Caribbean Music

This is a description of Compas, a music genre from Haiti, from the Wikipedia article “Music of Haiti”:

“ . . . a complex, ever-changing music genre that fuses African rhythms, European ballroom dancing, and Haitian bourgeois aesthetics.”

I didn’t find this helpful because all Caribbean music is a mix of European and African music.

The islands of the Caribbean together contain 92,541 square miles. That's not very large. Compare it to Oregon, the 10th largest state in the United States at 95,963 square miles. Yet the Caribbean is one of the most diverse and dynamic music generators on the planet. Its influences reach across the globe. Here are some of the many genres that arose from the Caribbean: calypso, merengue, reggae, Cuban son, rumba, cumbia, zouk, reggaeton . . . and the list goes on.

Why is the Caribbean such a fount of diverse styles of music when they all are a mix of European and African influences? Over the centuries the area has brought together cultural influences from Europe (Spain, France, and Great Britain mainly) and Africa. Slaves kidnapped from Africa came from a varied collection of cultures in West Africa. Music from these cultures shared characteristics that they brought to the Americas: an emphasis on rhythm and polyrhythms, call-and-response songs, participation in the music by the entire community, and a close coupling of song, dance, and spirituality.

Different combinations of two characteristics of Caribbean island histories influence the islands’ music. One characteristic is the European culture imposed on an island, mainly British, French, or Spanish, during the colonial period. There is also a bit of Dutch influence on some islands and tiny bits of indigenous influence. The most obvious colonial influence is the language of the music.

Another influencing factor is whether and to what degree an island was a settler colony or a plantation colony. Plantation colonies had a small, upper crust of managers, overseers, and often-absentee owners greatly outnumbered by African slaves. Settler colonies had a smaller percentage of African slaves plus European immigrants and businessmen.

I’ll use the island of Hispaniola, where Columbus first landed, to show how two nations on the same island came to have such different music. Hispaniola is divided into two nations, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. They had different histories that led to different cultures and music. Haiti was a plantation colony with a small population of French owners, managers, and overseers. The rest of the population was African slaves. The business model in colonial Haiti was to drive the slaves mercilessly and provide for them inadequately. It was easier to import new African slaves than be concerned with the health of existing slaves. This led to a high mortality rate. Many of the slaves were thus newly arrived from Africa and still remembered the cultures and music they were torn away from. African music heavily influences Haitian music and, compared to other Caribbean genres, shows relatively little European influence. Haiti also gained its freedom from French control earlier than the other Caribbean islands. The slaves successfully revolted in the early Nineteenth Century. Haitian music is sung in French or a Haitian patois.

The Dominican Republic was the first Caribbean island in which Spanish culture was strong. Spanish institutions in the colonial era played a large role in the formation of Dominican culture and music; African music was relatively less influential but still important. Dominican music is sung in Spanish.

I’ve posted songs from Haiti and the Dominican Republic so you can hear the difference. In future posts, I’ll go into deeper descriptions of these genres along with genres from other Caribbean islands.