The Carnival Road March is the musical composition played most often at the "judging points" along the parade route during a
Caribbean Carnival
Caribbean Carnival is the cultural celebration held annually throughout the year in many Caribbean islands and worldwide. It's a highly anticipated festival in the Caribbean where locals and visitors come together to dance, savor cultural music, ...
. Originating as part of the
Trinidad and Tobago Carnival
The Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is an annual event held on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday in Trinidad and Tobago. This event is well known for participants' colorful costumes and exuberant celebrations. There are numerous cultural ev ...
, the term has been applied to other Caribbean carnivals. There it was and is still viewed as a musical genre.
In
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...
the Road March title has been officially given out every year since 1932 (with the exception of the years affected by
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
when Carnival did not officially take place). Popular Unofficial Road Marches have also been recognized in T&T from since 1834 after slavery was abolished. Prior to World War II, T&T Road Marches were referred to as "Leggos" or "Breakaways" by the general population but were rebranded by the Carnival authorities as the Road March from 1946. Scoring is based upon a register-and-count system devised by a Carnival committee before the start of the parade.
After a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
pop song "
Happy Wanderer" by the Obernkirchen Children's Choir won the Trinidad & Tobago Road March title in 1955 the rules were amended to restrict songs eligible to be in the road march competition to only songs vocalised by local Trinidad & Tobago artistes. The Road March title is among the most prestigious in Trinidad Carnival. The most such titles have gone to the late
Lord Kitchener with eleven wins, ahead of
Super Blue with ten wins,
Machel Montano also with ten wins and the
Mighty Sparrow
Slinger Francisco Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, ORTT Chaconia Medal, CM Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 9 July 1935), better known as Mighty Sparrow, is a Trinidadian Calypso music, calypso vocalist, songwriter, and guitar ...
with eight wins. In the mid-1970s, a woman officially broke through in the male dominated Calypso arena.
Calypso Rose was the first female to officially win the Trinidad and Tobago Road March competition in 1977 with her song "Give More Tempo". The following year 1978 with "Come Leh We Jam" in addition to winning the Road March title again, Calypso Rose also won the "Calypso King" competition, the first time a woman had received that award. As a result, the "Calypso King" competition was officially renamed the "
Calypso Monarch
The Calypso Monarch (originally Calypso King) contest is one of the two major annual calypso competitions held in Trinidad and all English speaking Caribbean islands, as part of the annual carnival celebrations.
History
While Trinidad's carnival ...
" competition to take into account that females also take part and have won titles.
First Calypso recordings were made in 1912 so Trinidad & Tobago Road Marches prior to 1912 were not recorded that year but may have been recorded years later after recording technology became available to Calypso pioneers of the 1910s to 1930s. In 2019
Skinny Fabulous of
St. Vincent & the Grenadines created history by becoming the second foreign artiste (after the German Obernkirchen Children's Choir) and the very first foreign
soca artiste to win the prestigious Trinidad & Tobago Road March title with a song called "Famalay" which was vocalised by
Skinny Fabulous,
Machel Montano and
Bunji Garllin.
Trinidad and Tobago
Below are over 100 T&T Road Marches starting from this year going back to the 1800s when most calypsos were sung in Patios.
Antigua and Barbuda
Barbados
Grenada
Grenada Carnival, also known as Spicemas, was founded to celebrate the anniversary of the independence of Grenada, Carriacou, and Petit Martinique, which gained their independence on 7 February 1974. In 1978 Grenada Carnival was moved to the month of May by the Eric Gairy led government but after that government was overthrown in March 1979, the 1979 Carnival celebration was cancelled. In 1980 the new People's Revolutionary Government (PRG) led by Maurice Bishop brought back Grenada Carnival, which was held in May that year. After a feasibility study Grenada Carnival was moved to August the following year.
Hence annually from 1981 Grenada's Carnival has been held in August culminating with their Road March competition.
St. Lucia
Invader has won the Road March in St. Lucia seven times. In a period from 1970 to 1972 and again from 1974 to 1976, Road March winners were imported from Trinidad and Tobago.
St. Vincent
Saint Kitts and Nevis
St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
The Jam Band, formerly Eddie and the Movements has won the Road March Title a record 21 times.
Anguilla
United Kingdom
See also
*
Caribbean music
Caribbean music genres are very diverse. They are each synthesis of African, European, Asian and Indigenous influences, largely created by descendants of African enslaved people (see Afro-Caribbean music), along with contributions from other c ...
References
External links
Carnival Info Road march Trinidad
* http://www.toronto-lime.com/music/sfiles/tnt_roadmarch_winners.htm
* http://www.tntisland.com/rmhof.html
* https://web.archive.org/web/20120828083109/http://anguillasummerfestival.com/results11.php?eventID=42
* https://www.facebook.com/notes/eveything-and-anything-virgin-islands/st-thomas-road-march-songs-since-1978/105164392220
* http://www.sknvibes.com/islandfacts/sitepage.cfm?p=170
* http://www.luciancarnival.com/content/road-march
* {{usurped,
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* https://madeingrenadawordpresscom.wordpress.com/tag/road-march/
* http://www.trinijunglejuice.com/home/carnival-grenada.php
Trinidad and Tobago songs
Calypso music
Soca music
Carnivals in Trinidad and Tobago
Carnival music