There was no more cosmopolitan island in the world than Trinidad. Once under Spanish rule, it became a British colony. African, Spanish, French, British, American, even east Indian influences coalesced into the music.
Then came New Orleans jazz. And then came some of the most insightful social commentary found in any music anywhere. Ever. It was an intoxicating musical cocktail that sometimes reached the mainland (as when Rum And Coca Cola became a hit or when Harry Belafonte popularized the music), but the REAL calypso music was rarely heard outside the islands or the Trinidadian enclaves of New York or London.
Now Bear Family transports you back to Port of Spain, Trinidad during Carnival in 1938, 1939, and 1940...http://www.bear-family.de/tabel1/product/bcd16623_e.htm
