Before we start lets ask ourselves a question, what music is indigenous to Barbados?
Of course we have an indigenous sport (road tennis), an indigenous animal (black belly sheep) but do we have indigenous music? Well of course but it's not the popular r&b (of course not) or soca, which is predominantly played in Barbados. Even more, it's not even (this maybe some surprising to some people) Calypso, Its Spouge. Now I know some of you guys may have heard the word "Spouge" already, probably around November, when its Independence, or on that Boring television documentary about Local music that we see on CBC that we don't really pay any attention to but just leave it on so we don't feel alone at home.
Have you ever thought about the Genre Spouge? Well of course not but I am going to be the good citizen I am and inform you about local your own heritage in a fun and intriguing way. Now lets get in to it. Spouge was created by a man named Jackie Opel, who is ironically Jamaican. Spouge is the combination of Reggae, Calypso and Soca. Jackie Opel had experience in the music industry and was the member of a popular Jamaican band called The Skatalites. After being in The Skatalites band, Jackie moved to Barbados in the late 1960's and with him having such a solid idea and understanding of Jamacian music, he decided to play around a bit and experiment with the sounds in the studio. In doing so, he found a very unique sound, combining calypso, reggae and soca in a catchy cohesive rhythm. Early Spouge featured the choppy rhythm guitar of reggae, but much faster. However, the driving cowbell and percussion elements made it very much more of a dance music in a similar way of calypso. Spouge music had such an impact on the music industry trademark spouge beat being used by Bajan
musicians to cover the famous 1970’s hit vehicle by the band Ides of March.
Ides of March considered it to be an unofficial spouge Anthem.
.
Of course you would have heard this song before, maybe in a movie?
When Jackie Opel died spouge died with it, in 1970, many thought spouge in the country would have died with him but this was not the case, at least not yet. One of the most popular Bands at that time were The Drayton Two, they had tons of hits singles in Barbados. In 1973 they released an album named "Raw Spouge" They carried the torch of spouge for as along as they could, and in doing so, gave spouge sense of revival after Jackie's death.The album was a huge success in the Caribbean, topping the charts on a number of islands, including St. Kitts, St. Lucia and Dominica.They had hit singles such as:
Drink Milk
However the Drayton's Could only carry the torch so far,
.
Of course you would have heard this song before, maybe in a movie?
When Jackie Opel died spouge died with it, in 1970, many thought spouge in the country would have died with him but this was not the case, at least not yet. One of the most popular Bands at that time were The Drayton Two, they had tons of hits singles in Barbados. In 1973 they released an album named "Raw Spouge" They carried the torch of spouge for as along as they could, and in doing so, gave spouge sense of revival after Jackie's death.The album was a huge success in the Caribbean, topping the charts on a number of islands, including St. Kitts, St. Lucia and Dominica.They had hit singles such as:
Drink Milk
However the Drayton's Could only carry the torch so far,
The father of Spouge, Jackie Opel produced his debut spouge album in 1964
This album was the Caribbean's first experience of a well constructed spouge project,
this would was when spouge took off in the Caribbean.
With genres like soca, reggae and R&B started to slur its way into Barbados and the rest of the Caribbean. Spouge had to take a back seat and watch as soca, reggae and R&B dominate the stage which it once ruled.
In today's society spouge is merely just apart of our local heritage, it's soothing, rhythmic beat and lyrics no longer moves and impacts today's society anymore.
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