed away from complications with diabetes on Friday August 20 at his home in Trinidad. Rootsman, born in Tobago 64 year ago, started singing as a student in elementary school, where he won a competition in 1967.  In 1976 he made the decision to fulfil his dreams and become a professional calypsonian. Rootsman, although skilled in calypsoes on social commentary, was better known for his soca numbers like Parkway Rock, Rach Meh-Rack Meh, Soca In The Palace etc. etc. Rootsman has received numerous honours from all over the world… Read More »RIP Calypsonian Rootsman (Yafeu Osei)

BDN Editorial

Reading Time 2 mins“Universities are tuning out thousands of reporters. They are quite bright and they don’t have to rhyme.” – Slinger Francisco (Mighty Sparrow).   Big Drum Nation wishes to extend congratulations to the thousands of our cultural artists, performers of all stripes, administrators and revelers that have worked assiduously for many months in making a successful Spice Mas 2015. Our heartiest congratulations go out to King Man Ajamu on being our Calypso Monarch for the second consecutive year and for an unprecedented nine times. Special recognition also goes out to Rootsman Kelly (first runner up), and Baracka (the youngest participant and… Read More »BDN Editorial

Carnival: A Mass Plays Mas’ [Caldwell Taylor]

Reading Time 1 minsCarnival: A Mass Plays Mas’   [Part 1 of 2]  ***Draft: Not for Quotation, Citation or Distribution*** Carnival seeks to regain a lost Paradise ; it plays to recover the world that predated the Fall. Carnival reveals the two faces behind a wire-mesh mask :”the Agony of Exile”and the “Joy of a Certain Return”. Carnival is Wilson Harris‘ “infinite rehearsal”; it is calypsonian Lord Shorty’s “Endless Vibrations.” Carnival is the surfacing of the submerged! “Carnival is that time when every joke is allowed,” say the Italians.   “Life is a Carnaval”, sings Celia Cruz [1925-2003] in “La Vida es un… Read More »Carnival: A Mass Plays Mas’ [Caldwell Taylor]

A Carnival Story by M. Martin Lewis [part 2 of 2]

Reading Time 2 mins[Continued: Link to part 1 Like everything Shortknee their songs were just as much a mystery. Unlike Jab Jab songs, they were not created in any village on some moonlight night; no one claimed authorship, heck they were not even in our language. They seemed to have verses where chorus should be and they referenced things, places and people that were outside the known universe. There are Shortknee Q & A’s that have troubled me all my life. Why their sleeves were so big? And was there any significance to the colors of their costumes? Who made… Read More »A Carnival Story by M. Martin Lewis [part 2 of 2]

A CARNIVAL STORY by M. Martin Lewis [part 1 of 2]

Reading Time 2 minsA CARNIVAL STORY By M. Martin Lewis Note well: I’m not talking about this lovable cuddly Shortknee in New York that Val and company play every year, advertising in Carib News and lifting their masks to peer into NBC cameras on Eastern Parkway. As anything in New York, that’s the watered down version of my earliest fears. A real Shortknee’s face was never exposed; you guessed at who it was. Exposing the identity of the Shortknee was a no no. Not one part of a Shortknee body’s could ever be exposed, and therein lay the evil; how… Read More »A CARNIVAL STORY by M. Martin Lewis [part 1 of 2]

CARNIVAL PROCLAMATIONS

Reading Time 1 minsBakhtin wrote: “Carnival is a pageant without floodlights and without a division into performers and spectators.”   Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975) Russian philosopher, literary critic, semiotician, and the putative “father of Carnival Studies.”   “Carnival Proclamation”, the title of a Lord Melody composition. Melody [aka Fitzroy Alexander] was born in Trinidad to a Grenadian mother. A handful of Melody’s calypsoes were performed and recorded by Harry Belafonte. Belafonte’s likeness is featured on a Grenadian postage stamp. Melody’s “Carnival Proclamation” NOTICE   CARNIVAL REGULATIONS THE public is hereby warned that the following acts constitute offences against the law:- (a) Celebrating… Read More »CARNIVAL PROCLAMATIONS

Pan! Our Musical Odyssey (Now at Queens Museum)

Reading Time 3 minsOriginating in Trinidad in the late 1930s, the steel pan is the most important acoustic musical instrument invented in the 20th century. Steel pan is the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago but is also one of the cultural icons of the Caribbean region. What is the history of this unique musical instrument?  A new documentary [docudrama] Pan! Our Musical Odyssey produced by Jean-Michel Gibert and Barthélémy Fougea and written by foremost Trinbagonian historian of pan, Kim Johnson, recreates the epic story of pan as it moved from various kinds of steel containers to oil drums, and its central role… Read More »Pan! Our Musical Odyssey (Now at Queens Museum)