Rum Without Cok
"\/E put de accent upon the wrong syll-a-ble, and we si-ing a fropi-
eal song!" echoes of the Andrews Sisters fog horning their way through a fake West Indian "pop" rang vaguely in my ears as I listened to the BBC Caribbean Journey from 1YA, which dealt mainly with the authentic music of the West Indies. I had never before
realised how unlike the real. native rhythms of Trinidad and Jamaica are the jazzed-up "Calypsos" of Tin Pan Alley, until the ubiquitous Wynford Vaughan Thomas conducted us through samples of the genuine article. The effect of the extraordinary mixture of cultures in the Caribbean in producing a highly individual type of musical expression suitable for everything from lampooning to | religious ritual was excellently brought out, The celebrated "Calypso," a kind of sung commentary on topical events’ of personalities, seems to represent — one of the rare modern survivals. of the troubadour | tradition; its, imgenuous rhymes, rhythms and- homely wit make it»delight-
ful listening-in_ its unco m*fnercialised form, as in the epic of the mule and the crow, sung for us here, And the soft, lilting rhythm ~ of Jamaican speech made | me realise once again how ugly, » by contrast, the untutored New? Zealand voice sounds on the air.
J.C.
R.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19511214.2.41.7
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 25, Issue 650, 14 December 1951, Page 22
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211Rum Without Cok New Zealand Listener, Volume 25, Issue 650, 14 December 1951, Page 22
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