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Report 4: February - March 2002
Calypso: A World Music
- Historical Museum of Southern Florida's project proposal on the transatlantic
dissemination of calypso music.
The Historical Museum of Southern Florida (HMSF) is currently developing a project
on the transatlantic dissemination of calypso music during the mid-twentieth
century. By drawing on a variety of archival collections, the museum will explore
the spread of calypso from Trinidad through the Americas, Europe and Africa.
Three programming formats will be employed: 1) a major online exhibition with
images, texts and audio streams; 2) a traveling panel exhibition with images,
texts and audio/video (approximately 80 linear feet); and 3) a series of one
or two-day public conferences in New York, Miami, London and Port of Spain (Trinidad).
Our objective is to interpret, for a general audience, the transatlantic production
and reception of calypso in the context of migration, mass media, commercial
markets, tourism, colonialism, racism and independence movements. We will suggest
that, by the 1950s, calypso was one of the first examples of a "world music"-a
musical style from outside Europe and North America that was marketed to European
and North American audiences. Thus, our project will not only highlight a mid-twentieth
century form of popular culture but offer a historical perspective on the world
music phenomenon, which has attracted considerable interest and controversy
since the 1980s.
Initial planning for Calypso:
A World Music was supported by a Consultation Grant from the National Endowment
for the Humanities (NEH). HMSF recently applied for an NEH Planning Grant to
further develop the project. If a Planning Grant is received, we will apply
for an NEH Implementation Grant in February 2003 and will plan to launch the
exhibitions in conjunction with a public conference in New York in September
2004. The other conferences and panel exhibition tour will extend from 2004
to 2006, while the online exhibition will remain on HMSF's web site (www.historical-museum.org)
for several years. Funds from sources other than the NEH will be required for
the overseas portions of the conference series and panel exhibition tour.
Calypso in the Transatlantic World, 1930-1970: An Overview
Calypso, a form of topical song that
originated in Trinidad, was one of the first popular music traditions from outside
North America and Europe to be commercially recorded. In 1912 a top Trinidadian
band led by Lovey (George Bailey) traveled to New York to record for both Columbia
and Victor. Two years later Victor representatives visited Trinidad to record
calypso and a variety of other local music styles. During the 1910s and 1920s,
American companies continued to record calypso in New York for distribution
to Caribbean and Latin American markets. It was during the 1930s, however, that
recording and international distribution of calypso intensified and the international
travel of calypsonians (calypso singers) increased. From the 1930s through the
1960s, media and migration disseminated calypso throughout the transatlantic
world, thus creating a popular music that was detached from its original social
contexts in Trinidad and adapted to a variety of new contexts in the Americas,
Europe and Africa.
Outside Trinidad, calypso achieved
its greatest commercial presence in the United States, where it had a significant
impact on the nation's popular culture. During the 1930s several of Trinidad's
top calypsonians, such as Atilla the Hun, Lion, Tiger and Executor, recorded
in New York and appeared on radio broadcasts. Some of these artists also performed
for the local West Indian immigrant community and for general audiences in Greenwich
Village and other entertainment districts. The lyrics of their calypsos commented
both on events in Trinidad and on their new experiences in the United States.
During World War II the presence of American military bases in Trinidad heightened
interest in calypso and paved the way for the Andrews Sisters' version of "Rum
and Coca-Cola" to become one of the top hits of the era. This song, written
by the calypsonian Lord Invader, sparked a major copyright battle in the courts,
which Invader eventually won. During the postwar period, calypso was also incorporated
into the American folk music revival through concerts such as those presented
by Alan Lomax at New York's Town Hall.
A continued calypso presence in the
American recording industry and clubs during the postwar years became an outright
craze in 1956 with the release of Harry Belafonte's Calypso, the first
album to sell over one million copies in entertainment history. From late 1956
through the first half of 1957, dozens of calypso records were released by both
West Indian and American popular singers, ranging from the Duke of Iron and
Lord Flea to Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary Clooney and the Easy Riders. During this
same period, nightclubs from New York and Miami to Chicago and Los Angeles hired
any calypso act they could find, while calypso singers appeared in television
variety shows and sitcoms. Hollywood released three calypso-themed movies, with
stars like Herb Jeffries and Angie Dickinson and calypso singers such as the
Duke of Iron and Maya Angelou (in her pre-literary days). The entertainment
industry initially believed that calypso would lead to the demise of rock and
roll. Though the craze soon faded, calypso remained a component of the folk
music revival of the late 1950s and 1960s and continued to be popular with vacationers
in the Caribbean.
Following the 1965 Immigration Act,
West Indian migration to the United States increased substantially. An expanding
West Indian community in New York provided a foundation for a calypso scene
that included West Indian-owned record companies in Brooklyn and regular calypso
performances during the Labor Day Carnival. By the 1980s Carnivals, featuring
calypso, were also developing in Boston, Washington, Miami and other American
cities. Though calypso became established as a major form of expression in West
Indian immigrant communities, it no longer had a high visibility in the wider
American popular culture.
During the mid-twentieth century,
Britain also developed a vibrant calypso scene. As British citizens, West Indians
had been migrating to London since the early part of the century. By the 1930s
West Indian musicians, such as Sam Manning and Cyril Blake, were actively performing
in London. During World War II West Indian music became more prominent in London
clubs and calypsos were broadcast on BBC Radio.
