Contributed by Marlon Bishop It is hard to fully realize the Caribbean's importance to modern music in the world. The relatively tiny region has produced a dizzying diversity of sounds that contribute to global pop musics. From reggae to merengue, it happened on the islands and surrounding coasts of the Caribbean Sea, quite possibly the world's biggest melting pot. The diversity of peoples who came and were brought forcibly to work the coffee, sugar, and banana rich islands is unquestionably responsible for this region's distinctive musical vibrations.

When Europeans first began coming seriously to the Caribbean in the 16th century, they found indigenous Taínos, Arawaks, and Caribs already there. Determined to turn the resource-rich lands into plantation colonies, French, English and Spanish scrambled for control of the region, often exterminating entire indigenous populations in the process. Enslaved Africans from diverse parts of the continent, each with their unique musical traditions, were brought to work the land. Later, when slavery was abolished in the British Empire, Indians were imported their colonies as indentured servants, deepening the cultural mix.

Frequent trade in the Caribbean facilitated cultural exchange and musical development. Early island-born genres in Spanish and French colonies such as son, danza, and old-style merengue sprung from a fusion of the 18th century contradanse, a French adaptation of the English country dance, with African and indigenous music. These styles were diffused throughout the region, played in Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Colombia, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, among other places, gathering regional variants along the way. Meanwhile, more heavily African-influenced drumming and singing traditions persisted, and continue to persist, throughout the Caribbean, often accompanying ceremonies of syncretic religions such as Cuban santeria and Haitian vodu, or played by the descendants of escaped slaves in Maroon communities in Jamaica and Guyana. Other genres derived Lenten festival of Carnaval, an occasion for processional music competitions throughout the Caribbean.

As the nature of society and communications shifted in the 19th and 20th centuries and folk music transformed into pop music, the Caribbean has often led the way. Island music became the staple of American and European ballrooms, the waltz giving way the cha-cha and rumba. This trend certainly continued. Musical powerhouse Cuba laid the foundations for Pan-Latino salsa with son and guaguancó, while the Dominican Republic has made their voice heard through lightning-fast merengue and bluesy bachata. Colombian cumbia has remained significant is the Latin music world, while recent waves in Puerto Rican reggaetón have the have the world bouncing to a different kind of urban beat. The biggest success story in "world music" can be found, however, in Jamaica, where reggae was grown from an adaptation of the American R&B shuffle and has gone on to become one the most beloved styles on the globe. Later developments such as dancehall and ragga have found their way to international prominance as well. Trinidad has left its mark on the world as well with the mellow sounds of calypso and its upbeat descendant, soca (short for soul calypso).

Needless to say, the styles mentioned above just scratch the surface. There is a rich selection of music that hasn't made as large an international impact: funky zouk and jazzy beguine from the Antilles, African derived bomba and plena from Puerto Rico, perico ripiao from DR, Indo-Carribean chutney, Trinidadian steel band music, paranda and punta from the Afro-Amerindian Garifuna peoples, and Haitian compás, for example.

Beyond music that has actually been created in the Caribbean, music from the region has had a huge impact on other styles. Since Cuba's colonization, there was a great musical dialogue between Cuba and Spain, leading to the creation of Cuban-based styles of habanera and bolero now thought of as Spanish folk music. Spanish ships then brought music forged in the Caribbean to the rest of their colonies, such as Argentina, where habanera was further transformed into milonga and tango. African countries were very influenced by Caribbean music: Ghanaian highlife draws extensively their Anglophone Caribbean trade partners, while Francophone African groups from Orchestra Baobab to OK Jazz based their sounds on Cuban recordings, at times even trying to imitate the Spanish lyrics. Lastly, jazz itself, the ultimate American music and a direct influence on countless later musical innovations, has its origins in New Orleans, a Caribbean city in almost every sense of the word. Contributed by: Marlon Bishop

Contributed by: Intern1