Does Music Even Matter? A Look at Art, Social Justice & How They May Intersect

Welcome to a brand new month, everyone! Hopefully this two-week lockdown goes by quickly and we can get back to our regular lives lickety-split, am I right? Haha, am I right?

Honestly, it’s been… quite the year, hasn’t it? Society as we knew it got uprooted and turned over before our very eyes, and as I’m sure we’ve all heard, these are difficult times. I recognize and acknowledge just how lucky I am to be in a place where I still have a home; I’m still able to eat every day and I’m lucky enough to live in a country whose governing body took enough measures to stop a mass spread so that I can still see friends and family on occasion. As the anniversary of our * cough * two week stay at home order * cough * comes up, I think it’s an excellent opportunity to reflect. What you choose to think back on (and if you’re even in the headspace to do so) will, naturally, vary based on circumstance. Personally, I’d been thinking quite a lot about my family and how I have a job to uphold and continue our little legacy. And I’ve been thinking about my country, all the struggles we’ve been facing, all the victories we’d celebrated, all the art that we’ve produced this year despite everything. This reflection culminated into something I’m very excited to share with you!

I sat with my father and grandmother, two forces who influenced my appreciation for my country’s music and art very heavily, and asked them a few questions about what life was like when they were my age. Then I asked myself the same! Three generations of perspectives for you to delve into and explore the intricacies of. They blessed me with such in-depth content that the rest of this article will just be our conversations, so I’ll be signing off here, readers. Here’s to another month of getting by the best we can with what we’re given!

My Grandmother Veronica, 88 yrs old.

Q: IN YOUR OPINION, WHEN YOU WERE IN YOUR EARLY 20’S WHAT WERE — LET’S SAY TOP FIVE — LOCAL SONGS FROM YOUR GENERATION?

V: Well, at that time, Sparrow was ruling the roost! So there were a lot of his songs that were often sung around. One of the top songs at that time was the song about the Federation [she pauses to hum a verse from the calypso.] Yes, ‘Federation’, that was the name of it. Stalin and those people were coming up, and then there was… the Independence and the Independence calypsos… and the Independence national songs!

Q: WAIT… HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN WE GOT INDEPENDENCE?

V: I was… I was thirty! I was thirty. ‘62! I remember being in Woodford Square when our Independence was proclaimed, I have vivid memories of that. So those songs came to the fore; Majorie Padmore’s song which is still very pop- the most popular one — ‘God Bless Our Nation’. Then there was an Independence calypso competition, which was won by… wow I can’t remember the name… ‘Our Nation Is Born’ that’s the name of the calypso he sang. Can’t remember his name right now. We didn’t have very many local songsters at the time.

Q: SO HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO LEARN THE NEW ANTHEM?

V: Oh not long at all! I don’t take very long to learn things. There was a… there was a… there was a page! A full page in the Trinidad Guardian that came out with all those things, just as Independence came. The national anthem, the national songs, and the national pledge. That came out on a full scale page. I kept it… but I can’t find it. I always want to look for that page! There were so many lovely national songs, but this particular one that I love! And nobody sings it — it was written by George Carlton Sampson. I remember that because he was a lecturer in my training college. And it is such a beautiful little song! And it is not sung! Nobody eh know that. We didn’t have so many local songs… except there was an occasion. The calypsonians were carrying the sway at that time. A lot of foreign songs were very popular. I particularly remember songs by Matt Monroe. And why I remember the songs very specially, is because at that time, the songs used to be playing- you had DJ’s- they used to be playing it in the road! So you walking in the road and you hearing those songs singing. What is very… striking, is that in those days… the days of my twenties and so, we heard a lot of foreign songs, and so, but the songs of that time were of a much more gentle nature than the songs of today. The songs of that time spoke of love and togetherness, and… faithfulness and comfort, and- that was the trend! That was the theme that ran through those songs. So it’s a marked difference, and it shows you how music has an influence on the way a society behaves.

Q: I’M SO GLAD YOU TOUCHED ON THAT, BECAUSE THAT LEADS TO MY NEXT QUESTION! IN YOUR OPINION, HOW DID YOUR GENERATION DEAL OUT SOCIAL JUSTICE?

