Black Music Sunday is a weekly series highlighting all things Black music, with over 260 stories covering performers, genres, history, and more, each featuring its own vibrant soundtrack. I hope you’ll find some familiar tunes and perhaps an introduction to something new.
It’s officially Caribbean American Heritage Monthand it’s important to not only celebrate Caribbean American musicians, but to also take a look at the broad variety of musical genres rooted in Caribbean cultures that have been brought to the United States through immigration.
Let’s start with Afro-Caribbean music, which was brought to U.S. shores early on during the transatlantic slave trade. Paul Austerlitz, Ph.D., explores the timeline of Afro-Caribbean music for Carnegie Hall.
Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latin music has blended with Black North American music for centuries. This interaction is based in shared African-influenced musical characteristics such as rhythmic focus, a percussive quality, and links to dance. Caribbean and Afro-Latin influences brought new musical elements, such as polyrhythms (simultaneous contrasting rhythmic patterns), African-derived percussion instruments (such as the conga), and Spanish-inflected melodies, to North America. At the same time, African American music from the United States had an influence in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Caribbean immigrants have brought with them a broad spectrum of musical styles and genres, which may surprise listeners who are only familiar with reggae, calypso, and salsa.
With 26 different countries and heritage linkages to Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, the Caribbean is extremely rich in culture and in particular, music. The diversity and variety of music in the Caribbean is astounding. There are more than 20 different music genres coming from the Caribbean such as Rapso, Jing Ping, Chutney, Extempo, Cadence Rampa and so much more.
Can you imagine what the world would be like without Reggae, Steelpan, Calypso and Soca music?
The veryys of the Apovers included: Brukdowns, Rocks, Store, Brothers, Jing Ping, Boyon, assemble, Castes, Jab, Zuk, Zuk, Foot, Foot, Sound, Metto, Metto, Brothers, Footil, Brother, Rageso, Brother, Steelpian, Chutney, Soca, Parang, Fimang Field Parang.
How many of these are you familiar with?
This 8-minute intro to Caribbean genres opens with the familiar gospel song, “This Little Light of Mine,” and then repeats in the styles of Parang, Calypso, Soca, and Chutney.
And here’s another video that pairs Caribbean genres with related dance styles, covering Soca, Zouk, Dancehall, and Bachata.
As the Caribbean Focus Lifestyles video notes:
Caribbean music Genres or Caribbean music is colorful and diverse and comes from complicated influences. It grew out of traditions from African cultures and indigenous peoples, European colonialism, and the unique character of places separated by water. For example, some music is important to the festival of Carnival, which, like Mardi Gras, comes before Lent. The custom comes from Catholicism brought by French colonial rule. World War II introduced this music to American servicemen who spent time in the islands and helped spread its popularity beyond local shores.
I didn’t know the history of Zouk, and I learned quite a bit from this video:
Featured is the Guadeloupean band Kassav. This video of theirs currently has close to 6 million views.
And here’s more on Zouk:
The Island Music Conference is now in its third year, and as VMP wrote:
If the soul of music could be captured in a single destination, it would undoubtedly be in Kingston, Jamaica. The vibrant streets resonate with sounds that have shaped not just an island, but global music culture, and the recently concluded Island Music Conference 2025 (IMC) was a testament to this legacy.
Hosted by none other than the reggae icon Shaggy, this immersive week-long experience showcased Jamaica’s rich musical heritage and its promise for future generations. The IMC aimed to empower artists, educate them about the music business, and bridge the gap between local talent and global stages.
Entertainment journalist Janeé Bolden, wrote about this year’s conference for the Hollywood Reporter:
Artists, tastemakers and executives converged in Kingston, Jamaica February 19 through 23, 2025 for the third annual Island Music Conference (IMC). Launched in 2023 by co-CEO’s Judith Ann Bodley and Sharon Burke, along with Chairman Orville “Shaggy” Burrell, the conference has quickly established itself as a premier hub for networking, music discovery, and critical discussions around the future of reggae and dancehall.
Similarly, an hour-long discussion was held at the 2024 Island Music Conference, featuring BBC broadcaster Seani B, Dr. Stefan Walcott from the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, Atlanta-based musician Reuben Shawand Jamaican songwriter and music producer Mikey Bennett.
I hope this has awakened your curiosity to explore music you may not be familiar with. Please join me in the comments below to hear more and share some of your favorites.
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