about the project
Camden to the Caribbean is a celebration of the music from the Caribbean. Four Camden schools have been working with musicians and tutors from Kinetika Bloco. Using musical seeds from four styles of Caribbean music – Calypso, Ska, Soca and Zouk – the team created a piece for us all to perform at the RAH festival. There’s information about all these types of music and some links to listening at the bottom of this page.
how we will perform the piece
This is a piece for all singers and all instrumentalists. It’s going to be HUGE! (Make sure you follow rules 1,2 and 3!)
We will be led on stage by Andy Grappy, Sam Agard, Shayanna Dyer-Harris and Wade Austin from Kinetika Bloco, with bands from Regent High, Fleet, St Albans and St Mary & St Pancras schools.
who is singing which bit?
Schools in Stalls A, B, C and D are singing Voice 1.
Schools on the stage and in the choir stalls are singing Voice 2
videos showing the moves
Please see the green buttons for videos – hope they help!
Calypso
Here’s Wade explaining about the origins of Calypso.
Shayanna has put together a calypso playlist for us.
Ska
Ska music originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, combining elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz, rhythm and blues that Jamaicans had heard on the radio, following World War II.
The “classic” ska style is characterised by a walking bass line and a skank, which is a guitar strumming technique, widely used in reggae. Ska also often features a horn section and lyrics about racial integration, equity and local issues.
Shayanna has put together a ska playlist for us.
Zouk
Zouk music originated in the French Antilles, particularly Guadeloupe and Martinique. It is characterised by a fast tempo, a percussion-driven rhythm and a loud horn section. The music often uses Creole lyrics, with the name itself deriving from the Creole “to party”. Zouk was made for dancing!
Kassav are the undoubted pioneers of Zouk.
Shayanna has put together a zouk playlist for us.
Soca
Soca originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the early 1970s and developed into a range of styles during the 1980s and beyond. Soca was initially developed by Lord Shorty in an effort to revive traditional calypso.
Soca simply means “So(ul) of Ca(lypso)” and Lord Shorty claimed the soul of calypso was as multicultural as his island’s African and East Indian descendants. To set this post-colonial hybrid to music, Shorty sped up calypso and gave it an Indian twist. It is rhythmically a fusion of African/Calypso and East Indian rhythms. It is the party-cousin of Calypso.
Shayanna has put together a soca playlist for us.