This is the kind of epic content that makes me recommend CPSI Newsletters to everyone I know. And….now I can introduce “Batty Man Party” to our local LGBTQ organization on my very gay-friendly (and not just by Caribbean standards) island of Saba—an organization that, as you indicate is the case elsewhere, is dominated by European and American transplants to the Caribbean, who do not necessarily have Caribbean pop-cultural tastes. So thank you for that!
On Saba, our Carnival attire also ranges from minimalist, to ah, really very minimalist as well. Although the kids’ costumes aren’t, they’re just cute—you know, while we’re all bouncing along in the street to very adult lyrics. Our grand parade is on a Saturday every year, with jouvert the night before. There is a significantly less dirty Sunday parade, as well. Sometimes, there is a calypso competition; you’ll be pleased to know that a repeat winner is the author of “The Bottom is the Capital,” a patriotic song (the capital of Saba is, in fact, the village of The Bottom) that is also about butts.
I think that the homophobia in dancehall lyrics is interesting, because, as we also know from song lyrics, it is not that there is opposition to non-procreative sexual acts (at least in soca; see “Kick in she back door,” “Saltfish”). A lot of traditional sexual morality that condemns homosexuality does so on the basis that anal or oral sex is wrong because it can’t lead to babies—but that’s clearly not what’s going on here. Thoughts?
This is the kind of epic content that makes me recommend CPSI Newsletters to everyone I know. And….now I can introduce “Batty Man Party” to our local LGBTQ organization on my very gay-friendly (and not just by Caribbean standards) island of Saba—an organization that, as you indicate is the case elsewhere, is dominated by European and American transplants to the Caribbean, who do not necessarily have Caribbean pop-cultural tastes. So thank you for that!
On Saba, our Carnival attire also ranges from minimalist, to ah, really very minimalist as well. Although the kids’ costumes aren’t, they’re just cute—you know, while we’re all bouncing along in the street to very adult lyrics. Our grand parade is on a Saturday every year, with jouvert the night before. There is a significantly less dirty Sunday parade, as well. Sometimes, there is a calypso competition; you’ll be pleased to know that a repeat winner is the author of “The Bottom is the Capital,” a patriotic song (the capital of Saba is, in fact, the village of The Bottom) that is also about butts.
I think that the homophobia in dancehall lyrics is interesting, because, as we also know from song lyrics, it is not that there is opposition to non-procreative sexual acts (at least in soca; see “Kick in she back door,” “Saltfish”). A lot of traditional sexual morality that condemns homosexuality does so on the basis that anal or oral sex is wrong because it can’t lead to babies—but that’s clearly not what’s going on here. Thoughts?