The music of

Turks and Caicos Islands The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and n ...

is best known for its ripsaw music. It is accompanied by an array of instruments, including

maraca A maraca (), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. Maracas (from Guaraní ), also known as tamaracas, were ...

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, any three points, when non- colline ...

s, box guitar,

conga drums The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest). ...

, goat and cowskin drums, accordion,

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

and, most prominently and uniquely, the carpenter saw. The saw is scraped with a metal object, such as a screwdriver, to produce a unique sound; this is called ''ripping the saw''. The use of the saw (which is the origin of the term ''ripsaw'') is of uncertain origin, but may be in imitation of the Dominican and Haitian guiro or traditional African instruments such as the shekere and djembe. A closely related style called rake and scrape is known in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

, closely associated with Cat Island, the home of many Turks and Caicos islanders, who moved there looking for work in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Many Bahamian musicians are from the islands, including The Cooling Waters, Sly Roker,

Bradley Dean Bradley Dean (born June 18, 1970) is an American stage and screen actor. Early life Dean is originally from Pottsville, Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University. Career Theatre Broadway theatre Dean made his Broadway debut ...

, Marvin Handfield, Perry Delancy, and Leo Jones. Many of these expatriates have since returned to Turks and Caicos, bringing with them Bahamian

junkanoo Junkanoo is a street parade with music, dance, and costumes with origin in many islands across the English speaking Caribbean every Boxing Day (26 December) and New Year's Day (1 January). These cultural parades are predominantly showcased in t ...

music. Modern ripsaw pioneers include Tell and the Rakooneers and Lovey Forbes, who created a new style called combina in the early 1980s, using genres from across the Caribbean and the US as inspiration; these included

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

, calypso, soca and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

Musician institutions

The organisation TUCA helps to promote Turks and Caicos folk music and dance. The Turks and Caicos Music and Poetry Festival is a major annual event, attracting such artists as (in 2004) Chaka Khan,

Maxi Priest Max Alfred "Maxi" Elliott (born 10 June 1961), known by his stage name Maxi Priest, is a British reggae vocalist of Jamaican descent. He is best known for singing reggae music with an R&B influence, otherwise known as reggae fusion. He was one ...

, Boyz II Men, Joe, Shocking Vibes Band, TCI All Star Band and Blakout Crew. The first First Annual Turks & Caicos Ripsaw Festival was held in 2003.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Turks Music of British Overseas Territories Anglophone Caribbean music