‘Jump Up’ exalts steel, J’Ourvert & emergence of NY carnival
After taking a long and storied
look at carnival, Ray Allen,
a professor of music and American
studies at City University
of New York’s Brooklyn College
carved out seven years of his life
to compile a scholarly glossary
and overview focusing on the
totality that defines Caribbean
jump up revelry.
According to the author who
penned a book he titled “Jump
Up” his reason was partly motivated
by the fact he genuinely
“loves the music.”
From start to finish, page
by page, there are 295 other
reasons.
“Jump Up” is the first comprehensive
history of Trinidadian
calypso/soca and steel-band
music in the diaspora,” Allen
said in his introduction.
“Previous studies have given
ample coverage to carnival
music in the context of Trinidad
but paid nominal attention to
the migration and significance
of this music outside of the Caribbean.”
Published by Oxford University
Press, the textbook acknowledges
the genesis of carnival
here beginning with its root in
Harlem branching across the
United States to bloom with
pride and pageantry in Brooklyn
each August to September,
ending on Labor Day.
A chapter on Harlem carnival
hails trailblazing expatriates
from the twin island whose mission
was to show off their creative
talents.
Throughout it hails the 1930s
beginning years by scoping out
the foreign culture that begged
recognition, acknowledgement
and freedom in the capital of
Black culture.
How it migrated across the
Brooklyn Bridge in the 1960s
to plant itself in the Caribbean
capital of NYC reads like a slow
jourvert march to emancipation.
Allen takes painstaking effort
to document the many steps
trailblazers paced from City Hall
to borough hall in order to satiate
homesick Trinidadians many
of whom yearning for calypso,
pan, masquerades and familiar
foods.
During a recent launch held
Caribbean L 12 ife, Sept. 6, 2019 BQ
at Greenlight Books on Flatbush
Ave. Grenadian Herman
Hall, publisher of Everybodys
Magazine agreed that carnival
culture is “deeply imbedded in
the DNA” of nationals and since
migration, Brooklyn is now
ground zero for all things carnival
— from food to frolic.
Hall’s publication is heavily
quoted in this book, partly
because throughout the years
the magazine has vigilantly and
consistently documented the
history and progress of the Caribbean
region in order to provide
context to an underserved immigrant
population often ignored
by the mainstream media.
Along with articles gleaned
from the Black press — NY
Amsterdam News, The Daily
Challenge — the two outstanding
medium, one weekly, the
other daily, does not focus on
Caribbean news but occasionally
dedicates space to highlight
certain events — a detailed
perspective traced rhymes,
From left, author Ray Allen, Herman Hall and pannnist
Garvin Blake. Photo by Vinette K. Pryce
rhythms, kings and queens of
the genre and a plethora of nostalgic
references pertaining to
carnival.
Undeniably the trailblazers
get their due.
Carlos Lezama, West Indian
American Day Association’s
trailblazing visionary is deservedly
regaled.
Most heartening is an extensive
index listing of sources that
the author credits.
They include colleagues of
this insider — Dawad Philip
(Daily Challenge), Peter Noel
(Amsterdam New), Gerald Spence
(Jamaica), Kim Loy Wong
Wing (Highlanders), Don Rojas
(Grenada) Charles Baillou (Bahamas)
Merle English (Newsday /
Jamaica) David Katz (USA) and
countless other unsung contributors
to the enhancement of the
bacchanal.
Unfortunately, not all were
acknowledged, missing from the
last pages were notations from
Tobago-born Rene John Sandy,
former Class/Black Diaspora
Magazine publisher.
Catch You On The Inside!
Inside Life
By Vinette K. Pryce
www.vantagemdgroup.com
/www.vantagemdgroup.com
/www.vantagemdgroup.com