Caribbean Folk Music

The Caribbean is a region that covers an area south of the southeastern United States between Central and South America. Countries that border or are entirely located within the Caribbean include Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Martinique, Antigua, Barbados, the Virgin Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica, Venezuela, and Suriname. The area shares many common aspects in terms of history, but each island has its unique culture, history, and language. The cultural diversity is largely the result of the different European nations that colonized each island and the different people they brought there.

The first people to inhabit the Caribbean were Native Americans called the Carib and the Arawak. When Columbus first sailed through the Caribbean, it is estimated two or three million people lived there. Like most Native Americans, they fared poorly when faced with the Europeans' weapons and brutal initiative. Even when the interactions were peaceful, disease effectively wiped out entire populations. Cultural vestiges of the original inhabitants are few, but in some cases musical instruments and words in the language betray this hidden history.

Colonial Era

From this time forward, the islands were settled by people who came from all over the world. Many European colonial officials and settlers who came to live in these areas were from Spain, France, England, and Holland. Many could not tolerate the tropical climate, so people of European descent make up relatively small proportions of the populations of most countries in the Caribbean today. The European influence on the music can be seen in the use of chordal and vocal harmony, instruments such as the guitar and the violin, song forms, and the songs' languages. Europeans also brought millions of enslaved Africans to the islands to work at the plantations that grew sugar cane, coffee, and other products for export. (The African influence is discussed separately below.)

Many countries, such as Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname have significant Asian populations. Indians and Chinese came to many areas in the Caribbean, often as indentured servants. One example of their musical influence is chutney, a popular song form in Trinidad and Tobago. Chutney is based on traditional music from India and accompanied by the harmonium and dholak drum. In the 1980s, a hybrid style called soca-chutney developed that combined the rhythm of African-influenced soca music with the Hindi lyrics and melodies of chutney. This is but one of the many syncretic, or mixed, styles of music found throughout the Caribbean.

African Influence

Because of the isolation of each island from one another, initially, music styles developed somewhat independently, but one common component was the African heritage. Syncopated rhythms, call-and-response musical forms, drums and other African-inspired instruments, and the strong connection between music and dance appear in many music cultures. Salsa from Puerto Rico, merengue from the Dominican Republic, calypso from Trinidad, zouk in Martinique, cumbia from Columbia, and reggae from Jamaica are only a few examples with these characteristics.

In Cuba, besides the subtle African-influenced characteristics that slip into styles like son, vestiges of west and central African cultures can be seen in Santeria. This religion combines aspects of Catholicism and African religions and music. For example, the three drums, called bata, played in the Santeria ceremonies are nearly identical to those used in Nigeria. In addition, the language used to sing in many Santeria groups is closely related to languages in west or central Africa.

Even more examples of African retention can be found in countries such as Belize, Honduras, and Suriname. Here distinct cultures formed from groups of slaves that managed to escape and form societies separate from the main cultures of the colonial government. The Garífuna of Belize and Guatemala and the Maroons of Jamaica exhibit a high degree of African musical elements.

Instrumental Variety

Instruments often provide important clues to the cultural influences of a music style. In Cuba, the marimbula is a large, box version of a finger piano found in many places in central and southern Africa. The maracas and the güiro of Puerto Rico are most likely descendants of instruments used by the Arawak.

In other instances, instruments are just the inspiration of a creative mind. Steel drums, or pan, are the signature instruments of calypso, a music style popular in Trinidad and Tobago as well as other countries in the Caribbean. After World War II, there were many empty, steel oil barrels left on the beaches and someone discovered that you could make different pitches by hitting the barrels in different places.

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