Culture

Black Stalin: Unplugged… [a birthday tribute] by Winthrop Holder

Reading Time 3 minsBig Drum Nation joins Winthrop Holder in celebrating brother Stalin’s intellectual and artistic genius. We encourage you to share your unique Black Stalin moment. [BDN editors] First published September 24, 2015 Black Stalin: Unplugged… by Winthrop R. Holder “I sing for the people… I sing any place but… Just don’t tell me what not to sing.”  – Black Stalin Few of our contemporary artists and thinkers capture, reflect and challenge the sensibilities of our time, like Black Stalin. While his calypsos have penetrated our spheres of existence, his spoken words, which are equally inventive and biting, have… Read More »Black Stalin: Unplugged… [a birthday tribute] by Winthrop Holder

MY SHADOWMANIA By dalton narine

Reading Time 3 minsBig Drum Nation Mighty Shadow Tribute: MY SHADOWMANIA By dalton narine  NO STRANGER, THIS CALYPSOMAN SHADOW We were writers on the prowl. It was 1971 when Errol Pilgrim and I walked into Port Services to catch the Mighty Shadow’s first songs at a public venue.  Amid the sparseness, the stage was as dark as the mood. Then a small crowd started to build, and a figure in drag, so it seemed, walked across the stage as a skeleton. Shadow had arrived. He opened with Modern Housewives a funny paean of praise for the lady in the house.… Read More »MY SHADOWMANIA By dalton narine

Altering the Soundscape of New York City

Reading Time 5 minsAltering the Soundscape of New York City   Author Danielle Brown reflects on Radio Station WLIB which provided the Soundtrack of her youth and more…. This extract was taken from her latest work, East of Flatbush, North of Love: An Ethnography of Home which will be featured in a Community Discussion in celebration of Caribbean American Heritage Month on Tuesday June 13, 6.00 pm @ Medgar Evers College with Roger Toussaint, former president of the Transport Workers Union Local 100, Dr. Lawrence Waldron, City College, CUNY and, the author, Dr. Danielle Brown. Dr. Brown reflects on Radio Station… Read More »Altering the Soundscape of New York City

Book Discussion on a Pioneering Work on a Caribbean-American Enclave of Brooklyn

Reading Time 3 minsMUSIC SCHOLAR’S NEW BOOK HAS A SOUNDTRACK, READS LIKE A NOVEL, AND CLEVERLY TEACHES READERS WHAT THEY NEVER LEARNED IN SCHOOL ABOUT THE LEGACY OF COLONIALISM. What happens when a Brooklyn-born and bred music scholar of Trinidadian parentage decides to challenge academia and write a book her way? The result is East of Flatbush, North of Love: An Ethnography of Home, a clever and witty portrait of growing up in East Flatbush— a West Indian American neighborhood situated in the middle of Brooklyn—in the decades before gentrification. On Tuesday June 13, 6 p.m., in celebration of Caribbean… Read More »Book Discussion on a Pioneering Work on a Caribbean-American Enclave of Brooklyn

Women’s Rights are Human Rights — Keisha-Gaye Anderson

Reading Time 2 minsFirst published, March 8, 2017. Republished March 8, 2022 March 8 is celebrated globally as International Women’s Day (IWD). Originally organized by the Socialist Party of America, the celebrations first took place in February 1909 and were called International Working Women’s Day.  Big Drum Nation is commemorating the occasion by posting women’s reflections on the struggle for equality. Every year the celebrations embrace a special theme reflecting the urgency of the moment. This year, proceeding from the World Economic Forum’s prediction that the gender gap is unlikely to close entirely until 2186, the theme addresses this unacceptable state… Read More »Women’s Rights are Human Rights — Keisha-Gaye Anderson

