bigdrumnation

Reading Time 4 mins GOUYAVE’S MELROSE HOUSE By Caldwell Taylor “Imbued with the message from the past, the historic monuments of generations of people remain to the present day as living witnesses of their age-old traditions.” — From a statement adopted by ICOMOS in 1965. ICOMOS is the International Council on Monuments and Sites. A Living Witness to Gouyave’s History Melrose House is an architectural and aesthetic landmark, a “living witness” to the encounters and exchanges, collusions and collisions that are the true hallmarks of Grenadian and Caribbean history. The iconic building is an unmistakable repository of Gouyaveniss. Indeed, this… Read More »GOUYAVE’S MELROSE HOUSE — Caldwell Taylor

Reading Time 3 minsKAMLA SAYS – Name the Grand Stand after Sparrow – What it needs next COMMENTARY Julian Rogers – Monday, October 19th, 2026 Mia Mottley’s call for “Slave” to join the CXC syllabus drew the headlines from Sparrow’s farewell. But the Prime Minister who spoke after her, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, said two things that matter just as much, and she deserves the same careful reading. She began with a joke she shares with Mottley, that neither of them could ever have made a career as a singer, and then settled into a tribute better organised than most eulogies. Sparrow,… Read More »Name the Grand Stand after Sparrow: What it needs next — Julian Rogers

Reading Time 4 mins  The September 27, 2026 transition of Slinger Francisco, better known to the world as the Mighty Sparrow, marks the passing of one of the most consequential cultural figures to emerge from the Caribbean in the twentieth century. A kaiso vocalist, songwriter and guitarist, Sparrow was born in Grand Roi, Grenada, on July 9, 1935. He would become an institution in the kaiso tradition and an unmistakable voice in the cultural and political life of the Caribbean. His death at the age of 91 invites reflection not only on the man and his music, but also on… Read More »The Mighty Sparrow: Our Caribbean Giant Whose Voice Will Not Be Silenced — Martin P. Felix

Reading Time 11 mins July 9, 2025 Happy Birthday, Slinger Francisco, aka Mighty Sparrow! Today, his 89th birthday, Big Drum Nation is proud to republish a slightly edited 2020 article by founding editor Caldwell Taylor–A Birthday Tribute in recognition of the bard’s 66th year on the stage.  – BDN Editors “Calypso is a product of Caribbean people’s struggle to articulate an identity in response to numerous attempts at fragmentation.” – Carole Boyce-Davis Long after most of us are forgotten, certain calypsoes will survive as the only reminders to some later generation of how we lived, loved, laboured and sinned. –… Read More »THE SPARROW REVOLUTION: MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS IN THE BUSINESS AND STILL GOING STRONG –Caldwell Taylor

Reading Time 4 minsFrom gazing at the stars Newton and Galileo were inspired to launch a scientific revolution, whose material universe was telescopically visible (although Newton’s gravity, like his God, wasn’t). Of course they got a leg up from the Muslims, particularly their mathematics and their observation-based astronomy and optics, but it was Galileo’s radical idea to restrict natural philosophy – wisdom about nature – to physical phenomena that could be observed and quantified, such as speed, weight, volume, length, force, angle, direction. From that he concluded, “Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe.” (He should have… Read More »THE TREACHERY OF IMAGES — Kim Johnson

Reading Time 9 minsFebruary 21, 2025 Should members of a privileged enslaving family assume the moral authority to arbitrate restorative justice and the reparations cost remitted to the sons and daughters of enslaved Grenadians? The African American scholar John Henrik Clarke warned that one should be careful of the practice of begging at the doors of the very people who made you beggars in the first place. The logical extension is that one should be aware of one’s worth and accept nothing less. I reflected on this maxim as the news emerged recently that the aristocratic British Trevelyan family acknowledged… Read More »How Britons Underdeveloped Grenada — Martin P. Felix

Reading Time 5 minsWhen President Donald Trump posted a meme of himself planting a U.S. flag on Greenland, captioned “U.S. Territory Est. 2026,” the reaction was immediate. This action followed what was described as the “Trump Corollary,” an ideological revival and extension of the Monroe Doctrine, a doctrine long used to justify U.S. intervention across Latin America and the Caribbean. From a decolonial perspective, the Monroe Doctrine was never simply about excluding European empires, despite that being one of its stated objectives. It positioned the United States as the hemisphere’s dominant imperial actor. These actions sparked widespread responses, including concerns… Read More »“Lovely Pieces of Real Estates” — Martin Felix

Reading Time 4 minsSay My Name! Reclaiming Our Names, Reclaiming Our Minds “As long as you speak my name I shall live forever.” – African proverb Like the steelpan, born from resistance and creativity amid oppression, the Caribbean itself is a living symbol of unity forged through struggle. Out of discarded oil drums – relics of colonial industry – our ancestors created music that now resonates across the world, declaring that beauty and power can rise from the discarded steel of colonial shackles. This is the spirit of transformation that must now guide how we transform our sovereign post independence… Read More »Say My Name — Martin P. Felix

Reading Time 8 minsJuly 26, 2025 Cartoon by Gary Larson Some people like knock-knock jokes. My younger daughter’s mother likes elephant jokes and other people like cat videos. I like duck jokes, although I don’t know many, perhaps because I don’t play cricket. In fact, I only know one duck joke, which has to do with a ten-inch pianist, a genie hard of hearing and a million ducks – too long and convoluted to tell here. Also too corny. However, I think I can say that Gary Larson shares my taste for duck humour. One of his cartoons that I still recall… Read More »DUCK! WAYS OF TROPICAL BEING — Kim Johnson

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