Carnival, 1888

Calypso in Trinidad: Carnival and Musical Traditions Calypso Tents and Calypsonians The Composition of Calypso Early Recordings of Calypso Calypso in the 1940s and 1950s

Carnival and Musical Traditions Calypso is the music of Trinidad's famous Carnival celebration. This festival of creativity, social tension and exuberance takes place in the island each year before Lent, similar to Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Carnaval in Brazil. In Trinidad, nightly Carnival preparations, performances and parties begin soon after Christmas. The celebrations culminate on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, when thousands of masqueraders parade the streets of the capital city of Port of Spain and other towns.

Carnival steelband, ca.1940

Masqueraders, 1950s

Masqueraders, 1950s/60s

Stickfighter, early 1900s

Pierrot, early 1900s

Carnival songs began to be called "calypsos" around 1900. The roots of calypso lie in African-Trinidadian stickfighting songs, drum dance songs and other folk traditions. Lead singers, or "chantwells," of Carnival songs performed both in the "yards" (headquarters) of masquerade bands and on the streets during the festival itself. Often they sang in French Creole, the vernacular language of the majority of Africans in Trinidad during the nineteenth century. By the turn of the century, however, some chantwells were singing Carnival songs in English, the language of the island's colonial rulers who had become more influential than the old French plantation owners.

The French Creole calypsos of working-class Trinidadians often had two line stanzas, sung by a chantwell and chorus in a call and response fashion. These songs were typically accompanied by pieces of bamboo used as percussion instruments. Meanwhile, the growing influence of the middle class in Carnival was reflected in the composition of English-language calypsos with four or eight line stanzas, which were perceived to be more sophisticated. These songs were generally accompanied by stringed instruments, associated with the musical traditions of nearby Venezuela. The lyrics of both types of calypsos of this era often included boasts and witty derision of rivals.

Lyrics: "Congo Bara" "Iron Duke in the Land" Calypsos, early 1900s

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