English speaking Caribbean

Hey Hey Hey!!! Welcome back! I'm glad I kept you interested. In this post we are going to be focussing on.... get ready with me.... the english speaking Caribbean! Before we start all that, I bet you're dying to know how they actually came to be? Allow me to quench your curiosity.

The Caribbean has such a wide range of different lifestyle choices, cultures, ethnicities, and dialects. Funny enough, while we are able to discern the way we speak from other countries in the caribbean, people outside usually have a harder time picking words and phrases apart. If you're still confused just think about people who live in Asian countries. We have a much harder time discerning whether they are from China, Japan, Korea, Thailand etc. then obviously they do. And if you don't hear the different languages often you'd think they all speak the same even though it's not true.

Enough of that tangent though, back to the topic at hand. Now even though, according to the world outside the caribbean they think our culture is all different and unique. While it is true that we have made the cultures our own, we do have some influences, mainly from outside entities. Since the 13th century, various European nations exchanged control of most if not every island in the Caribbean. Depending on the island itself(the type of soil, location, current inhabitants, and any sort of precious materials) could determine which European countries would be willing to fight for which islands. And I mean, who could blame them? Would you rather have islands close to trading routes, with less profitable land, or more profitable land but much further travel if you wanted to enter the slave trade at that time? It's a rather difficult decision at the time but a choice they had to make quickly before the islands were taken from them. Today, because of these ties, we have taken certain aspects of their culture to create our own. All the countries that were under the control of Britain and the United Kingdom, became the english speaking Caribbean. The countries in the english speaking Caribbean include: Anguilla, Aruba, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Jamaica, Netherland Antilles, Saint Lucia, Suriname, Turks and Caicos, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Guyana, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.

I hope I haven't lost you there lol. That was quite a mouthful. Anyways, we will be discussing the music versatility aspect of english speaking Caribbean history. My first example will actually be about Jamaica. Fun fact! Jamaica is the only country that has a national flag with no colours like or similar to the United States of America's red, white and blue. Jamaica gained independence from Britain in 1962 and now they have completely flourished since then. Funny enough, usually when people hear a Caribbean dialect there's a much higher chance that they'll ask if you're from Jamaica than any other country. They have had visible coverage, not only in regular media but children's media as well. Now while that presence is usually based on their main religion (rastafarianism), there is so much more about them. We are actually going to discuss the music side of their culture. Their traditional music style is reggae. I'm sure that name definitely rang a few bells lol. There are obviously more music genres like dancehall, ska, and rocksteady to name a few that encapsulate Jamaican music.

This is a photo of probably one of the most versatile composers of Jamaica, Peter Ashbourne. Image taken fromhttps://www.peterashbourne.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/peter-ashbourne-1_2_orig.jpg

Here are two videos actually of him playing both the violin and the keyboard. It should also be noted that he has so many different compositions to his name for not only film, but theater and television too. I selected these videos because they both show how fluent and easy and effortlessly he plays his instruments. 

How was that? Was it good? I bet it was good :)) Our second example of versatility in the english speaking caribbean will actually be from the island of Saint Lucia. I don't think they get the credit that they deserve to be honest. But hey, that might just be me. Now unlike Jamaica who was under British rule, Saint Lucia was (at first) taken by the French. However, Britain overthrew them and won the additional land. Now because of that introduction of French culture in their developing settlements, today it is still around the island in the church, language and culture. There is major versatility when it comes to teaching music in Saint Lucia. They have music regularly being taught in public schools and a private music institution that teaches a variety of instruments. 

Here we have some students in what looks to be practice from the School of Music in Saint Lucia. Image taken from https://slumusicschool.org/files/images/thumbs/e1a01e798674d7c03eed2488457d717c.jpg

Here we have a jazz ensemble from the Saint Lucia School of Music. The reason I picked it is because while i saw other videos of choirs (even a virtual one), I just really enjoyed the smoothness that jazz itself provides and they handled it amazingly. To be honest, I was actually shocked when those trumpets came in like WOW I was not expecting that so quickly.

Oh such a shame that I am getting word that I have to wrap my blog up. :( BUT I will leave you with one final example of versatility is actually going to be an instrument known as the handsaw. Yes, you read that correctly! You might be thinking to yourself, "isn't that a tool made to be in a workshop?" And you would be absolutely correct for thinking like that! That's the beauty of versatility. From what I understand they use cello or violin bows to play the instrument. Y'know, just so they can save their fingers more often. Two countries in particular in the english speaking Caribbean actually use this instrument that is The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos. Being so close together and actually being one big country until the Turks and Caicos islands left in 1848 because of complaints about added taxes, this really shows in present time of how similar parts of their culture are.

This is an image of a girl playing the handsaw. Image taken from https://s3.amazonaws.com/production.mediajoint.prx.org/public/piece_images/186083/musicsaw_medium.jpg

   

I picked two videos in particular because they show to completely different looks, feels, and sounds that the saw can create that once again displays its versatility. They both add exactly what they need to add for the music taste in mind. Thank you so much for tuning in and I hope I hooked you enough to come back!  Bye!!👋

References

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. (2018, August 14). History of Saint Lucia. Retrieved from Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/place/Saint-Lucia/History

 LeGrand, C.G. C. (2019). Tour de Force: A Musical Journey of the Caribbean. Sound Caribbean. https://online.vitalsource.com/books/9789769624900

Greaves, C. (2022, September 18). My family lived under British rule in Jamaica. Their struggle can’t be forgotten. Retrieved from wbezchicago: https://www.wbez.org/stories/my-family-lived-under-british-rule-in-jamaica/0325be4d-4384-4477-8efb-9049b1a96fb6

Huber, S. (2019, May 6). Which Caribbean Countries Speak English? Retrieved from KeyCaribe: https://magazine.keycaribe.com/lifestyle/which-caribbean-countries-speak-english/

Nations Encyclopedia. (n.d). United Kingdom American Dependencies - Turks and caicos islands. Retrieved from Nations Encyclopedia.

Spruce, T. (2021, December 28). 16 Interesting Fun Facts About Jamaica. Retrieved from caribbeanwarehouse: https://caribbeanwarehouse.co.uk/blog/2021/12/facts-about-jamaica/