V: Because of the fact crime was at a much lower ebb than it is today… crime existed! But it was not rampant. So society as a whole was not bogged down by crime. So they didn’t have to call for social justice, and they didn’t have to march for voices to be heard. The reason also could be because of the colonial times… the transition from a little before Independence to after. We now getting in to managing our own affairs, and that also spat a feeling of… selfhood. It was very centered towards the self. The idea of building up a nation took a long while. We had to learn! And learning is a long process. Learning never comes overnight, it never does. So I firmly believe that all that contributed to the negative things that invaded society at that time. While the government strived to put rules and regulations in place, and give the ordinary man a voice, because we didn’t have that before Independence, the ordinary man took to other things… cheating, corruption-

Q: SO DO YOU THINK THE ‘YOU ONLY GET SOMEWHERE BECAUSE YOU KNOW SOMEONE’ ATTITUDE WE HAVE IN TRINIDAD KIND OF STEMMED FROM THAT?

V: Yes. It had its roots in that. Because, whereas before, you looked at people who were in positions. The Chief of Police, for example, was a white man. You don’t know him. They were not grassroots people. After Independence we began to come into our own. The ordinary man began to get positions that foreign people held, formerly. So it bred a feeling of camaraderie of… ‘my friend could always help me out’ because my friend in a high position now. So instead of going through the channels — it started to breed… it started to infiltrate that kind of society. It was only with raising the standard of education as the years went by… having some people with a proper understanding. We had tertiary education available to ordinary people now to get some training. They understood, they began to understand that corruption and so was not the way to go. Education had a lot to do with raising the thinking of the ordinary man.

Q: HOW DID THE EVERY-MAN REACT TO THE IDEA OF GAINING INDEPENDENCE? BEFORE YOU ACTUALLY ACHIEVED IT?

V: The truth is the every-man was not very vocal in gaining Independence until Eric Williams came on the scene. He was a very… prominent Trinidadian, and however he did, he got into politics. It was his entry into politics that started this movement that we should be independent of Britain. So people didn’t clamour for it- we were interested, yes, but it was largely left down to the politicians. And that was how the Independence movement was born.

Q: HOW DO YOU PERSONALLY VIEW SOCIAL JUSTICE AND YOUR ROLE IN IT?

V: When you say justice… justice for who? You only need justice if you’re feeling wronged. Any section of society that feels like they are being wronged or deprived of their rights, then they would call for social justice. Justice then would depend on laws and judiciary.

Q: SO DO YOU THINK THAT YOU, GRANNY, HAVE A DUTY TO ANY OPPRESSED GROUP TO, WHEN THEY NEED TO CALL FOR JUSTICE, HELP?

V: I never felt the urge to go and help. The only time in my life when I helped in the way of marching and going to meetings for a cause was when teachers, I was a teacher, the teacher’s union only represented primary school teachers. And they wanted to bring all teachers under the union. There were some forms of protest… I was, I was always a very independent thinker. But telling me to wear red or telling me to stay home, that never resonated with me. I would never accede to that. When they wanted to have meetings, I found that was a worthy cause. So I went to a few meetings there. So if I think that the protest, meeting, whatever, will bring about the change that is desired, I would take part in that way. Otherwise I would just let other people do it. It’s a matter of independent thinking.

My father Joel, 53 years old

Q: IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT WERE THE TOP FIVE LOCAL SONGS AROUND WHEN YOU WERE IN YOUR EARLY 20’S?

J: That would’ve been… 1960… about 1988, just when I started to teach, around the same time they had the coup. That’s the period I grew up in as a young adult. So in terms of entertainment, party, just wanting to dance, in 1991, ‘Get Something and Wave’ by Superblue was big. David Rudder was very popular, and one of his more popular songs, ‘Bahia Girl’, that was a little more before 1990.

Machel Montano started to come out, he was about six or seven years younger than me… so if I was twenty-two he was about fifteen. ‘Big Truck’ in 1997, so that’s a little later, ‘Footsteps’ maybe is a better example by… What’s his name, boy?[he pauses to search the artiste] Wayne Rodriguez! In 1998

In terms of calypsos… Singing Sandra was pretty big, Chalkdust had a big song around that time… ‘The New Driver Cyah Drive’! It was about the ANR government -

Q: SO WAS THAT BEFORE THE COUP? OR AFTER?

J: Yes! 1989.

Q: HOW DO YOU THINK MUSIC IMPACTED YOUR VIEWS ON YOUR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY IN SOCIAL JUSTICE?

J: Uh, honestly, the biggest impact they had on me was, in general, national politics. As a young man my mom was pretty interested in politics, she was a big PNM supporter, she was very into calypso- just like your granny- so I can’t say I was too into politics. I was a church boy, as they would say, so my views were more based on religion more than music. There was a song ‘Dust Them Away With Your Flag’ that was a Road March, and I remember observing the reaction from the people… standing at the back of a fête. Seeing the reaction from the crowd, the violence. So the music, more than politics helped me shape my views of the public.