A major increase in West Indian migration
to Britain in the postwar years is symbolized by the arrival in 1948 of the
MV Empire Windrush, which included Trinidadian calypsonians Lord Kitchener
and Lord Beginner and numerous other artists. Kitchener and Beginner began recording
in London in 1950. In 1951 Trinidadian calypso singers, steelband musicians
and dancers appeared at the Festival of Britain, a major cultural showcase that
considerably heightened the status of local art forms back in Trinidad. During
the 1950s calypsos in Britain addressed a variety of imperial topics, such as
migration, cricket, royalty, colonialism and independence movements. By the
time of Trinidad's independence in 1962, however, calypsonians were returning
to their homeland. Though the calypso scene in Britain declined, it took on
new life in the late 1960s with the rise of London's Notting Hill Carnival,
which rivaled the Labor Day Carnival in Brooklyn. Though the overall popularization
and commercialization of calypso in Britain during the mid-twentieth century
was less extensive than in the United States, London nonetheless served as an
important center of calypso creativity and international dissemination.
In the course of the twentieth century,
calypso artists and recordings also reached markets in numerous other parts
of the transatlantic world. Trinidadian calypso shaped similar song traditions
in British Guiana (Guyana), Grenada, Barbados and other territories in the eastern
anglophone Caribbean. West Indian migrants took calypso to Venezuela, Panama
and Nicaragua. In the postwar years, calypso was regularly performed in tourist
hotels in Jamaica, the Virgin Islands and the Bahamas. A U.S. Navy steelband,
based in Puerto Rico, performed calypsos on its worldwide tours, while French
Creole-speaking Antilleans and Dutch/Sranan-speaking Surinamese also experimented
with the musical form. Calypso became popular in West and South Africa, through
recordings and direct contact between West Indians and Africans in Africa and
Britain. Calypsos were recorded and performed in France, Germany and other European
countries, and became an integral component of the Caribana festival in Toronto's
large West Indian community. Outside the anglophone world, calypsos were often
translated into local languages and performed in styles that drew on local musical
traditions.
Project Perspectives and Components
The essential argument of our exhibition/conference
project is that calypso, by the mid-twentieth century, is best understood not
as a music contained within a particular locale (like Trinidad or New York)
but as part of an international nexus. Records, sheet music, radio, movies and
television shows transmitted calypso to regions throughout the transatlantic
world. At the same time, migration, artistic tours, military service and tourism
constantly moved calypsonians and audiences to new locations for calypso performance.
Through this transatlantic circulation, a variety of interconnected calypso
scenes emerged. Each scene developed distinct characteristics but was influenced
by the production of calypso in other locales.
By drawing on perspectives from the
fields of history, cultural anthropology, folklore, ethnomusicology and media
studies, the exhibitions and conferences will investigate how media, migration,
imperial systems and tourism affect artistic performance and cultural identities.
Audiences will be encouraged to consider the aesthetic, economic, political
and ethical dimensions of the transmission of music across cultural boundaries
and between peoples with different degrees of access to wealth and power. At
the same time, the exhibitions and conferences will highlight the musical and
verbal creativity of calypso and the tradition's myriad transformations across
the Americas, Europe and Africa during the mid-twentieth century.
Online Exhibition.
Given the characteristics of the Internet, an online exhibition is ideal for
exploring the complex transatlantic dissemination of calypso. The exhibition,
located on HMSF's web site (www.historical-museum.org), will include a large
number of photographs, illustrations, texts, and audio streams of music and
interview segments. Multiple links between exhibition pages will enable viewers
to trace the stories of individual calypsonians and calypsos across time and
space, as well as to pursue broader connections and themes in the development
of the music. In addition to its multimedia content and flexible navigation
system, an online exhibition will be of great value in its capacity to reach
audiences in many countries over a long period of time.
Panel Exhibition. The
online exhibition will be augmented by a small panel exhibition that will be
suitable for travel to libraries and similar venues. The panel exhibition will
include prints of photographs and other graphic images, short text blocks, and
audio/video stations. The video will include excerpts of calypso-related movies
and television shows, as well as portions of on-camera interviews with calypsonians.
Ideally, the panel exhibition will be located near a computer terminal at which
visitors can access the online exhibition for more in-depth study. The panel
exhibition will be displayed in conjunction with public conferences and will
also be available for travel to other cities.
Public Conferences. The
online and panel exhibitions will be accompanied by one or two-day conferences
to be held in New York (September 2004), Miami (April 2005), London (September
2005) and Port of Spain (February 2006). The conferences will provide opportunities
for audiences to engage directly with a range of scholars and artists involved
in calypso and other Caribbean art forms. Each conference will include panel
discussions (symposia), film screenings, a concert, the panel exhibition and
a computer projection of the online exhibition. Proposed conference topics include
"The History of Calypso in the Transatlantic World" (New York), "Caribbean
Arts in the United States" (Miami), "Calypso, Empire and Independence"
(London), and "Calypsonians at Home and Abroad" (Port of Spain). HMSF
is currently seeking collaborators and venues for the conferences and panel
exhibition tour.
Curators and Consulting Scholars
Mr. Ray Funk, Fairbanks (Alaska),
Guest Co-Curator
Dr. Stephen Stuempfle, Historical Museum of Southern Florida, Project CO-Curator
Dr. Kenneth Bilby, Bard College
Ms. Geraldine Connor, University College of Leeds
Dr. John Cowley, Institute of Commonwealth Studies (England)
Dr. Donald Hill, SUNY-Oneonta
Dr. Errol Hill, Dartmouth College
Dr. Gordon Rohlehr, University of the West Indies-St. Augustine (Trinidad)
Dr. Keith Warner, George Mason University
For additional information, contact:
Stephen Stuempfle
Chief Curator
Historical Museum of Southern Florida
101 W. Flagler St.
Miami, FL 33130
Phone: (305) 375-1492
Fax: (305) 375-1609
E-mail: history@historical-museum.org
Web site: http://www.historical-museum.org
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