Feaster_MUSI322

 Welcome to the Dutch Caribbean! As mentioned in Tour de Force by Christine Ganglehoff and Cathleen LeGrand, the Dutch Caribbean consists of the Windward Islands also known as SSS. SSS stands for Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten. There are also the Dutch Leeward islands also known as the ABC islands. These islands are Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao. The focus of this blog will be on the ABC islands. The Dutch Leeward islands' musical history centers around the tambu, a drum instrument, and instruments that were made from farm tools or any items that could be constructed to play music. Most of those instruments were "percussive in nature, made from discarded metal implements" (Ganglehoff & LeGrand, 2019).  The ability of the people, from the ABC islands, to transform everyday tools to make music was ingenious and it shows in the versatility of the artists that hailed from those islands. One such artist is Juan Chabaya Lampe who was also called Padu del Caribe. Accord...

In my previous blog posts it was mentioned that a musician's ability to adapt to social changes in order to sustain their musical lifestyle is called their versatility. In Tour de force written by Christine Gangelhoff and Cathleen LeGrand, we are introduced to a prime example of this versatility, Mr. Alain Pierre Pradel. Pradel was born on Basse- Terre, Guadeloupe where he began studying the piano at twelve years of age. However, when he matured, Alain Pierre Pradel did not focus solely on a career as a composer. He worked for many years as a banker until his retirement. Pradel is quoted as saying, "I never thought about making a career in music. My one goal was to have a score written by my own hands and...my own name inscribed, with the dedication to the person of my choice" (Gangelhoff & LeGrand, 2019). Pradel used the money he made as a banker to fund his musical career. One of Pradel's greatest compositions is called Cannelle Pomme which was written in dedica...