Music of Bermuda
The music of Bermuda is often treated as part of the Caribbean music area. Its musical output includes pop singer Heather Nova, and her brother Mishka. Collie Buddz has also gained international success with reggae hits in the US and the UK.
The island's musical traditions also include steelpan, calypso, choral music, as well as an array of bagpipe music played by descendants of Irish and Scottish settlers; the biggest bagpipe band on modern Bermuda is the Bermuda Islands Pipe Band. Bermuda is also the home of one of the most popular Caribbean music groups in the United States, the Bermuda Strollers.[1]
The islands are also home to gombey dancers, reggae, gospel music, drum majorette bands, jazz and other styles.
Choirs[edit]
Religious choir singing is also popular on Bermuda. Well-known choirs include the Roman Catholic Diocesan Choir, the Mt. Zion Male Voice Choir, as well as the non-church choirs Philharmonic Choir and Post Office Choir.[1]
Calypso[edit]
Calypso first became a part of Bermuda music in the 1940s and 50s. It was imported from Trinidad and Tobago. The Talbot Brothers were the island's first major calypsonians; they organized as a group in 1942, and began touring the United States by the early 1950s.[5]
Norman Luboff followed in the footsteps of Jamaican-American calypso singer Harry Belafonte in popularizing Trinidadian calypso. Luboff de-emphasized the saucy, ribald side of calypso and created a popular form that appealed to the masses. His signature song is "Yellow Bird" which became very popular in the 1960s.[1] Genuine Bermudian calypso can only be found on the fine Bermuda Gombey & Calypso 1953-1960.[6] A detailed history of Bermuda calypso and gombey written by Bruno Blum can be read in the CD booklet (available online in both French and English).[7] Artists include Sidney Bean, The Talbot Brothers, Reuben McCoy, Hubert Smith, The Four Deuces, Al Harris, Erskine Zuill and jazzman Lance Hayward, the first musician ever produced by Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records.
Rock[edit]
Being close to the United States, rock'n'roll is also popular. Bermuda's most famous rock group was The Savages, a garage band that are considered important in the genre, especially by collectors, and foreshadowed 1970s punk. Their biggest single was The World Ain't Round, It's Square.
Steelpan[edit]
Steelpan music was invented in the late 1930s in Trinidad, and was brought to Bermuda by a number of groups, including the Esso Steel Band, who moved to Bermuda in the 1950s. Esso became known for arranging Western classical music for the steelpan. In the 1960s, local choral traditions were merged with calypso and steelpan to create a distinctively Bermudian style.[1]
Paul A.W. Smith and De Onion Patch Crew are a new steelpan group who perform newer hits like soca and R&B music on steelpan.[8]
Music institutions[edit]
Bermuda is home to the Bermuda Ballet Association, which was founded by Patricia Gray in 1962, with support from Ana Roje. Other music institutions include the Bermuda National Youth Jazz Ensemble and the Bermuda Philharmonic Orchestra. There is also a Bermuda Folk Club.[1] There is a Portuguese Cultural Association which promotes the culture of the large Portuguese population on Bermuda, especially tradition folk dances of the Azores.[9] The Bermuda Philharmonic conductor is Gary Burgess, a former opera singer. Bermuda has also produced notable classical musicians in Marcelle Clamens, an opera singer, mezzo-soprano Jane Farge, pianists Peter Carpenter and Karol Sue Reddington, and Joyce Mary Helen DeShield.[1]