Here are the festivals and music in this interesting country’s culture.
Carnival
Firstly, carnival. It is considered as the most influential factor on the culture of Trinidad and Tobago. French settlers had introduced it during the eighteenth century. Actually, at first it was only confined to the higher class or the elite but soon, slaves imitated it and made it a practise, after the abolition of slavery, celebration became widespread all over the country. However in 1881, there was a major riot called the Canboulay Riots changed the rules of carnival. Carnival was confined to to the upper classes in the morning and the night was given to the lower classes. So, people created J'ouvert. This meant that for first few hours of Carnival Monday mornings, which is about from 4 am till sunrise, the wealthy could mix with the poor in celebration. Monday night (night 'mas) was also quite simliar.
Mas'
Before World War II, in the daytime of Carnival Monday and Tuesday, there was Mas’. The streets were dominated by costumed masqueraders who portrayed traditional characters such as Midnight Robber, Police and Thief, Wild Indian, Bat, Jab Molassie, Jab Jab, Red Devil, Blue Devil, and Dame Lorraine. I find this quite cool, like some big costume party on the streets or something. Also, in the postwar period there were organised bands, which today can include thousands of masqueraders.
Carnival fetes
There is also another type of Carnival known as a Carnival fete or "party" which takes place mostly during the week before the actual parade of bands on Carnival Monday and Tuesday. They take place from year end all the way till the carnival (usually in February) and are generally carnival themed and feature live music from bands and soca artists promoting their songs.
Christmas
Just like any other country, Trinidad and Tabago also celebrates christmas. During this period, Parang is usually the most common form of music. Pastelle, black cake, fruit cake and sweet bread paime is eaten together with drinks such as Peardrax, ponche de creme, ginger beer and sorrell wine. Majority of the population over there are Christians, therefore it is one of the biggest celebrations.
Divali
Divali is a Hindu festival celebrated in India celebrating the fifteenth night of the dark fortnight of the month of Kaartik (October/November).
Hosay
Lastly, Hosay. It is the local manifestation of the Shia Muslim Remembrance of Muharram in Trinidad and Tobago.
Music
Calypso
Calypso music, one of my favorites, was developed together with Carnival. One very interesting thing is that the music had started off as the voice of the people through elections and other things. It caused the masses to challenge themselves of their doings of the unelected Governor and Legislative Council, and the elected town councils of Port of Spain and San Fernando. Calypso was originally in patois (Creole French) but later got replaced by English after the British rule. Calypso then migrated into English, and attracted more attention from the government. Currently, Calypso continues to play an important role in political expression, and also served to document the history of Trinidad and Tobago. How cool is that? A genre of music could bring so much to the country.
Soca
Soca is a dance music which is a mix of Trinidad's calypso and Indian music and rhythms, especially chutney music. Soca and its derivatives have largely displaced mainstream calypso as the music of Carnival.
Chutney
Chutney is listened to Trinidad and Guyana.
Rapso
Parang
Parang is a Spanish Trinidadian musical art form mainly listened to around Christmas time.
Pichakaree
Pichakaree is an Indo-Trinidadian musical form which originated right here in Trinidad and Tobago. It has a very unique mix of cultures, its songs are generally social commentaries, and are sung using a mixture of Hindi, English and Bhojpuri words. The musical form was devised by RaviJi, spiritual leader of the Hindu Prachar Kendra, as an Indo-Trinidadian counterpoint to calypso which often takes a strongly anti-Indian tone.
Steelband
The steelband developed during the wartime period. They were influenced by the Tambu Bamboo bands, which used percussion instruments based on bamboo. Many bands took names from war movies including Casablanca, Tokyo, Free French and Tripoli. Instruments Used for the Various Types of Music
Calypso
Calypso music often uses instruments such as the trumpet, trombone, clarinet, saxophone, electric guitar, bass guitar, congos, bongos, steelpan and drum sets.The Congos and Bongos are the more African of the list so I will going more into detail about them.Congo
Congo drums are tall and narrow, just like a model! They are single-headed and Cuban even though their 'ancestors' came from Africa. They are said to have been made of salvaged barrels in the past. Now, congos are either made of staved wood or fiberglass shells together with a screw that tenses the drumhead. Normaelly, they are played using the fingers and palms in sets two to four while the player is sitting. There is also a choice of placing it on a stand or rack so that it is able to be played while standing as well! However, instead of using your hands, some specific sticks can also be used like the Regal's Tip's sticks which can mimic the sound of the hands playing and so on.