Bob Marley 1 : 0 Reggae Boys — Richard Grant

Reading Time 4 mins03/05/2017 Richard Grant It is Pan-African, Pan-Caribbean, Pan-World. It is Pan Man. It endears Jamaica to the entire world; the essence of the Rastaman Bob Marley’s music and philosophy. It is One Love. The One Love ideal of social relations works well as a cultural and political construct. It is inclusive; a necessary myth for nation building, for positive international relations and for world peace, but it severely limits the goal average of Jamaica’s football team. Let’s get to the point. Jamaicans need to make an important decision on February 6th 2017 about Bob Marley. Betta mus… Read More »Bob Marley 1 : 0 Reggae Boys — Richard Grant

Happy Earthday to Brother Bob Marley, the Trench Town Messiah – Martin P. Felix

Reading Time 2 mins2017-02-06 Martin P. Felix “Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?‘ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see‘.“ — John 1:46. Like his biblical counterpart, Bob Marley took a socratic approach to unpack that recurring question loaded with upper class prejudice: “Can anything good come out of Trench Town?” and, with Philipian confidence, answered in the affirmative “…everyone see what’s taking place… / Another page in history.” And indeed it is. Bob Marley was born on this day, February 6, 72 years ago in rural Nine Miles, Saint Ann, Jamaica but later moved to Trench Town where he spent his formative… Read More »Happy Earthday to Brother Bob Marley, the Trench Town Messiah – Martin P. Felix

Sir Alister McIntyre, “The Caribbean Man” – Winthrop R. Holder [3 of 3]

Reading Time 8 mins2017/01/28 Preparing UWI for the Challenges of the 21st Century: An Interview with Vice Chancellor Sir Alister McIntyre [**Reprint**] Link to part 1 Link to part  2 “If we don’t know from where we comin’ / Then we cyah plan where we goin”. – Black Stalin, Caribbean Unity (1979) Born in St. Georges, Grenada, Sir Meredith Alister McIntyre is considered one of the Caribbean’s eminent thought shapers and academicians. This highly celebrated Caribbean integrationist and internationalist has served the Caribbean in various capacities, representing the region in many international forums. The December 12, 2016, launch of Sir McIntyre’s book, The Caribbean And The… Read More »Sir Alister McIntyre, “The Caribbean Man” – Winthrop R. Holder [3 of 3]

Sir Alister McIntyre, “The Caribbean Man” – Winthrop R. Holder [2 of 3]

Reading Time 6 mins2017-01-25 Preparing UWI for the Challenges of the 21st Century: An Interview with Vice Chancellor Sir Alister McIntyre [**Reprint**] Link to part 1 “If we don’t know from where we comin’ / Then we cyah plan where we goin”. – Black Stalin, Caribbean Unity (1979) Born in St. Georges, Grenada, Sir Meredith Alister McIntyre is considered one of the Caribbean’s eminent thought shapers and academicians. This highly celebrated Caribbean integrationist and internationalist has served the Caribbean in various capacities, representing the region in many international forums. The December 12, 2016, launch of Sir McIntyre’s book, The Caribbean And The Wider World: Commentaries on… Read More »Sir Alister McIntyre, “The Caribbean Man” – Winthrop R. Holder [2 of 3]

Sir Alister McIntyre, “The Caribbean Man” – Winthrop R. Holder [1 of 3]

Reading Time 5 mins2017-01-22 Preparing UWI for the Challenges of the 21st Century [**Reprint**] “If we don’t know from where we comin’ / Then we cyah plan where we goin”. – Black Stalin, Caribbean Unity (1979) Born in St. Georges, Grenada, Sir Meredith Alister McIntyre is considered one of the Caribbean’s eminent thought shapers and academicians. This highly celebrated Caribbean integrationist and internationalist has served the Caribbean in various capacities, representing the region in many international forums. The December 12, 2016, launch of Sir McIntyre’s book, The Caribbean And The Wider World: Commentaries on My Life and Career, has come with great anticipation because of… Read More »Sir Alister McIntyre, “The Caribbean Man” – Winthrop R. Holder [1 of 3]