ENGLISH CARIBBEAN

 TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

https://www.mappr.co/flag-maps/trinidad-and-tobago/

Creolization in Music

Trinidad and Tobago is a southeasterly island nation apart of the lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. This island nation boasts many different musical styles recognizable by the variation in tempo, melody and instruments.

https://www.destinationtnt.com/blog/a-land-of-endless-festivals/

     Calypso is said to have been indigenous to Trinidad and Tobago though it heard and well loved and widely accepted throughout the entire Caribbean  Calypso was the predecessor of many of the musical genres present in Trinidad and Tobago today, in that they all are historically rooted in the combination of Afro Eurocentric infusion (Ralph Henry) . Over the years, Calypso changed and influenced other genres of  music such as Soca, which bears similarity with variation of the sweet sweet Calypso rhythm. Calypso also inspired the Emergence of Rapso which was influenced by the  "African American ghetto culture and from Jamaica" (Ralph Henry). 

    There is also East Indian influence imbedded in the Trini culture. One of the genres that displays the Indian culture is called Chutney.  According to  Gangelhoff and LeGrand,  one of the most noteable features Chutney music is its nasal-sounding vocal timbre (Tour de Force: A Musical Journey of the Caribbean). Soca-Chutney, a combination of both genres incorporates both soca, calypso , and indian folk music.

The song I chose was Ravi B- Start Over. I first heard this song last year after being invited to a friends birthday party last year and the music video was playing via a projector. The melody is so smooth and you can not help but to dance. It doesn't hurt that he is gorgeous as well 😍 You can also hear the nasally timbre present in Ravi's vocals. He (my friend) is of Guyanese descent and this music is also popular in His culture. Both of these countries have a heavy Indian cultural influence.

Creolization in Food

    Indian culture not only influences the music of the island but also the food. The name roti is Hindi derived meaning bread, especially flat bread (Dictionary.com) Some say the roti  was created or indigenous to India but its origin is debatable ( Zachary Smith) .

https://www.atozagat.com/home/the-history-of-roti-a-story-of-india-and-trinidad

Referred to as a Caribbean burrito (Zachary Smith), what the Trini's call roti is the buttery, flaky, elastic-like doughy wrap stuffed with curry or stewed meat, or chickpeas on assorted veggies for the vegetarians rather than just the solo wrap known as roti to the Indians. , myself have never made it but I tasted both the Trini version (with meat) and the Indian version with milk curd and vegetables, and lets just say...the Caribbean flare makes almost everything extra amazing.

The video above shows how integrated roti is in the street food culture of Trinidad. I enjoy listening to the commentary and how they are so passionate about the Trini roti, describing it to be such an art ( and because I love the Trini accent).

References

Cambridge Dictionary. (2022, May 25). roti. @CambridgeWords. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/roti

Gangelhoff, N. & LeGrand, C. (2020). Tour de Force: A Musical Journey of the Caribbean

Henry, R., Daniell, A., & Trotman, S. (n.d.). The Music Industry in Trinidad and Tobago i The Music Industry in Trinidad and Tobago. https://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/about-ip/en/studies/pdf/study_r_henry.pdf

Smith, Z. (2020, January 28). The history of roti- a journey from India to Trinidad. A to Zagat. Retrieved May 27, 2022, from https://www.atozagat.com/home/the-history-of-roti-a-story-of-india-and-trinidad