“Bowie is watching you” — posters for the David Bowie exhibit at the V&A. Photo by Sarah Stierch, CC 2.0.
The Caribbean, like much of the rest of the world, woke up to the news that musician David Bowie — that temporal creature who morphed seamlessly from androgynous Ziggy Stardust to elder rock statesman — had died after an 18-month battle with cancer, just two days after his 69th birthday.
The overwhelming reaction to his death on social media throughout the Caribbean is testament to the magnitude of Bowie's talent and the ways in which his music — always creative and original — defied geographical and racial lines. Most Caribbean netizens were blindsided by the announcement, since his illness wasn't common knowledge. Trinidad and Tobago-based Internet user Patricia Worrell admitted that “the news really hit me with absolutely no preparation”, while Rhoda Bharath wrote on Facebook:
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Farewell to Ziggy Stardust. He redefined Rock.