This absorbing, thoroughly researched and well-written volume is the most in-depth study of Trinidad’s carnival music forms to date. Beginning with reference to the legendary calypsonians Lord Kitchener and Roaring Lion, the latter of whom gave Trinidad and Tobago its sobriquet ‘the land of Calypso’, Guilbault’s study is a fascinating exploration of the processes by which a musical form can become representative of national identity in a culturally complex country. Who, asks Guilbault, does calypso represent, and who does it exclude? Based on over a decade of ethnographic work, as well as reference to a wide range of historical sources and extensive interviews with a large number of people involved with the ‘production, valorization, and circulation of Trinidadian calypsonians and soca artists locally, regionally and internationally’ (p. 12), Governing Sound offers a ground-breaking and fascinating insight into historical and contemporary links between Trinidadian cultural politics and carnival music forms.
The study is divided into three sections which focus on three distinct time frames. Part one examines calypso during the colonial period. At this time, colonial authorities and the church sought to govern the conduct associated with calypso. Nevertheless, Guilbault shows that some changes took place in the calypso music scene which were the result of calypsonians’ own agency. Interestingly, while at this time calypso ‘made visible and audible the bodies and voices of the [male and lower-class] black population’ (p. 271), calypso during the colonial period acted, as Guilbault details, to reinforce the white–black divisions fostered by the colonial administration, both by voicing anti-colonial sentiments and also acting as a tourist attraction and source of national income.
The second part of this study turns to the post-colonial period between 1962 and the late 1980s when, with an Afro-Creole political party in power, a top-down project of nation building began. At this time, as Guilbault discusses, calypso became central to the conception of a distinct cultural identity which would represent ‘the people’ and lead to the recovery of black heritage and pride. Guilbault examines how during this period only changes which were considered to be compatible with an imagined inherited tradition were deemed desirable by governing authorities.
The third and final section focuses on what Guilbault refers to as the ‘neo-liberal era’ from the late 1980s to the present day. Here, Guilbault examines the changes that neo-liberalism has brought with respect to the production, performance and circulation of calypso, ranging from issues of gender and sexuality to those of economics and intellectual property rights.
Governing Sound is a thought-provoking and original study not only of calypso but also of other more recent Trinidadian carnival music forms (soca, chutney soca and rapso) and their place at the centre of competing sets of demands from governing bodies, audiences and the market place. It is a valuable contribution to popular music studies that will be of interest to any scholar concerned with the links between political behaviour, popular culture and the articulation of ethnicity, race, gender and sexuality.
