Traditional music and dance
One of the oldest traditional practices on both islands is undoubtedly the bélé dances. It dates back to the end of the 18th century, when the French on the plantations organized large balls in their homes. House slaves imitated these dances, mocking their masters and reproducing their grand movements in an ungracious manner. There are a dozen different bélé dances, including the "Grand bélé" and the "Congo bélé".
At the end of the 19th century, following the Canboulay riots, European settlers forbade slaves from fighting with sticks and, above all, from drumming at carnival time. Instead, slaves used hollowed-out bamboo sticks struck together and against the ground: the "Tamboo-Bamboo" (the word " Tamboo" derives from the French word "tambour"). In 1934, the Tamboo-Bamboo was also banned, as the instruments were used as weapons in brawls between rival bands. Musicians then turned to percussion instruments made from metal objects - cookie tins, garbage can lids, mechanical parts - and gradually moved towards the invention of the steelpan, the island's emblematic instrument.
Another unique Trinidadian tradition, kaiso has its origins in West Africa (especially Nigeria), in the call-and-response songs brought by slaves. Generally narrative, the songs - performed by chantwells - often have a political subtext. Over time, the genre gradually evolved into the calypso of today.
The last notable traditional form, parang , was imported by the Spanish (which explains why the lyrics are Hispanic). Today, perpetuated by the descendants of the first Spanish occupants, this music played on guitar, mandolin and violin has regained popularity in recent years, benefiting from the proximity of the two islands to the South American continent and the fairly recent arrival of many Venezuelans. The parang is mainly played at Christmas time, but can be heard at the Sant Rosa festival, held every August 23. Otherwise,Trinidad's Carnival is an excellent showcase for some traditional practices.
The calypso
If you equate "music + Trinidad & Tobago", chances are the result is calypso. In other words, calypso is the Trinidadian genre par excellence. If its origins remain mysterious - is it an African tradition imported by slaves? - it is clear that the genre is descended from West African kaiso (mentioned above), notably in the way it sings chantwells. Popularized after the abolition of slavery, the development of these syncopated ballads coincided with that of carnival in the early 19th century. The first popular performers soon paved the way for the generalization of the genre, supported by its first stars: Lord Kitchener and Mighty Sparrow. If Lord Invader (the real author of Rum & Coca-Cola) was the big name of the golden age of calypso in the 1930s, it was Harry Belafonte, an American of Jamaican origin (the Americans discovered calypso during their military presence in the two islands) singing in English, who was by far the most popular internationally. With his LP Calypso, Belafonte even became the first artist in history to sell a million albums. On the other hand, his music was strongly criticized by purists for watering down calypso. The same is true of another well-known calypso album, also composed by a famous American: Calypso is like so by Robert Mitchum. Having fallen in love with the genre, the American actor recorded an atypically funny album, often bordering on parody in spite of himself.
A major characteristic of calypso is its function of social criticism and subversion, contained in satyrical lyrics mocking the colonial society of the time. Unsurprisingly, some songs were banned or censored by the British colonial government, and calypso became a clandestine method of communication.
By the 1970s, calypso's momentum was waning. Its popularity with young people was eclipsed by international pop and Jamaican reggae. Calypso then began a transition to soca and rapso. Although less popular, calypso remains a first-rate national genre, played mainly at carnival time, when the best calypsonians from both islands compete in the musical jousts held in the " calypso-tents ".
It's also worth noting that Mighty Sparrow (1935) is one of the last remaining first-wave calypsonians. Alas, he hardly ever performs on stage anymore. To discover the "King of Calypso", you'll have to turn to the excellent Sparrowmania anthology dedicated to him by the German label Strut in 2012. That said, barely younger (she was born in 1940), Calypso Rose continues to bring the Trinidadian genre to stages the world over.
Soca and rapso
The eldest child of calypso is soca - of which, for some, it's just an accelerated version. A contraction of "soul" and "calypso", soca emerged in the 1970s in the hands of musician Ras Shorty (Garfield Blackman), who sought to evolve calypso so that it could compete with foreign genres (mainly disco) increasingly popular on the islands. So he and a few other musicians shake up the rhythmic structure to make it more danceable, accentuate the bass and add that funky je-ne-sais-quoi derived from Indo-Oriental rhythms. Endless Vibrations (1974), the genre's first hit when it was still in its infancy, says it all.
