Jump Up! Caribbean Carnival Music in New York City (original) (raw)

2020, Caribbean Quarterly

JUMP UP! CARIBBEAN CARNIVAL MUSIC IN NEW YORK CITY by Ray Allen provides a comprehensive historical account of calypso, soca and steelband music in New York City from the 1920s to 2017. Allen's consistent focus on Carnival music in New York sets this work apart from other studies on diaspora Carnivals (which give little attention to music) or Carnival music in the Caribbean (which hardly consider diaspora). In the first two pages, Allen invokes the contributions of Trinbagonianborn calypsonians The Mighty Sparrow, Calypso Rose, Lord Nelson and others who lived/worked in New York to demonstrate the ways in which Carnival traditions in New York can (and should) be situated within an historical and ongoing transnational network of Caribbean musicians. Although titled "Caribbean Carnival Music in New York City", the book is also a valuable resource for understanding the history of calypso and soca in general because of the effect these transnational networks had on Carnival traditions in Trinidad and Tobago. Particularly noteworthy is his use of the term "Caribbean music" throughout the book to emphasise the pan-Caribbean nature of New York Carnival traditions and the contributions of non-Trinidadians such as Arrow and Granville Straker. With a background in ethnomusicology and American studies, Allen expertly situates historical narratives of Caribbean migrants and musical analysis within the context of New York City. He draws on oral histories, written archived records, discographies and personal experience at Brooklyn's Carnival. His interviews with over fifty prominent musicians and producers provide invaluable first-hand accounts of historical events. While much of the information is historical, he also critically engages concepts related to hybridity, globalisation, diaspora, transnationalism, heritage and participatory/ presentational music. In the first chapter, Allen provides a history of calypso and steelbands in Trinidad and Tobago, showing that these traditions are rooted in processes of hybridisation. This chapter helps to set up both a historical and a theoretical

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