ABSTRACT
It is in itself a fact o f great significance that within the realms o f historical and cultural study there is now a recognition o f calypso and reggae as being part o f the ‘black music’ tradition. Soon perhaps the same recognition might be afforded to the various music styles from the African continent which are increasingly being heard in Britain. Until now - since the late 1970s at least - black music as a cultural force in Britain referred mainly to jazz, blues, R & B - Afro-American forms which have shaped British pop music since the mid to late 1950s. To consider the phenom enon o f calypso and reggae in British society is to accept that the cultural influences o f Caribbean people have profoundly affected British life, and that these influences will play a major role in the forseeable future.
