Strictly Facts: A Guide to Caribbean History and Culture

Calypso: The Original Music of the Caribbean with Meagan A. Sylvester - Music Sociologist.Author.Researcher

Episode 30

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Originating in the nineteen century, calypso is a genre of Caribbean music that can be traced since spread across the region and its diaspora through migration. In this episode, we discuss calypso's evolving history, impact, and representation of Caribbean culture and society. 

Meagan A. Sylvester - Music Sociologist.Author.Researcher is a published author of over fifteen book chapters and journal articles and is a well know public academic in her native Trinidad and Tobago where she participates in both television and radio discussions on the Calypso and Soca musical artforms. Her research topics of interest are Music and National Identity in Calypso and Soca, Music of Diasporic Carnivals, Narratives of Resistance in Calypso and Ragga Soca music, Steelpan and kaisoJazz musical identities, Gender and Identity in Calypso and Soca music and Music and Human Rights in the Americas. She has presented academic papers and hosted scholarly workshops in several spaces across the globe including Europe, Latin America, South America, the United States and numerous islands in the Caribbean.

She has recently completed her a Ph.D. in Sociology of Music at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago and holds memberships in professional organizations include the Society for Ethnomusicology, the International Association of the Study for Popular Music, Caribbean Studies Association and the Association of Black Sociologists. Follow Dr. Sylvester on Facebook and Twitter

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