Canboulay riots
The chantwell became a calypsonian in the 1920s and calypso became widely popular throughout Trinidad and the Caribbean in the 1930s. Harry Belafonte, a Jamaican-born artist, became hugely successful throughout the world with his 1956 "Calypso" becoming a million seller. During the 1960s, calypso was merged with Indian music and later soul and funk to become soca.
List of Caribbean music genres
Calypso is a Trinidadian music, which traditionally uses a slow tempo to accompany vocalist-composers, or "calypsonians". Songs are often improvised and humorous, with sexual innuendo, political and social commentary, and "picong", a style of lyricism that teases people in a light-hearted way. Calypso is competitively performed in calypso tents at Carnival. Calypso uses rhythms derived from West Africa, with cut time, and features dance as an important component. Calypso's roots were frequently ascribed to the Bahamas, Jamaica, Bermuda or the Virgin Islands. Calypso can be traced back to at least 1859, when a visiting ornithologist in Trinidad ascribed calypso's origins in British ballads. While calypso has a diverse heritage, calypso became a distinct genre when it developed in Trinidad. The word "caliso" refers to "topical songs" in the dialect of Saint Lucia, and may be linguistically related to the word "calypso".