Music from behind the Bridge: Steelband Spirit and Politics in Trinidad and Tobago

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Dedication
Acknowledgements
Chapter One Introduction
Chapter Two The Steelband Movement and Music
Chapter Three An Unlikely Instrument
Chapter Four The National Instrument
Chapter Five Dropping the Bomb
Chapter Six A Showcase for Pan
Chapter Seven Rise of the Arranger
Chapter Eight Community Participation
Chapter Nine Contest and Control
Chapter Ten Writing Their Own Tunes
Chapter Eleven From Panman to Pannist
Chapter Twelve Popular culture and Nationalism
Appendix I: Instruments
Appendix II: Repertoire
Appendix III: Panorama Winners
Bibliography
Recordings Cited
Index

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A symbol of Trinidadian culture, the steelband has made an extraordinary transformation since its origins-from junk metal to steel orchestra, and from disparaged underclass pastime to Trinidad and Tobago's national instrument. Now, Shannon Dudley gives the first discerning look at the musical thinking that ignited this transformation, and the way it articulates with Afro-Trinidadian tradition, carnival, colonial authority, and nationalist politics. Music from behind the Bridge tells the story of the steelband from the point of view of musicians who overcame disadvantages of poverty and prejudice with their extraordinary ambition. Literally referring to the poor neighborhoods nestled in the hills bordering Port of Spain to the East, "Behind the Bridge" is also a metaphor for conditions of social disadvantage and cultural resistance that shaped the steelband movement in the various Afro-Trinidadian communities where it first took root. The book further explores the implications of the steelband's "nationalization" in post-independence Trinidad and Tobago, and contemporary steelband musicians' preoccupation with the formally adjudicated annual Panorama competition. In discussing the intersection of musical thinking, festivity, and politics, this book connects important questions about the history of the steelband to general questions about the relation between popular culture and nationalism.

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