Today, soca has become the queen of carnival, its increasingly feverish - not to say scorching - rhythm having found masters in the likes of hitmaker Machel Montano, Bunji Garlin, Destra, Patrice Roberts and Fay-Ann Lyons-Alvarez.
The success of soca has brought in its wake a version adapted to the tastes of the Indian community, the chutney soca . Taking up soca 's fiery rhythm but using specifically Indian instruments - dholak or sitar - and singing in English or Hindi, chutney soca has also found its place among carnival festivities, each year seeing a chutney soca queen and king elected.
Soca fans (and the curious) are sure to flock to Rhyner's Record Shop, the oldest record store on the island, where you'll find calypso and soca records from all eras, as well as to La Habana, a tiny but very popular bar where DJs never fail to get the crowds dancing to soca.
The other offshoot of calypso - and therefore soca 's little brother - is rapso. A contraction of "rap" and the "so" of calypso (or soca , as the case may be), rapso is literally a Trinidadian cousin of hip-hop in its vehemence and commitment, but dressed up in local culture. Rising to prominence in the 1990s, the movement is no longer as vibrant as when its leading exponents - Brother Resistance, Ataklan and, above all, 3 Kanal - were at the height of their careers.
Steel bands
Calypso and soca are the face of Trinidad. But its soul is its steel bands. These polyphonic percussion orchestras from the ghettos of Laventille play calypso as well as Bach (with a preference for calypso, you guessed it), and over time have become the stars of the carnival.
These include the steel drum, also known as pan, considered the last acoustic instrument to be invented in the world. Now decreed the "national instrument" of Trinidad & Tobago, it has become institutionalized to the point of becoming the symbol of a nation.
The history of the steel drum dates back to the end of the 19th century, when, as mentioned above, European settlers forbade slaves from fighting with sticks and drums during carnival. This restriction gave rise to the first "tamboo-bamboo" orchestras, which by the end of the 1920s had added percussion instruments made from metal objects such as cookie tins, garbage can lids and mechanical parts. The following decade saw the appearance of the first groups using only percussion instruments made from metal elements, and gradually, in the Laventille ghetto, musicians began shaping drums, hammering their bottoms to make them concave, drawing small convex dents to create and separate notes, and adjusting the pitch of the drums according to the octave to be reached. The pan was about to be invented.
Since then, steel-band concerts have been given in London in front of the Queen, and at Carnegie Hall in New York. And while each year's Carnival festivities are still the best showcase for the discipline - with the Panorama, a gigantic steel-band competition featuring almost 200 bands active on the two islands - the appeal of the steel drum has spread far beyond the borders of Trinidad & Tobago, and it can now be heard all over Europe, including France.
Carnival is the best time to discover steel pan. It's an opportunity to see how a steel drum orchestra is put together: first the rhythm section, called the " engine room ", made up of composite instruments: congas, tambourines, cymbals, bells, etc. then the frontline, which is the section carrying the melody, generally made up of tenor or double tenor drums, and finally the background, which supports the whole. This is the bass drum section. All steel drums are played with two drumsticks fitted with rubber tips.
In Port of Spain, at carnival time, bands can be heard all over town rehearsing in their panyards, usually in the open air, the piece they'll be performing for Panorama. The panyards are where the steel bands rehearse. Visitors are invited to attend, usually every evening from January to February during the run-up to Carnival. More than just rehearsal spaces, the panyards are even considered by the authorities as "schools of life", capable of channelling poor youth away from violence and gangs, while restoring their capacity for self-esteem.
Contemporary music
If the current scene is dynamic, it revolves very much around soca. That said, there are a few Trinidadian artists to get to know, starting with... Nicki Minaj. Yes, Onika Tanya Maraj is an American rapper, but she was born (in 1982) in Port of Spain. She's undoubtedly one of the best female rappers in history, with a string of hits and commercial successes to her name, but we'd like to add that she's remained very close to her roots. Proof: she loves soca and never fails to congratulate local stars (like Machel Montano) in the comments of clips posted on YouTube.
Andre Tanker, nicknamed the "Bob Dylan of Trinidad", was a committed all-rounder (jazz, blues, reggae, calypso, etc.), while poet, writer and musician Anthony Joseph is a worthy heir to Gil Scott Heron and Fela Kuti. His jazz-funk and Caribbean groove is steeped in philosophy and hard-hitting reflections on diasporic life (he himself is based in London).
