Music of Antigua and Barbuda

The music of Antigua and Barbuda is largely African in character, and has only felt a limited influence from European styles due to the population of Antigua and Barbuda descending mostly from West Africans who were made slaves by Europeans.

Antigua and Barbuda is a Caribbean nation in the Lesser Antilles island chain. The country is a second home for many of the pan-Caribbean genres of popular music, and has produced stars in calypso, soca, steeldrum, zouk and reggae. Of these, steeldrum and calypso are the most integral parts of modern Antiguan popular music; both styles are imported from the music of Trinidad and Tobago.

Little to no musical research has been undertaken on Antigua and Barbuda other than this. As a result, much knowledge on the topic derives from novels, essays and other secondary sources. The Antigua Community Players have been active for more than 52 years, performing a variety of musical productions in many styles, including the Antiguan folk song, benna.

Jazz guitarist Roland Prince was from Antigua.

Basil Hill, owner of King Midas Records in New York, built a large international nightclub called the Atmosphere in 1978, creating a direct outlet for Antigua and Barbudan singers and bands.

Elements of non-Antiguan and Barbudan music have continued to be imported to the islands in the latter 20th century, including the electronic gospel music of the American Baptist church, and the Afro-Jamaican drumming of Rastafarian music.

Platinum-selling Antiguan-German singer-songwriter Au/Ra was also raised in Antigua, who has excelled in dance and pop music.

Carnival

See full article: Antigua Carnival

The Antiguan Carnival is a celebration of music and dance held annually from the end of July to the first Tuesday in August. The most important day is that of the j'ouvert (or juvé), in which brass and steel bands perform for much of the island's population. Barbuda's Carnival in June, and is known as Caribana. The Antiguan and Barbudan Carnivals replaced the Old Time Christmas Festival in 1957, with hopes of inspiring tourism in Antigua and Barbuda. Some elements of the Christmas Festival remain in the modern Carnival celebrations, which are otherwise largely based on the Trinidadian Carnival.

Music festival

The Antigua and Barbuda international music festival, Romantic Rhythms, is a new addition to the summer line-up that peaks in August at the notorious Carnival celebrations. Geared to becoming a competing counterpart to the Carnival, the festival could eventually become the leading musical event in the entire Caribbean region. In its first year of establishment, the music festival already had some of the world's top artists perform.

Steelpan

The steelpan comes in many different forms, and put together is called a steel orchestra. Steel bands traditionally are made up of old pieces of metal such as old irons, tire rims, or steel pipes. Antigua's steel orchestras and iron bands can be found in churches and in many villages, and have been popular since their introduction. Every Carnival there is a competition to dub the best band of the island. Antigua's largest and oldest steel orchestra that still competes is Hell's Gate. It is said that the Brute Force Steel Band was the first steelpan band to record an album.

Steel orchestras have evolved to using highly technical instruments costing up to US$1500 for one instrument. These pans are meticulously honed out of the steel drum, sunken and burned over a hot fire, chromed and tuned. This process was perfected in Trinidad and Tobago and exported to Antigua and Barbuda through various collaborations between several of the bands in both island-nations.

Calypso

Calypso was sung throughout the English-speaking Caribbean, and was used by the poor as a platform for social and political commentary, using complex metaphors and folkloric references to obscure their meaning to outsiders. Later, beginning in the 1960s, a popularized kind of calypso was developed for use in tourist hotels. The first hotel calypsonians were Black Shirt, Skeetch and Dadian, who were accompanied by a string ensemble of two guitars and a bass guitar (created out of an oil drum). The Antigua Carnival, and the Antiguan Calypso King competition, began in 1957; the King that year was Styler. This era also saw a growth in patriotic calypsos, focused on an emerging sense of victorious nationalism in the wake of growing autonomy. By the middle of the 1960s, two rival calypsonians dominated the Antiguan scene, Zemaki and Lord Canary. Their conflict was perpetuated as the King Short Shirt and Swallow rivalry during the 1970s and 1980s. In the middle of the 1980s, the Burning Flames emerged, winning the road march with "Styley Tight" in 1985. They achieved pan-Caribbean acclaim.

It is clear that the genre of music now called calypso had strong roots in Trinidad and Tobago, but it would be inaccurate to suggest that this music started in any one island. Every island in the Caribbean has a form of music that resembles "kaiso", more commonly referred to as calypso. It is inaccurate to attribute the origin of calypso to any island. In Belize, they call their variation punta. In Antigua they call theirs benna.

Soca

The defining staccato bass was the creation of the late Lord Shorty from Barrackpore, Trinidad and Tobago, and rose to fame as Lord Shorty with his 1963 hit "Clock and Dagger". He started out writing songs and performing in the calypso genre. In the 1970s, he began experimenting with calypso by blending it with the local chutney — the music of Trinidad's East Indian population — using instruments such as the sitar and tabla. The style was dubbed "soca".