The music of Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Kitts and Nevis

The Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis , located in the Leeward Islands, is a federal two-island nation in the West Indies. It is the smallest sovereign state in the Americas, in both area and population....

is known for a number of musical celebrations including Carnival

Carnival

Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...

 (December 17 to January 3 on Saint Kitts). The last week in June features the St Kitts Music Festival, while the week-long Culturama

Culturama

Each year, Nevisians celebrate their heritage during Culturama. It is Nevis' answer to the diverse range of carnivals enjoyed on other Caribbean islands. Held annually in late July/early August, it celebrates Nevisians who have moved away and returned to party with their friends and family. It is a...

 on Nevis lasts from the end of July into early August.

In addition, there are other festivals on the island of Saint Kitts. There is Inner City Fest in February in Molineaux Green Valley Festival usually around Whit Monday in village of Cayon, Easterama around Easter (April) in village of Sandy Point, Fest-Tab, around July-August in the village of Tabernacle, and La festival de Capisterre

La festival de Capisterre

La festival de Capisterre is an annual festival celebrated in the region of Capisterre, St. Kitts. The Capisterre region was the earliest area in St. Kitts to be settled by Europeans and was part of French St. Christophe from 1625 to 1713. The area now holds four main settlements: Newton Ground...

, around Independence Day in Saint Kitts and Nevis (19 September), in the Capisterre

Capisterre

Capisterre is a region covering the Northern Coastal plain on the Island of Saint Kitts. It was originally colonized by the French in the early 17th century, with its capital on the only harbour, in the fishing town of Dieppe. The area was lost to the British in 1713...

 region. These celebrations typically feature parades, street dances and salsa

Salsa music

Salsa music is a genre of music, generally defined as a modern style of playing Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha with touches from other genres of music...

, jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, soca

Soca music

Soca is a style of music from Trinidad and Tobago. Soca is a musical development of traditional Trinidadian calypso, through loans from the 1960s onwards from predominantly black popular music....

, calypso

Calypso music

Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...

 and steelpan

Steelpan

Steelpans is a musical instrument originating from The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago...

 music.

Traditional music

The most well-known kind of traditional music is probably seasonal Christmas songs

Christmas music

Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music normally performed or heard around the Christmas season, which tends to begin in the months leading up the actual holiday and end in the weeks shortly thereafter.-Early:...

, though there also chanteys and other songs. Music is also a part of the Tea Meeting

Tea meeting

The tea meeting tradition is a part of the culture of Saint Kitts and Nevis and Barbados. Tea meetings feature music and performances that include comic speeches, stentorian oratory and songs. The performances are introduced by a chairman and vice-chairman, who are also performers themselves. ...

s which are common on the island, featuring a pair of stentorian male singers in a competitive kind of performance in which hecklers play an important role.

Carnival music

Carnival

Carnival

Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...

 in Saint Kitts and Nevis features music quite prominently. Big Drum

Big Drum

Big Drum is a genre and a musical instrument from the Windward Islands. It is a kind of Caribbean music, associated mostly closely with the music of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Carriacou in Grenada and in the music of Saint Kitts and Nevis.-Carriacou:...

 and string band

String band

A string band is an old-time music or jazz ensemble made up mainly or solely of string instruments. String bands were popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and are among the forerunners of modern country music and bluegrass.-String bands in old-time music:...

s accompany folk performers. Other instruments include shack-shack (a tin can with beads inside), baha

Baha

Baha may refer to:-Given name:* Baha Akşit, Turkish physician and politician* Baha Araji, Iraqi politician* A...

 (a blown metal pipe), triangle, fife

Fife (musical instrument)

A fife is a small, high-pitched, transverse flute that is similar to the piccolo, but louder and shriller due to its narrower bore. The fife originated in medieval Europe and is often used in military and marching bands. Someone who plays the fife is called a fifer...

, guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 and quarto

Quarto

Quarto could refer to:* Quarto, a size or format of a book in which four leaves of a book are created from a standard size sheet of paper* For specific information about quarto texts of William Shakespeare's works, see:...

