Weekly Discussion 1: Sirek (2018) “Until I Die, I will Sing My Calypso Song”

Beginning this week, the MayDay Group will be facilitating weekly or biweekly discussions (#chatMDG) around articles published in ACT and TOPICS. For this first week, we encourage you to engage with Danielle Sirek’s recent publication.

“Until I Die, I will Sing My Calypso Song”: Calypso, Soca, and Music Education Across a Generational Divide in Grenada, West Indies

DANIELLE SIREK

University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada

September 2018

Published in Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education 17 (3): 12–29 [pdf]

doi:10.22176/act17.3.12

In post-revolution Grenada, explorations of identity often reveal a generational divide. This generational divide is frequently expressed through music (Sirek 2013, 2018). In this qualitative case study I use an ethnographic methodological approach to examine Grenadian calypso and soca music, analyzing data collected from observations and participant observations, interviews, investigation of media/social media; as well as calypso and soca music and lyrics. Drawing from Tönnies’ (1887/2017) constructs of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, I explore the ways in which calypso and soca musicking  (Small 1998) and music education initiatives construct and articulate the generational divide in Grenada.

Keywords: calypso, soca, Grenada, Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, identity, music education