The Caribbean

Geographical and historical context

Caribbean English
Standard Jamaican English
Used in government, education and media

Much British influence, such as dropping the r in

words
Merger of some diphthongs, ex. Fear vs. fair
British spelling and word choice
Jamaican Creole
Originally a pidging of English and West African languages
It gained new native speakers and coined new words

Standard Jamaican English was always the language of

instruction, just recently they allow Patois as well
(2001)
Caribbean music
Ska is style of music that developed in Jamaica in
the 1950s.

Prince Buster
Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and
calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues.

Instruments used: Guitar bass guitar trumpet

trombone saxophone piano drums organ

Three periods or waves

Jamaican wave
2 tone
Late 1980 and 1990s
Is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the
late 1960s.

Instruments used: Bass, drums, percussion,

guitar, organ, piano

Influenced by traditional mento and calypso

music, as well as American jazz and rhythm and
blues, reggae owes its direct origins to the ska
and rocksteady of 1960s Jamaica.
Jimmy Cliff

Bob Marley
Is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in
the late 1970s.

Named after Jamaican dance halls in which popular

Jamaican recordings were played by local sound
systems.

Digital instrumentation became popular.

 Genre of Caribbean music - Early 70
Soca Music
From Kaiso Brought by slaves.

Developed by Lord Shorty around 1972 1973

A new version of traditional Calypso

Threatened by the rise in popularity of Reggae,

Soul and Funk .
Popular Instruments
The quijada, charrasca, or Jawbone
Afro-Peruvian instrument
Made from the jawbone of a donkey or
mule

cleaned of tissue and dried to make the

teeth loose and act as a rattle

Produces a powerful buzzing sound.

 Steel drums / Steelpan
Pitched percussion instrument

Originating from Trinidad and Tobago

Historically made from 55 gallon industrial

drums

Built using sheet metal with a thickness

between 0.8 and 1.5 mm
A stringed instrument Washtub Bass
Has its origins in tribal societies in Africa and
Southeast Asia

Popular in American Folk music

Uses a metal washtub as resonator

Traditionally, they have a single string whose

pitch is adjusted by pushing or pulling on a
staff or stick to change the tension.