The Music of Tobago, West Indies

After passing through immigration in Port of Spain, Trinidad, I proceeded in a sleep-deprived haze to the tourist information office and asked the woman there what my options were for finding tranquility; nice beaches and an authentic local music scene. She frowned and told me that most of Trinidad’s tourist facilities are geared towards business travelers, and the music scene is largely confined to the capital city’s frenetic nightlife. After hearing this, I gathered that Trinidad might not be the best place to start this musical adventure, so I bought a $25 one-way ticket to its sister island of Tobago. A pair of Americans I met on the flight introduced me to Marlon, a local friend of theirs who invited me to dinner and found me lodging at an inexpensive local guest house near his home in the town of Plymouth. After checking in and going for a sunset swim, I rejoined my new friends for an outdoor supper of grilled dolphin fish steaks, chopped vegetables and garlic bread.

As we relaxed in the balmy evening air, our host put on a CD shuffle mix that included some of Bob Marley and Michael Jackson’s greatest hits.  Sitting there sipping beers and listening to two of the world’s most renowned cultural icons, our conversation inevitably turned to music. We talked about how both men had achieved their fame by taking existing musical forms—Michael Jackson’s early work fused elements of Disco, R & B and Hip-Hop, while some of Bob Marley’s most beloved songs contain unmistakable characteristics of the lesser-known Jamaican Mento music—then adding their own personal vision to create something the world had never seen before. This led Shaka (not the name his mother gave him), a youthful, fifty-three year-old friend of Marlon’s, and an enthusiastic source of information about his homeland, to remark that Calypso, the national genre and most visible world-wide symbol of “T&T” culture, is still being influenced by Soca music, from which it emerged.

He told me I would soon have two opportunities to examine this phenomenon myself: the annual Tobago Heritage Festival runs July 17th-August 1st, and it provides a showcase for the island’s villages to honor their patron saints through songs, chanting and dances. When I told him that I might not be able to stay until the festival begins, Shaka told me that I ought to visit “Sunday School,” a longstanding Plymouth tradition which has nothing whatsoever to do with religion. Because many of the town’s musicians and artists work the hospitality industry, he said, they don’t get the chance to party much on the weekends. So, decades ago, someone got the idea to have a huge outdoor party on Sunday afternoons, where musicians can play, dancers can dance, and everyone can eat and drink their fill. According to Shaka and Marlon, this activity originated as a locals-only affair, but has since turned into a bit of a tourist spectacle. Nevertheless, they said, it would be a great introduction to the Caribbean music scene, and an excellent way to see how the current and the traditional continue to inspire and replenish each other.