I began playing music for fun, many years ago, growing up in Vreed-en-Hoop, across the Demerara River from Georgetown, and in a recent conversation with Bajan musician Roger Gibbs, now based in Toronto where I lived for many years (Tradewinds started there in 1966), it struck me that there is a terrific book in the story of the evolution of Caribbean music that has happened in our lifetimes, particularly in Trinidad and Jamaica, but also across the region generally, from St. Kitts in the north to Trinidad and Guyana in the south. While reggae developed in the northwest in Jamaica, calypso (later soca) was being propelled in Trinidad and the eastern islands with their high-season Carnivals, and to look back on the music there are some fascinating details. In a conversation this week with stellar Bajan musician Roger Gibbs, now resident in Toronto, we touched on some of it. For example, I first heard the term “mammy pappy” used by Trini musicians referring to the drum rhythm they used in the popular calypso music of the day, and the pattern played by the fundamental high-hat cymbal part of the drum kit, as “shookoo shy” because of the unusual sound it created.
