Is Calypso suffering as new music influences the Caribbean?
Information compiled from CNN August 31st 1999
The famous calypso music of Trinidad and Tobago that nurtured it through colonial domination, racial tension, attempted coups, labor riots and social upheaval is itself suffering.
"We tried to pass it on to the young fellas, but they doing their own thing," once said the late Calypso Legend Lord Blakie. "Calypso supposed to tell a story. They running from calypso. Calypso is a message. Them fellas running from the message."
With socially and politically charged lyrics, calypso's influence has been at the core of many of the nation's most critical moments.
But lately, American Hip Hop, Rap, R&B and Jamaica dance hall reggae also called "dub" in Trinidad -- is popular with young islanders. They combine it with Calypso-style lyrics, which satirize everything from sex to politics. "Kids raised on rap and TV soundbites aren't as likely to have the patience for more narrative calypsos," once said calypso historian Ray Funk.
Calypso first surfaced in Africa as songs of praise and derision. In the 1700s, slaves used calypso to communicate covertly, thumb their noses at their masters and also as a rhythm for the grueling labor into which they were forced.
It evolved into the "music of the people" throughout the Caribbean and musicians were subject to reprisals from their colonial masters if their calypso lyrics were deemed too seditious.
Calypso hit its zenith abroad in the 1930s when it became popular in the United States. Singers like Harry Belafonte, singing the famous "Banana Boat Song," brought it to the rest of the world.
But the music suffered in the 1970s with the emergence of Jamaican reggae, and now faces perhaps its toughest challenge -- the influence of Western music and culture via cable television and the Internet.
"The nature of changing media influences is changing traditional art forms," Funk said.
Calypso Great, the late Mystic Prowler once said young people were turning to other forms because calypso is difficult to master. "Calypso is the hardest musical form in the whole world," he said. "Even performers like Michael Jackson won't try it."
He, however, had no worries about the future of calypso.
"There will always be calypso; it's such a strong art form," he said.
"We tried to pass it on to the young fellas, but they doing their own thing," once said the late Calypso Legend Lord Blakie. "Calypso supposed to tell a story. They running from calypso. Calypso is a message. Them fellas running from the message."
With socially and politically charged lyrics, calypso's influence has been at the core of many of the nation's most critical moments.
But lately, American Hip Hop, Rap, R&B and Jamaica dance hall reggae also called "dub" in Trinidad -- is popular with young islanders. They combine it with Calypso-style lyrics, which satirize everything from sex to politics. "Kids raised on rap and TV soundbites aren't as likely to have the patience for more narrative calypsos," once said calypso historian Ray Funk.
Calypso first surfaced in Africa as songs of praise and derision. In the 1700s, slaves used calypso to communicate covertly, thumb their noses at their masters and also as a rhythm for the grueling labor into which they were forced.
It evolved into the "music of the people" throughout the Caribbean and musicians were subject to reprisals from their colonial masters if their calypso lyrics were deemed too seditious.
Calypso hit its zenith abroad in the 1930s when it became popular in the United States. Singers like Harry Belafonte, singing the famous "Banana Boat Song," brought it to the rest of the world.
But the music suffered in the 1970s with the emergence of Jamaican reggae, and now faces perhaps its toughest challenge -- the influence of Western music and culture via cable television and the Internet.
"The nature of changing media influences is changing traditional art forms," Funk said.
Calypso Great, the late Mystic Prowler once said young people were turning to other forms because calypso is difficult to master. "Calypso is the hardest musical form in the whole world," he said. "Even performers like Michael Jackson won't try it."
He, however, had no worries about the future of calypso.
"There will always be calypso; it's such a strong art form," he said.