There are many types of strokes to play on the congo. Naming the five basic ones called the Open tone, the Muffled tone, the Bass tone and some of the more interesting ones are the Slap and the Touch. The Open and Muffled tone are similar in a way that they use four fingers to strike the drum just that instead of hitting the rim of the drumhead, the Muffled tone holds the fingers against the drumhead to produce a "muffled" tone like the name descibes. The Open tone would create of course, an "open' sound, distinct and resonant. The Bass tone uses the whole palm and creates a muted low-keyed sound. The Slap, my favourite due to its unique name and also its high-difficulty level, creates a clear and deafening 'POP' sound, just like a slap. It is called a floreo when playing in stoccato to try to let the dancer feel and produce more emotion when dancing. The Touch, is played by using the heel of the palm and fingers and just touching the drumhead. Sounds simple? Well, combining both does not sound that easy and is called a heel-toe which produces 'drumroll' noises. Amazing isnt it?
Bongo
Now, on to the Bongo. These are Cuban single-headed drums, sounds like the Congo right? Well, the difference is they are open-ended double drums that are attached to one another, like twins. However, the are of different sizes, the larger one being the female (hembra) and the smaller one being the male (macho), a couple where the guy is smaller than the girl. Interesting. Anyway, they are played often by hand. They are normally made of wood, metal and other composite materials which will then be attached to a thick piece of wood. The drumhead is made of animal skin or synthetic. Bongos are high-pitched percussion instruments but play some contemporary music as well, where drum-sticks are needed. Otherwise, they will be held firmly between the knees with the 'female' on the right when the player is right-handed and vise-versa. Played by striking the fingers and palms on the drumhead and can be played with is resting on a stand like concert orchestras and bands.
Soca
This type of music uses the bass, drums, guitar, vocals, trumpet and trombone; most of which people are quite farmiliar with.
Chutney
Chutney, uses the dholak, harmonium, dhantal and urumee. I know the names are weird so i will be explaining the dholak and urumee more.
The dholak is a double-headed drum played using the hands. It originates from North Indian, Paskistan and Nepal. It is typically a folk instrument, used for classical music in the past and is used in various North Indian folk music, gawalli and kirtan. It is played on the lap and slung over the shoulder or waist when is needed to play while standing.
The urumee, also a double-headed drum, is hourglass in shape (like a human?) and originates from the state of Tamil Nadu in South India. The urumee can be slung using a cloth strap across the shoulder and played horizontally. The drummer is then able to play it whether he or she is walking or standing. The difference from the dholak is that the urumee is played solely with sticks and similar to the congos, they have five basic sounds that can be played as well.
However, the only similar sound they both have is the 'open' sound where the drummer hits the right head. The Moaning sound is deep and resonant. Also striking the right head like the Open sound, at the same time rubbing the left with the edge of a long curved stick. It can also produce a bent 'talking' drum, which i find very amusing, by which the right head is supposedly stuck while the left squeezes and releases the rope that is holding them both together. The last two tones are non-pitched closed sounds. Produced by stirking the left stick with the left drumhead and the pressing and muting the right head with the right stick.
Rapso
Mainly consists of bass, drums, guitars and vocals.
Parang
Uses instruments such as the a 4-string miniature guitar also known as the cuatro, the maracas known locally as the shak-shaks, the violin, guitar, flute, trumpet claves known as toc-toc (they sure have a lot of nicknames), the box bass; an original native instrument, a caja; percussion box, a mandolin, bandolin and finally, an Afro-Venezuelan instrument, the marimbola!
Steelband
Lastly, we have the steelband or steeldrum instrument. It is an instrument used in many of the music types listed above and yet it is a music type in itself originating from Trinidad itself! It is one of the most interesting out of all the other instruments as it can store oil! The first few instruments that helped the steelpan instrument evolve to what it is today is the Tamboo-Bamboos. They are tunable sticks made of obviously, bamboo wood. They were used by striking the ground with other sticks to produce sound. In the mid-1930s, metal percussion were introduced in bands and soon, all-metal bands began appearing in the Carnival.
Steelpans were constructed using metal sheets. However, they were built using oil barrels originally. With techonology catching up, the contrast in which the steelpan is made is even more obvious as instrument makers now can get the resonant bodies of the drums manufactured according to their ideal preference and techinical specifics.
The steelpan is a new member to the percussion family but their tuning techniques are very advanced. All you need are experienced ears, tuning stick, a hammer, a strobe tuner and an exotic uplifting sound will be produced.
Why did we choose Africa?
Actually, at first, we were really interested in Calypso which we did last year for music but was not able to present it. One of our favourite songs was "Banana Boat" and we really recommend you to listen to it. One of our favourite famous people for Calypso is Harry Belafonte! However, after doing some research, we realised that it originates from Trinidad and Tobago, its the name of ONE country by the way, and it has many MANY different types of music. So we ended up doing all of them....anyway, i hope you enjoyed our post!
Festivals and Music
Calypso music often uses instruments such as the trumpet, trombone, clarinet, saxophone, electric guitar, bass guitar, congos, bongos, steelpan and drum sets.
