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Opiniones y ensayos

This article discusses the early evolution of the 1990s post-soca dance music called ringbang. It traces the roots of this new style back to the early 1980s and analyses how it began to diverge from mainstream soca of the time. The article suggests that this new style has its basis in a number of drum, percussion, bass, and vocal applications and practices. The evolution of post-soca styles owes much to the impact of new music technologies on Caribbean culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article enters the long running debate about the poet Christopher Okigbo's published oeuvre and the place of "Path of Thunder" in the compilation called Labyrinths. The article does not set out to directly prove or disprove if Okigbo saw them as separate works. It is more concerned to consider arguments regarding the compatibility and incompatibility of his earlier and later work, and to suggest another pathway by which it is possible to read the later collection "Path of Thunder". The essay uses Ruth Finnegan's insights about the freelance poet as a template for the assessment of Okigbo's "performance" as a poet. Beginning with her insights the discussion goes on further to do a close reading of selected poems and their employment of traditional African tools, motifs and strategies. The essay contends that he is a much more dynamic poet than is widely believed. Much time is spent examining some of the strategies at work in his later poetry. All in all the essay wants to broaden the debate so that less attention or blame is personally laid at Okigbo's feet and more emphasis is placed on concerns to do with artistic freedom, motivation, audience and mask wearing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides insights into the conceptualization of Barbadian aesthetics through analysis of what was termed as 'folk' and 'popular' subversive works. Basis on the hypothesis of an underground literary and artistic tradition; Challenge of negotiating a sense of cultural identity; Consequences of globalization.