KOBO TOWN: Independence


Drawing heavily upon the sounds of traditional calypso, roots reggae and dub poetry, Kobo Town's debut release, Independence, is a collection of stories which offer a running commentary on a wide variety of social and political themes including domestic violence, homelessness, globalization, the war on Iraq, and the various frustrations and betrayals of the post-colonial era.

The title of this album is intended to be hopeful and ironic at the same time: some of the songs offer a critical look at the "independence experiment" and its various failures and betrayals in Trinidad and elsewhere, while others aim to celebrate the musical and artistic traditions formed over the long years of our turbulent history. One track Abatina tells the tragic story of a girl trapped in an abusive marriage by her family's class aspirations, while another, St. James, uses a flood of rhymes and images to evoke both the desperation and celebratory spirit of a struggling neighbourhood in Port-of-Spain. And underlying the songs are bottle and spoon rhythms, syncopated flute and violin melodies, strumming cuatros, and heavy reggae bass lines which indicate a marriage between West Indian musics old and new – a dialogue between a fading folkloric tradition and the sounds that prevail in our time.