Spouge

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Spouge is a style of Barbadian popular music created by Jackie Opel in the 1960s. It is said to be primarily a fusion of Jamaican ska with Trinidadian calypso, but is also influenced by a wide variety of musics from the British Isles and United States, include sea shanties, hymns and spirituals. Spouge instrumentation originally consisted of cowbell, bass guitar, trap set and various other electronic and percussion instruments, later augmented by saxophone, trombone and trumpets.^[1]

Two different kinds of spouge were popular in the 1960s, raw spouge (Draytons Two style) and dragon spouge (Cassius Clay style). The spouge industry grew immensely by the end of the 1970s, and produced popular stars like Blue Rhythm Combo, the Draytons Two and The Troubadours.^[2] Desmond Weekes, the former lead singer of the Drayton Two claims the 1973 album Raw Spouge to be "the only 100 per cent spouge album ever produced".^[3] It topped music charts in a number of islands, including but not limited to St. Kitts, St. Lucia and Dominica.^[3]

[edit] Notes

^ Millington, Janice (1999). “Barbados”, Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Vol. 2. Routledge, pp 813 - 821. ISBN 0-8153-1865-0. pg. 820 Millington lists the American and British influences as including Welsh, Scottish and Irish elements, "transmitted through literature and poetry (Shakespeare and Milton), rhymes, folk songs, sea shanties, classical music, hymns, and other songs of praise (all of which have) been constantly available, providing entertainment, edification and general education to all people of Barbados. North American love songs, parlor songs, African-American spirituals and folk hymns, and hillbilly music have also contributed to a cultural mixture in which the love of a song, the expression through movement, and demand for theater continue to be of paramount importance".
^ Millington
^ ^a ^b David, Hinkson. "Does spouge have a future? Part two", The Barbados Advocate, 2004-03-26.