Discover Trinidad & Tobago 2017 (#28)

culture
Literature & books
n For book lovers: book launches, readings
and lectures take place at the National Library,
the universities of the West Indies and
Trinidad & Tobago, the National Museum,
at bookstores (like Paper Based and Nigel
R Khan), and during the Bocas Lit Fest (see
our Festivals section)
n Good reads: look out for works (spanning
fiction, plays, poetry, local history, culture,
and the environment) by Nobel laureates
VS Naipaul and Derek Walcott, plus Michael
Anthony, Gerard Besson, Lloyd Best, Angelo
Bissessarsingh, CLR James, John La Rose,
Earl Lovelace, Ian MacDonald, Elizabeth
Nunez, Judy Raymond,
Monique Roffey, Sam Selvon,
Amanda Smyth, Julian
Kenny, and former prime
minister Eric Williams
n Publishers: a handful of
companies produce books
and magazines, including
Paria Publishing and
MEP (our publishers, who
also produce magazines
like Caribbean Beat, and
books of Caribbean interest
under book imprint
Prospect Press).
Music
CALYPSO & SOCA
n Calypso dates back to
pre-Emancipation times,
when slaves created songs
as a form of praise or
derisive social commentary,
and rose to international
popularity in the 1930s–
50s
n Soca — calypso’s up-tempo progeny born in
the 70s and incorporating Indian musical influences
— is the islands’ party music. Some
hits have become international sensations
n Calypso and soca are the building blocks for a
range of other fusion forms.
CHUTNEY & TASSA
n Chutney: born of Hindi folk songs and
instrumentation (like the sitar and dholak
drums). There’s also a hybrid with soca
(called, you guessed it, chutney soca!)
n Tassa is a drum-driven music central to
the Muslim festival of Hosay, but the drums
are fused with other musical forms and
celebrations year-round.
Nickolai Salcedo of Kin Sound System
scott homer
discovertnt.com
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