Ringbang is a

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

fusion of

music genre A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. Genre is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style, although in practice these terms are sometim ...

s propounded by

Eddy Grant Edmond Montague Grant (born 5 March 1948) is a Guyanese in the United Kingdom, Guyanese-British singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known for his genre-blending sound and socially conscious lyrics; his music has blended elements of p ...

in 1994. In an interview circa 2000, Grant defined ringbang like this: In applying ringbang to music, Grant attempted to define a meta-style to encompass all Caribbean rhythms; it was to be a musical

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

. He wished this multicultural style to place no restrictions on

instrumentation Instrumentation is a collective term for measuring instruments, used for indicating, measuring, and recording physical quantities. It is also a field of study about the art and science about making measurement instruments, involving the related ...

, and he said that he wanted no single country or culture to lay claim to it. Among ringbang's stylistic influences are calypso,

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

, soca, tuk, and

zouk Zouk is a musical movement and dance pioneered by the French Antillean band Kassav' in the early 1980s. It was originally characterized by a fast tempo (120–145 bpm), a percussion-driven rhythm, and a loud horn section. Musicians from Mart ...

. Grant says that the word "ringbang" comes from vocalists

scat singing Originating in vocal jazz, scat singing or scatting is vocal Musical improvisation, improvisation with Non-lexical vocables in music, wordless vocables, Pseudoword#Nonsense syllables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, t ...

"Ringa-ringa-ringbang!". He chose the word one day in 1993, while standing in recording engineer Frank Agarrat's backyard in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

Ringbang music

In an attempt to popularise ringbang music and its underlying philosophy, Grant asked various recording artists to apply the word (which he trademarked) to some of their songs. Barbadian recording artists Grynner,

Square One Square One may refer to: Film and TV * ''Square One: Michael Jackson'', a 2019 investigative documentary about the first allegations of child sexual abuse brought by the Chandler family *''Square One Television'', a children's television series ...

, Viking Tundah, and others recorded ringbang tracks for Grant's record labels,

Ice Records Ice Records is a record label based in Barbados owned by musician Eddy Grant. In addition to Grant's music, the label also seeks "to record, promote and market classic Calypso music, calypso, Soca music, soca and ringbang (Grant's fusion of variou ...

and Blue Wave Records. Among the ringbang albums on these labels were ''Fire in de Wave'' (1994), ''Ringbang Rebel Dance'' (1995), ''Ringbang Souljah'' (1996), and ''Ringbang Revolution'' (1997). On New Year's Eve 1999, Grant hosted a concert in

Tobago Tobago, officially the Ward of Tobago, is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger islan ...

called Ringbang Celebration 2000, at which he performed with the Frontline Orchestra. The event drew approximately 11,000 people, and featured performances by artists from Antigua, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago. Calypso musician Lord Kitchener's brief appearance at the event was his final time onstage, as he died the following February. In March 2003, Ice Records published ''Ringbang 4 Kids'', a selection of songs intended for children of primary school age. The songs were performed by Barbadian singer Indra Rudder, who had previously sung backing vocals for several Ice Records tracks.

Ringbang music

See also

References

Further reading