After taking a long and storied look at carnival, Ray Allen, a professor of music and American studies at City University of New York’s Brooklyn College carved out seven years of his life to compile a scholarly glossary and overview focusing on the totality that defines Caribbean jump up revelry.

According to the author who penned a book he titled “Jump Up” his reason was partly motivated by the fact he genuinely “loves the music.”

From start to finish, page by page, there are 295 other reasons.

“Jump Up” is the first comprehensive history of Trinidadian calypso/soca and steel-band music in the diaspora,” Allen said in his introduction.

“Previous studies have given ample coverage to carnival music in the context of Trinidad but paid nominal attention to the migration and significance of this music outside of the Caribbean.”

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  • Thanks, Brenda. That music does something to me, maybe because I am a "carnival baby." Haha!

  • Inez,  I wanted to check that I liked this post, but what I really liked was your response and the calypso words that so accurately described my feelings.

    Brenda H.

  • Interesting article but we must stop using the term "carnival music." When I became aware of our music, at a very young age, I ceased thinking of calypso as a seasonal mucic, (soca wasn't invented yet) and began appreciating what the citizens of TNT contributed to the world. I enjoyed listening to all the calypso masters before, during and after lent, on vinyl of course! Claude, I'm sure you remember when playing and listening to calypso during lent was deemed a "sin." I "jump up" to our music almost every darn day and don't wait on carnival to do so. 

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