“Mek Some Noise”: Gospel Music and the Ethics of Style in Trinidad.By Timothy Rommen. Music of the African Diaspora 11.Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007. xii þ 219 pp. $21.95 paper.

摘要

In “Mek Some Noise, ” Timothy Rommen investigates attitudes toward thenincorporation of popular music forms in the church services of the FullnGospel community. The Full Gospel community is a loose association ofnProtestant churches in Trinidad, consisting mostly of churches that are of pentecostal and charismatic persuasions (4, 17–18). Rommen considers twontraditions that are “foreign” to Trinidad: North American gospel music andngospel music done in the Jamaican dancehall style. He also considers twonmusical genres that are indigenous to Trinidad: gospelypso and Jamoon(Jehovah’s or Jah music). North American gospel music includes traditionalnhymns, African American gospel music, and contemporary praise and worshipnstyles made popular by the charismatic movement. Gospel dancehall has itsnorigin in Jamaica where gospel artists employ the catchy rhythms and poeticnstyle of dancehall (an offshoot of reggae) to proclaim their Christian message.nGospelypso emerged in Trinidad in the 1970s in the context of a national questnto fashion an indigenous Trinidadian cultural identity. Putting Christian lyrics tonthe local calypso music was the response of young Trinidadian artists whonembraced the cultural nationalism of the period. Jamoo is a style created by andnassociated with a Trinidadian musician known as Ras Shorty I (formerly LordnShorty). Leaving behind the raunchiness of his calypso career, Ras Shorty I innthe latter part of his life created Jamoo, which utilizes a blend of Afro-nCaribbean and Indo-Trinidadian styles to promote Trinidadian nationalism andntraditional moral and cultural values.