Tour de Force: A Musical Journey of the Caribbean

While Caribbean popular music is known throughout the world, the lesser-known traditions of art music within the non-Hispanic Caribbean have largely been undiscovered. This text provides a compelling and comprehensive exploration of these traditions in a cultural, geographical, and sociopolitical context. Drawing on original interviews with Caribbean composers and performers, and providing an accompanying soundtrack of 26 musical examples, the text illustrates the musical richness of the Caribbean region. It draws focus on an area of music and culture that is complex, unique, and inviting. Contact the publisher at SoundCaribbeanMusic@gmail.com with proof of purchase of the textbook to receive the soundtrack. This textbook supports teaching and learning at the upper secondary and tertiary levels. It poses questions, invites analysis, and inspires discussion in a variety of disciplines: music, ethnomusicology, and Caribbean, cultural and postcolonial studies. In the original interviews, readers will hear from, among others: * The son of Alton Adams, Sr., the first black bandmaster of the United States Navy * Liam Teague, the master pannist from Trinidad & Tobago * Wim Statius Muller, the pianist and composer -- and retired intelligence officer -- from Curacao * Julio Racine, composer, on his compositional style and the appreciation of local music in Haiti * Dominique Le Gendre, composer, pondering the question "is classical music Caribbean?" Read more