Music from behind the Bridge — Steelband Aesthetics and Politics in Trinidad and Tobago

[Pan Times]

Shannon Dudley

Print publication date: 2007

Print ISBN-13: 9780195175479

Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2011

DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195175479.001.0001

 

The Steelband Movement and Music

This chapter shows that a dynamic relationship between musical aspirations and sociopolitical resistance is embedded in the very stories of pan’s origin, which foreground new musical opportunities as well as long-standing conflicts of class and race. Because of the steelband movement’s imperative of “progress,” accounts of the steelband’s development tend to emphasize the acquisition of European repertoires and formal training, whereas the steelband’s link to earlier Afro-Trinidadian traditions like tamboo bamboo and stickfighting is constructed more in terms of struggle and defiance. Nonetheless, an important aspect of the steelband’s musical progress was the adaptation of Afro-Trinidadian repertoires and musical procedures (cyclical forms, polyrhythmic texture, call-and-response singing, improvisation, etc.) to the new instrument.

 

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[charlotte]

why is Oxford called Oxford?

 

Oxford was originally known as "Oxenaforda", meaning "Ford of the Ox"; fords being more commonly used than bridges at that time.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_Oxford_is_named_Oxford#ixzz1cJAbZToS

 

meaning that is why Music is from behind the bridge!??

[Peter Gray]

That last sentence says it all ... in my opinion.  Thanks for posting, Pan Times.

Peter