.

Iron bands were introduced to Saint Kitts and Nevis' Carnival in the 1940s, when bands used makeshift percussion instruments from the likes of car rims. Ensembles of local, collaborative musicians formed during this era, playing drums, saxophone

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

s, bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

s and trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

s; these included the Silver Rhythm Orchestra, Brown Queen, Music Makers

Music Makers

The Music Makers was a 1940s band from Saint Kitts and Nevis. They were among the most popular of the Carnival bands from that era....

, Esperanza and Rhythm Kings. The following decade saw the introduction a Trinidadian

Music of Trinidad and Tobago

Calypso music and steelpan is what Trinidad and Tobago is best known for, including internationally in the 1950s through artists like Lord Kitchener and Mighty Sparrow; the art form was most popularised at that time by Harry Belafonte...

 style called steelpan

Steelpan

Steelpans is a musical instrument originating from The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago...

, brought by Lloyd Matheson, C.B.E., then an Education Officer. The first steelpan band was Roy Martin

Roy Martin

Roy Martin is a critically acclaimed English session drummer.- Biography :Roy Martin was born in Liverpool. Self taught from a young age, he learnt by playing along to records in his family home. He grew up in Liverpool, playing in bands from his mid teens...

's Wilberforce Steel Pan. Other bands included the Eagle Squadron, Boomerang, Casablanca, Boston Tigers and The Invaders

The Invaders (band)

The Invaders was a top R&B band in the island of Bermuda during the late 1960s.The Invaders was started by Ralph Richardson in Bermuda in 1968. In 1969, the band produced its first hit 45, "Spacing Out", written by Richardson, which made it to the top of the Bermuda charts and remained there for...

. Modern Carnival in Saint Kitts and Nevis did not begin until the late 1950s. In the 1960s, brass band

Brass band

A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert...

s dominated first Carnival, then much of popular music.

Calypso

Calypso

Calypso music

Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...

 is a style of music from Trinidad and Tobago

Music of Trinidad and Tobago

Calypso music and steelpan is what Trinidad and Tobago is best known for, including internationally in the 1950s through artists like Lord Kitchener and Mighty Sparrow; the art form was most popularised at that time by Harry Belafonte...

, consisting of highly lyrical songs that frequently makes topical comments on the ruling classes and social issues of the day.

Calypso music originated in West Africa, and was introduced in the Caribbean during the slave trade by slaves who lived on the sugar plantations.

During slavery, calypso was used for commentary against the oppression and brutal treatment suffered by the slaves at the hands of their masters. This form was called Caiso (Ka-ee-sow) meaning "the town cry", while the singer/composer was called the "Caisonian". This singing was then nicknamed "calypso" by the European slave masters, who called it after the mythological sea nymph calypso because of its melodic ability to captivate its listeners.

The caisonians were then pressured by their masters to sing songs to entertain them in return for certain privileges and an ease of tasks, and for money during the post-emancipation period.

Calypso was subsequently commercialized in Trinidad, where it was sung mainly for entertainment in shows called "calypso tents" during the Trinidad carnival celebrations. (Unreferenced)

From Trinidad, calypso spread across the Caribbean, and became a major part of Kittitian (or Kittian) music with the introduction of formal calypso competitions in the 1950s. Prominent early calypsonian

Calypsonian

A calypsonian , originally known as the chantwell is a musician, from the Anglophone Caribbean, who sings songs called calypso. Calypsos are musical renditions having their origins in the West African griot tradition...

s from this period included Mighty Kush, Lord Mike, Elmo Osborne, Lord Harmony, King Monow and the Mighty Saint. By the 1980s, calypso had begun to peak in popularity on Saint Kitts and Nevis, while the two dominant performers were the rivals Starshield

Starshield

- Background :Begun as a series of galactic fantasy novels written by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis, the Starshield project was envisioned to spin off a tabletop roleplaying game and an online strategy game...

 and Ellie Matt.