Caribbean Music Spreading Around the World- "Rum and Coca-Cola"
by Yoichi Watanabe

Book Chapter:

“Chapter 35 Caribbean Music Spreading Around the World- "Rum and Coca-Cola"

From:

Karibukai sekai o shiru tame no 70-sho (eria sutadizu 157)

#70 To Know The World of The Caribbean Sea (Area Studies 157)

• Publisher :  (Akashi Shoten)
• Publication date : June 20, 2017
• Language : Japanese
• Tankobon Softcover : 352 pages
• ISBN-10 : 4750345342
• ISBN-13 : 978-4750345345

ABSTRACT

The goal of this chapter was to demonstrate the historical importance of African-derived Caribbean rhythms as a major influence on popular music that is largely seen as “American”.

“Syncopation and magical repeats from sub-Saharan Africa, accompanied by slaves, that change the pattern of beats to create unique effects, mixed with the culture of the colonial suzerain. It is music collectively called the Caribbean. And this style has had a great impact on all ages by being incorporated into Western commercial music.”

Taking as a starting point, 19^th Century Cuba, the chapter proceeds to look at Haiti, Calypso from Trinidad and the practice of put a white or African-American face to popular music, from the Andrew’s Sisters’ take on “Rum and Coca-Cola” to Justin Beiber’s and fellow Canadian Drake’s work of the current era.

It also looks at the Caribbean roots of the world-dominating hip-hop phenomena and the rise of new Caribbean-rooted Latin stars such as Gloria Estevan (Cuba) and Shakira (Colombia).

In conclusion, the chapter asks if the computerization of music has led to a homogenisation of sound and if the Caribbean can retain its distinctive identity.

CONTEXT

This chapter was written for a Japanese audience as part of an ongoing series of “Area Studies” published by noted Japanese publishing house Akashi Shoten. The goal is to raise awareness in Japan of different cultures and practices in other regions of the world.

PURPOSE & SIGNIFICANCE

The work seeks to redress the imbalance in understanding of the Caribbean’s role in the development of popular music.

METHODOLOGY

The work is based on the author’s personal experience of the popular music industry since the late 1970’s and his extensive travel and research within the Caribbean and Africa.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Cultural homogenization as an aspect of cultural globalization.

This refers to the reduction in cultural diversity through the popularization and diffusion of a wide array of cultural symbols-not only physical objects but customs, ideas and values.

Justin Ervin; Zachary Alden Smith (1 August 2008). Globalization: A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-59884-073-5. Retrieved 4 February 2013.

CHAPTER

“Chapter 35 Caribbean Music Spreading Around the World- "Rum and Coca-Cola"

To describe the African beat, the backbone of the diverse Caribbean music that spans the various islands, in one word, it would be the "clave rhythm" as a tool for constructing the tempo of the music. Syncopation and magical repeats from sub-Saharan Africa, accompanied by slaves, that change the pattern of beats to create unique effects, mixed with the culture of the colonial suzerain. It is music collectively called the Caribbean. And this style has had a great impact on all ages by being incorporated into Western commercial music.

Caribbean music from the 19th century was first born in Cuba, like Habanera, a world hit. A mix of French dance music from Haiti and Spanish and African folk music spread in Spain and from there to the world. It was featured in Bizet's opera "Carmen", and the roots of Argentine tango can be traced back here.

Until the 1959 Revolution, Cuba was an American red-light district and a music exporter. Perez Prado swept the world with a Cuban rhythm called Mambo, which added a jazz element to rumba. The names of Caribbean rhythms are engraved in the titles of Mambo, Rumba, and Japanese Showa Kayo, because Caribbean music became very popular worldwide in the 1950s, and that was the American culture at that time. It is a proof that it was directly transmitted to Japan under its control. Before rock was born in the 1950s, Caribbean music was the mainstream of world music.

Harry Belafonte's 1956 album "Calypso" is known as the world's first million-seller album. However, contrary to the title "Calypso", what is the sophisticated form of this album recorded in the United States? It can never be found in the folk music of Trinidad, the birthplace of calypso. Bellafonte's own mix, whose father is Martinique and mother is Jamaican, and who was born in Harlem, New York, gives the album its legitimacy as American pop music. Caribbean music, like a thing, has a material called sugar cane, which becomes the first sugar product to be distributed worldwide through the commercial process of recording.

Let's return the hour hand to 1945. Andrew Sisters, the song that continued to occupy the top of Billboard for 10 weeks between March and May, after the bombing of Tokyo, which killed more than 100,000 people in World War II, became the best single. It was "Rum and Coca-Cola". It's a song about an American soldier who stays on vacation in Trinidad, a paradise in the Caribbean and spends his time in love in the midst of sake and the tropics. However, this blockbuster song has since caused a great deal of controversy, including a legal battle, due to prostitution incitement. The original song is a 1943 song by Lord Invader, a Calypsonian (calypso singer) from Trinidad, but this song was registered as his own song by an American comedian who visited Trinidad as a consolation and was mentioned earlier. It led to a big hit. "Calypso" became number one in the world at the time, but no one knew it was a Trinidad calypso song.

This scheme will continue forever after this. Jamaica's Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" was first known to the world by Eric Clapton, and the most well-known Soca masterpiece "Hot Hot Hot" as Buster Poindexter. It was recognized as a party song in the world for the first time with the hit. And, of course, the name of Arrow from Montserrat, who created the original song, is unknown to most people.

The beat of the tropical house genre, which became known to the world with a big hit by Justin Bieber and Drake in 2016, is a beat that was a big hit in the Caribbean under the name Soca from the mid-1970s. It's a little arranged. As long as there is a scheme of music for the people to enjoy and music for sale, this cycle will continue, and there will always be a time lag of 20 or 30 years for something to be recognized as American music in the big market. is there. There is certainly a difference between the speed of a Caribbean island nation that changes in a blink of an eye and the conservative Americas. But Caribbean music has a big impact on the world, no matter what.

Most of the founders of hip-hop, who swept the world in the 1980s and are still the basic model of young people in the world, are from the Caribbean or have their roots in the Caribbean. Jamaican-born DJ Kool Herc and Barbados-born DJ Grandmaster Flash are typical examples. Yard parties and sound systems that were commonplace in the Caribbean have become a major force in creating new musical styles in the New York ghetto. New York dance music could not have been born without the sound of the Caribbean, as seen in sophisticated salsa in Puerto Rico and New York, and in New Yorkian soul created by second-generation immigrants.

Born in Cuba and traveled to the United States, Gloria Estefan's music is top-notch both as pop music and as Caribbean music. She has sung the World Cup theme twice. Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira is also an interesting mix of Colombia and Suriname on the northern tip of South America facing the Caribbean, and Haiti's production team, one of the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean.

In recent years, much of the music production has been done on computers, and standardization in the Internet world has progressed, and it is true that the sounds of every region of the world are similar, but there are still many places in the Caribbean islands. In addition, there are many rhythms that can be said to be the rough stones of pop music in the near future. When I listen to it from island to island, I am always amazed at how wonderful it is. And I think that mixing is the theme of the Caribbean Sea and its charm. (Yoichi Watanabe)