2016 Was the Caribbean’s Year of Loss · Global Voices
The year 2016. Image by <PERSON>, used under a CC BY-ND 2.0 license.
For bloggers in the Caribbean, “2016” has nearly become an obscenity. Adjectives now used to describe this “annus horribilis” include “sucky”, “terrible” and “the worst”. The thing that drove netizens over the edge — compounding the region's soaring crime rate and economic challenges — was the fact that so many outstanding artists, leaders and visionaries passed away this year.
Swan Songs
It began with the musicians. In early January 2016, Trinidadian steel band arranger, <PERSON>, passed away on the eve of the country's Panorama music contest, where scores of steel pan players, organised into full orchestras, compete for one of the most prestigious titles on the annual Carnival circuit.
The Facebook group Maraval Road summed up the loss quite succinctly:
The pan world lost one of the biggest icons today. <PERSON> is credited with pushing pan to the next level and has written some of what is still known as the most difficult and genre defying music ever to come from Trinidad and Tobago.
<PERSON> worked his magic with countless musical pieces over the years, like this novel arrangement of calypsonian Lord Kitchener‘s “Mystery Band”:
Four short days later, the region — like much of the rest of the world — was shocked at the passing of British-born rocker <PERSON>. <PERSON>'s music affected the people of the Caribbean in astounding ways. In an interview with Global Voices, fashion blogger <PERSON> explained why:
I wasn't surprised at the universal reaction […] but the Caribbean reaction was thrilling and reassuring in a different way. Growing up in Trinidad, it wasn't always easy to discover older music in different genres and I sometimes felt like a teenage misfit listening to The Beatles, <PERSON> and <PERSON>. You have to seek it out. I love that so many of us did, and we are all feeling the loss.
Another international artist whose death, in April 2016, shook Caribbean music fans to their core was <PERSON>. American artist and activist <PERSON>, wrote a blog post about the impact of <PERSON>'s music; it was widely shared across the regional blogosphere:
As is the case with all cultural icons, the grief is being felt in all corners, by people of all races, ethnicities, economic classes, gender expressions, etc. There is no doubt that his Purple Majesty touched people all over this world.
For me, <PERSON> was confirmation of the heights one could reach when they weren’t afraid…to be different. 550
Non-conforming. Confusing. Questionable. Nuanced. Hard to understand. Hard to explain. Though I was deeply appreciative of his musical genius, <PERSON> was more of a spiritual psychopomp for me, a shining example of how to obtain the deepest form of liberation: being your damn self.
By July, the brilliant but largely unacknowledged Trinidadian guitarist <PERSON> also passed away. <PERSON>'s inimitable style earned him the international reputation of being one of the greatest chord players of all time, alongside some of the world's best known jazz musicians, like <PERSON> and <PERSON>. Trinidadian calypsonian <PERSON>, who paid tribute to <PERSON> in his classic song Calypso Music, posted this Facebook status update on hearing of <PERSON>'s passing:
<PERSON>'s gone boy. We wasted his brilliance. We only entered his library now and then. What a people eh!
For people like him, let's hope that there really is an afterlife so that his fingers can dance across the fretboard again. RIP boss.
Trinidadians <PERSON> and <PERSON>, who each in his own way loved and promoted the music and culture of the country — and the region — also passed away this year.
Final Innings
Two seminal personalities in the world of sport left us in 2016. Hearts were heavy with grief the world over at the deaths of Barbadian cricket commentator <PERSON> and <PERSON>, the first Trinidadian to to circumnavigate the globe in his trusty ketch, the Hummingbird II. 357