Ocean, and subsequently enslaved in the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago brought their music, language, and traditions with them. In slavery, their customs and traditions got interwoven into the larger slave culture of the area, but the word kaiso (go forward, go ahead, or more) survived. It later became the name of Trinidad and Tobago's most popular music. Kaiso evolved into calypso and that, too, evolved into soca music. The very fact that the word kaiso was common and accepted enough to be used for naming a dance or song suggests that the Ibibio and Igbo slave population of that area was strong and socially influential. Calypso music Calypso music was developed in Trinidad in the 17th century from the West African Kaiso and canboulay music brought by captive Africans imported to that Caribbean island to work on sugar plantations. These slaves, brought to toil on sugar plantations, were stripped of all connections to their homeland and family and not allowed to talk to each other. They used calypso to mock the slave masters and to communicate with each other. Many early calypsos were sung in French Creole by an individual called a griot. "Patois" or Trinidadian French Creole was the original language of the calypso music. Kongo influence That Kalinda and its accompanying drum rhythms were predominantly a Kongo input into Trinidad culture can be concluded from the significant number of Kongo names among remembered stickmen and popular stickyards and from the emotional involvement with stickfight culture of Kongo descendants interviewed in the 1970s in contrast with the attachment of Yoruba, Rada and Hausa descendants to religious ceremonies. The kalinda drum rhythm was transported almost bodily into Kaiso even without modification. This rhythm can also be heard in Calypso and Soca. References Sources Calypso music West African music Music of the African diaspora Folk music genres