While attending “East of Flatbush, North of Love” event at the Caribbeing House, we were able to interview Danielle Brown, Ph.D., who is an author, a musician, and former assistant professor at Syracuse University. She discussed the music that she performs and her view on how music plays a role in the lives of New York City’s Caribbean diaspora.
Note: ‘[…]’ is used to denote parts of the audio that I could not understand well enough to transcribe. The audio can be found below the transcript.
Ahalya: So how has your music helped Caribbean people come together?
Danielle Brown: I think that especially in the Anglophone Caribbean community […] I think music like reggae, calypso, dancehall, and soca music, especially from my generation, is something that has helped bring people together. It’s something that we share in common, especially in places in the diaspora in cities like New York or Canada or England, there’s this kind of commonality, we’re all in the same place when we’re listening to each other’s music. But I mean technology – before advancements in technology – music was going from one island to the next because they had a lot of migration within the Anglophone Caribbean. So you think in Trinidad, you have people from Barbados, Grenada coming to Trinidad, right? People from different islands, so you have that — they’re bringing their music and that everybody participates in.
Ahalya: So what genre do you focus on?
Brown: In terms of music?
Ahalya: Yeah.
Brown: In terms of listening or performing?
Ahalya: Performing.
Brown: Performing, I’d say parang. That’s mostly what I’ve performed out […] In terms of music from the Anglophone community, I actually like salsa music, so probably more Spanish than English for me. Especially from tradition. But I really like soca and salsa.
Ahalya: So you grew up in [New York City]?
Brown: Yes, I’m from Brooklyn. I’m from East Flatbush, that’s where I grew up.[…]
Ahalya: Do you feel like your music is helping people who aren’t Caribbean come and listen to — be exposed to Caribbean music.
Brown: I hope so. I hope so because I feel that music can teach people a lot from other cultures. I think sometimes it’s not just my singing the music, I feel there does need to be some kind of explanation. That’s my background as a teacher. I don’t believe that you can just listen to a song from another culture and go out and understand. You might enjoy it but there’s certain cultural nuances that might be missed in the music if you’re not familiar. My mother always used music to teach me so I feel the same way.[…]
Ahalya: Last question, what role does music play in most Caribbean people’s life?
Brown: Well I don’t like to over generate, but I would definitely say that music– music is a important aspect in many lives in general, but I definitely think that it’s important for Caribbean people in the city because in many ways it helps keep them connected to their culture. But that’s not everybody, right? […] like your music fanatics and then you have people who just listen to the music that’s in their environment, in their surroundings. It’s still important right?
Ahalya: Thank you.
Brown: You’re welcome.
Audio of interview:
