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Beyond the Stars and Stripes: charting Van Dyke Parks' new world musical voyage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2009

DALE CARTER
DALE CARTER
Affiliation:
Department of English, Institute of Language, Literature and Culture, University of Aarhus, DK-8000, Aarhus C, Denmark E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

During the early 1970s the American songwriter, musician and producer Van Dyke Parks completed work on a series of albums exploring the musical contours of the circum-Caribbean region and, through them, broader patterns and issues in twentieth-century US–Caribbean relations. Focusing on the connections between the United States and the (former) British colony of Trinidad and Tobago as articulated via the latter's calypso and steel band traditions, these recordings (two solo albums and two productions) not only explore the grammar, vocabulary and subject matter of a new world music before the phrase ‘world music’ was conceived; they also invite a range of scholarly interpretations. Drawing on a selection of theoretical concepts – notably cultural imperialism, the Black Atlantic, minstrelsy, and world music itself – this article offers a set of formalist and contextualist readings intended to rehearse Parks' Caribbean work as both a case study in (and a challenge to aspects of) the inter-disciplinary analysis of popular music.

Type
Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , May 2009 , pp. 197 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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Discography

The Esso Trinidad Steel Band, The Esso Trinidad Steel Band. Warner Brothers LP: WS 1917. 1971, produced by Van Dyke ParksGoogle Scholar
Mighty Sparrow, Hot and Sweet. Warner Brothers LP: BS 2771. 1974, produced by Van Dyke Parks and Andrew WickhamGoogle Scholar
Van Dyke Parks, Clang of the Yankee Reaper. Warner Brothers LP: WB 56161. 1975, produced by Andrew Wickham and Trevor LawrenceGoogle Scholar
Discover America. Warner Brothers LP: WB 26043. 1972, Produced by Durry Parks and Linda PerryGoogle Scholar