Posts

Showing posts from March, 2022

Versatility in the Dutch Caribbean

Image
 Looking at chapter 3 of Tour de Force, we discover a variety of things about the dutch -speaking Caribbean. Today, we will focus on the aspects of versatility that can be found in these six islands. The first example of versatility in the Dutch-speaking Caribbean are string bands. String bands are a perfect example of creolization seeing as they are the "merging of the melodies and instruments of Europe with the rhythms and playing styles of the Caribbean region." (Ganglehoff and LeGrand, ). Even still, there are few examples of versatility within them. For one, these bands play at a variety of occasions.  A photo depicting the members of the 'Tanny and the Boys' band. Below is a song from a well-known string band from St. Maarten, 'Tanny and the Boys'. Secondly, another prominent example of versatility in the Dutch Caribbean is Desiree Rollocks. Desiree is most commonly known by her stage name, Daisy Dee. Below is a video of Daisy Dee performing her hit song

Versatility in the French-speaking Carribean

Image
Having any discussion on Chapter 2 of  Tour De Force  is hardly complete without mentioning the versatility of these Francophone Caribbean nations. Let's look at a few examples of versatility from the book and an extra example from an external source. 1) When looking for examples of versatility in the French-speaking Caribbean, Negritude is the first thing that pops out at me. According to Gangelhoff and LeGrand, "Negritude was a literary movement of African- and Caribbean-French writers and intellectuals that arose in the 1930s, inspired in some part by the Harlem Renaissance in the United States during the culturally rich 'roaring 20s.'" ( Tour De Force ) I consider this to be a very versatile movement because it accomplishes a variety of things. For starters, in  Tour De Force  it mentions, "the goals of the Negritude movement was to affirm pride in shared African heritage and retention of African cultural traditions in the diaspora." This encourageme