Barbadian Music

Folk and Modern

www.stefanwalcott.com

Barbados Barbados is one of the

first colonies in Western Hemisphere.

In 17th and 18th

centuries it was one of the most wealthy and treasured possessions in the British crown.

Pre-Independence The black middle

classes and educational systems emphasised all things English.

Retentions, including dialect speech were common mostly among working classes.

The Landship After independence in

1966 Barbados actively sought out identity.

Looked back to pre-independence traditions that defined it such as the Landship.

A black co-operative similar to Regiments in F. Caribbean and TnT.

Tuk Tuk music is the

soundtrack to Landshipperformances.

Drum and fife music.

Performed in 3 movements. With last movement being called Tuk.

Spouge Spouge music was

popular song form of 1970’s.

A creation of Dalton ‘Jackie Opel’ Bishop who returned from Jamaica with rhythmic idea.

Similar in instrumentation to 70’s reggae.

80s to Today Soca music became part of Crop Over and Barbados

introduced two important ‘modes of operation’.

Ring Bang- which gave birth to the modern rhythm heavy sound of modern Soca.

Ragga Soca – A fusion of Dancehall American R+B and Soca.

Ring Bang A variation of the traditional Tuk.

Was created in 90’s in Eddie Grant’s Blue Wave Studio.

Ragga Soca A slower form of Soca.

Created in 90’s with Key track being Red Plastic Bag’s-“Ragga Ragga.”

Came out of Nicholas Brancker’s ‘Chamber Studios’.

Bashment Soca A very minimalised form of Soca.

Emphasis is on speech rhythm.

Watershed record: “Hard Wine” by Lil’ Rick.

Artist Names Red Plastic Bag (calypso and soca)

Mighty Gabby (calypso, folk and soca)

Poonka (Tuk and calypso)

Alison Hinds (soca)

Edwin Yearwood (soca)

John King (calypso and soca)

Kid Site (Bajan dancehall and calypso)

Lil Rick (Bajan dancehall and soca)

Draytons Two (Spouge)

Sources www.stefanwalcott.com Best, Curwen. Barbadian popular music and the politics of

Caribbean culture. Rochester, Vt., Schenkman Books, 1999. ---. Culture @ the cutting edge : tracking Caribbean popular

music. Kingston, Jamaica, University of the West Indies Press, 2004.

---. Roots to popular culture. London; Oxford, Macmillan Caribbean, 2001.

Burrowes, Marcia. “History and cultural identity Barbadian space and the legacy of empire.” Boston Spa, U.K., British Library Document Supply Centre, 2000.

Meredith, Sharon. "Tuk in Barbados: The History, Development and Recontextualisation of a Musical Genre" Diss. University of Warwick, 2002.