The music of the Lesser Antilles encompasses the musics of Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Virgin Islands, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Montserrat. The Lesser Antilles' musical cultures are largely based on the music of African slaves brought by European traders and colonizers. The African musical elements are a hybrid of instruments and styles from numerous West African tribes, while the European slaveholders added their own musics into the mix, as did immigrants from India. In many ways, the Lesser Antilles can be musically divided based on which nation colonized them. The ex-British colonies include Trinidad and Tobago, whose calypso style is an especially potent part of the music of the other former British colonies, which also share traditions like the Big Drum dance. The French islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe share the popular zouk style, and have also had extensive musical contact with the music of Haiti, itself once a French colony though not part of the Lesser Antilles. The Dutch colonies share the combined rhythm popular style. The islands also share a passion for kaseko, a genre of Surinamese music; Suriname and its neighbors Guyana and French Guiana share folk and popular styles that are connected enough to the Antilles and other Caribbean islands that both countries are studied in the broader context of Antillean or Caribbean music.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_the_Lesser_Antilles

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

304: Thirteen-year-old Saint Agnes, the patron saint of young girls, was executed for refusing a marriage proposal. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Agnes)

1525: The first Anabaptists in Switzerland re-baptized each other. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabaptist)

1793: French Revolution: After being found guilty of treason by the National Convention, King Louis XVI was guillotined in front of a cheering crowd. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XVI_of_France)

1968: Vietnam War: The People's Army of Vietnam attacked Khe Sanh Combat Base, a U.S. Marines outpost, starting the Battle of Khe Sanh. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Khe_Sanh)

1976: The Concorde supersonic transports began commercial flights to London, Paris, Bahrain, and Rio de Janeiro. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

A revelation, that may be supposed to be really of the institution of God, must also be supposed to be perfectly consistent or uniform, and to be able to stand the test of truth... Reason therefore must be the standard by which we determine the respective claims of revelation; for otherwise we may as well subscribe to the divinity of the one as of the other, or to the whole of them, or to none at all. -- Ethan Allen (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ethan_Allen)