Music of Anguilla

Music of The Anglophone Caribbean
Genres
Calypso Chutney Dancehall Dub Junkanoo Ragga Rapso Reggae Ripsaw Rocksteady Scratch Ska Soca Spouge Steelpan
Regional music
Local forms	Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Bermuda British Caribbean Caymans Grenada Montserrat St. Vincent and the Grenadines St. Kitts and Nevis Turks and Caicos UK Virgin Islands US Virgin Islands Other Anglophone islands
Related areas	Aruba and the Dutch Antilles Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic Guadeloupe Guyana Haiti Jamaica Martinique Puerto Rico St Lucia Suriname Trinidad and Tobago

The music of Anguilla is part of the Lesser Antillean music area. The earliest people of the island were the Caribs and Arawaks, who arrived from South America. English settlers from St Kitts and Irish people later colonised the island. Unlike regional neighbours, however, the plantation system of agriculture that relied on chattel slavery never took root in Anguilla, causing a distinctly independent cultural makeup. The most recent influences on Anguilla's musical life come from elsewhere in the Caribbean, especially the music of Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, as well as abroad, especially the music of the United States and the United Kingdom. Anguilla's Rastafarian heritage has played a role in the island's music and culture and produced influential figures like activist Ijahnya Christian and Robert Athlyi Rogers, author of The Holy Piby.

The island has produced a number of popular reggae, calypso, soca and country musicians. Of these, the last is especially characteristic, as country is not otherwise a part of much Caribbean popular music. Anguilla's Island Harbour, an Irish-settled village on the east side of the island, is a major centre for local country music. Soca is a major recent import that has become the most important form of dance music on Anguilla; it is often accompanied by frenzied, sexualised dancing called wukin up.

Perhaps the most famous musician from Anguilla and one of the Caribbean's most acclaimed recording artists is Bankie Banx. Banx has released over ten albums and has played with such music legends such as Bob Dylan, Jimmy Cliff and Jimmy Buffett. He has also opened a popular music bar called the Dune Preserve, built in order to save the Rendezvous Bay dune; the Dune Preserve is home to the Moonsplash Annual Music Festival. More recent popular successes include the soca group Xtreme Band, who gained regional fame following their success in the 2001 Carnival.

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Wikipedia