Calypso, Carnival and Covid 19: Examining Black Musical Joy in Times of a Global Pandemic Through the Lens of Calypso Music

Abstract

This paper will focus on the demonstration of Black joy as Black music, specifically Calypso and Soca music from Trinidad and Tobago and the Dutch Caribbean. In particular, emphasis will be placed on two case studies from the Dutch islands of Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten and that of the most southerly isle of the Caribbean, Trinidad, focusing on the ways in which radio and television producers and personalites conjured up joy and nostalgia in their re-enactment of Carnival festivities during the pandemic.