Calypso – from tradition to Diaspora
The American Harry Belafonte was, to many Dutch people, the one that introduced them to traditional Trinidadian and Tobagon music. Recordings from the 1930s though, sound not like Belafonte’s innocent songs at all. Calypso music has always expressed something risqué or political.
This episode we listen to recordings from the 1930s, found on the album Roosevelt in Trinidad, and to the contemporary calypso group Kobo Town, that is formed by Trinidadians living in Canada.