Q: HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR GENERATION DEALT WITH SOCIAL JUSTICE?

J: I was very… lax… we did not pay much attention to it. I don’t think my generation paid close attention to social justice or the need for justice for everyone. We easily accepted preferential justice. It was fairly clear to me, especially someone coming from a poor background that justice, equal justice was only given out to certain people. I watched my peers, going through the education system, getting jobs, we didn’t realize how important justice was for everyone. We kind of ignored everything we saw. However now, as an older person, I understand the impact music can have but back then I certainly didn’t. Gender, race, making sure races are treated equally, CLASS. I remember your Uncle Pancho had said to me, one day we were talking and he looked at me and said, ‘Jo, we don’t have a race problem in Trinidad y’know. We have a class problem.’ We were pretty young when he said that, and that was your Uncle that said that. Who people feel they have money, they feel they’re better than ones that don’t, no matter what race they are. I don’t think we did enough at all. As a group of educated people, we never did enough to address the issues of social justice. And there’s a lot. There was a lot and as you’re seeing there’s still so much to address, because we didn’t pay attention to it. Those who got through, got through. Jobs, education; and those who didn’t… we look down and we boo them, we brand them as failures, and lazy and dunce. But we didn’t look, or pay closer attention as to why those things were happening. We still have a lot of problems to fix.

Myself, Avi-Mae, 21

Q: IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT WERE THE TOP FIVE LOCAL SONGS AROUND WHEN YOU WERE IN YOUR EARLY 20’S?

AM: Well I just entered my early twenties, so I’ll list the ones from my mid teens I suppose. Mistah Shak’s ‘Bois’ was a calypso that was criminally underrated. It was one of the first songs that really prodded me to look deeper into what the government did for its citizens. Kurt Allen’s ‘Too Bright’ is another calypso that flew under the radar of the general population when it shouldn’t have. Kes The Band’s ‘Savannah Grass’ is such a beautiful ode to the spirit of Carnival and the people from which it was born. Uh, this year Farmer Nappy released ‘Backyard Jam’ and the first time I heard it fully, I cried, haha. It was such a wonderful song that took the unfortunate circumstances of the pandemic and spun it into a celebration of the Trinbagonian spirit, our camaraderie, the way we can look at a grim situation like this in its eyes and say ‘you can’t crush the Carnival spirit.’ And last but not least, another painfully under-celebrated song, ’Paradising’ by Shurwayne Winchester. Oh my gosh, I think I was probably about ten when he performed this song, so I’m breaking the rules of my own interview, but it was the first time I’d ever seen the steelpan played on the Soca Monarch stage. It was such a special moment for me! And the song is such a lovely tribute to these twin islands. It makes me feel so patriotic, makes me think there’s really no place I’d rather be than here.

Q: HOW DO YOU THINK MUSIC IMPACTED YOUR VIEWS ON YOUR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY IN SOCIAL JUSTICE?

AM: Oh, they had a major part to play in my attitude towards social justice currently. I always admired calypso; my grandma and I would sit down for every Calypso Semi-Final and every Dimanche Gras to watch the performances, and it’s always interesting to see what topics each performer brought to the stage. It could be as broad as ‘I’m upset with the government and the crime rate’ to as specific as ‘don’t you think it’s weird that the Anglican bishop would allow a fashion show to be held in the Cathedral?’ I didn’t always agree with what was said on stage, but I always admired the dedication to getting their voices heard. And the audacity of it all! ‘What Yuh Say’ by, again, Kurt Allen (I’m a pretty big fan) was a performance that left me stunned for days. Tying together the hot topics of the legalisation of gay marriage and marijuana being legalized in 2018 for potentially the entire nation to see was an immense act of bravery. I carry the memory of seeing it for the first time with me any time I use my voice to speak up.

Q: HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR GENERATION DEALT WITH SOCIAL JUSTICE?

AM: I think we’re playing as smartly as we can with the shit hand we’ve been dealt. I mean, there’s a lot on our plate! There’s a pandemic, rampant racism, a police system poisoned with abuse of power, classism, a climate crisis, gender based violence — there’s a lot we deal with. And I’ve been in group after group, march after march, we’re all yelling for change to happen and yet it hasn’t. And we’re all trying to figure out the roadblocks while also driving the car on said blocked road. Also, the car is powered only by our feet- Flintstones style. But there’s a lot more interested voices, and a lot more passionate hearts now that are willing to tirelessly fight until things change or we can’t fight anymore. I think that counts for a lot more than we get credit for.