The music of a country is an indication of the essential character of its people. Germany has Wagner, solid and serious; Britain has the Pomp and Circumstance of Last Night of the Proms, still dreaming of her lost glory; and Carriacou has Reggae and Calypso. I rest my case. Carriacou music lies at the heart of the island.
The people of Carriacou, Grenada and the Grenadines have sung and danced their way through a succession of foreign interferences, and watched the old European empires come and go like so many outdated vaudeville acts. Their spirit remains intact, and Carriacou’s music continues.
Grenadian and Carriacou music is a mix of old and new, and derives from European colonial influences as well as African rhythms. French quadrilles and picquets can be glimpsed in some of the dances, as well as evolved African traditions. Zouk, a style of French Caribbean music, has been influencing the traditional calypso in recent years and causing concern to some purists. But in truth this is a process of adaptation and evolution that has always been going on here in the Caribbean melting pot of peoples and cultures.
A dominant force in Grenadian music is Steel Pan, which came originally from neighbouring Trinidad and is evolving all the time just like jazz. There are drum groups, with an annual drum festival in Tivoli village on Grenada, and folk dancing is ubiquitous, keeping alive the old traditions.
With major Carnivals on Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, there’s plenty of opportunity to sample the full range of costumes, music and dance that animates these vibrant islands throughout the year.
The Shakespeare Mas on Carriacou, part of the annual Carnival, even has the performers reciting speeches from Julius Caesar in a tradition that has been going on for hundreds of years.
The African influence on music is especially strong in Carriacou, where everyone knows which African tribe they’re descended from. Each tribe has its own rhythm in the Nation Dancing that marks special events. Improvisation around a core theme marks the music of these parts, and nothing much is actually written down, with players having the freedom they crave to express themselves without upsetting the rest of the band, who adapt accordingly to create new forms, and so it goes on.
The rhythms of calypso and reggae, and the flexible approach of the musicians, uninhibited by any notions of correct practice, precedent or deference, express an intrinsic quality of the island people themselves.
Whether its sloops racing against the customs men in smuggling days or against one another in the Annual Regatta, or steel pan improvisations spiralling and fragmenting into new compositions, there is a spirit of freedom and openness here that many visitors find completely irresistible.
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