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A pretty good book by Eroll HILL(1972)._The Trinidad Carnival : A Mandate for National Theatre._ Austin : The University of Texas Press. ( 139 p.) Bibliography: p.[127]-9
LC: 71-37255 call no.GT4229.T7 H5
There are also some annual Carnival guides ...
As far as I know, Carnival in the Catholic countries evolved from pre-lenten European festivals, combined with African musical traditions. There is definitely a Carnevale in Italy.
Carnival in Dominica is a blend of the calypso of the English-speaking island and Creole French musical traditions. There is a strong tradition of small, roving bands consisting of la peau cabritte(goatskin) drums, a booming type of wind insrument, conch-shells which are blown like a kind of horn. These bands are called jing-ping. We have tradiional dances like the bel air, the quadrille, and mazourke(I have never written these words, so I'm just guessing at the spelling).
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The person who originated Soca is a Trinadadian calypsonian named Shorty. The name is a little ironic, since he's a fairly large man who looks like a wrestler. "Soca" stands for soul calypso. I remember his album of the late 70s, 1978 I believe. It was basically an exposition of this new beat. Last I heard, Shorty had abandoned music and was a dreadlocks in the hills of Trinidad.
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. . .the rate of musical innovation is astonishing for such a small, poor region. For instance, the case of zouk is instructive. It is a lineal descendant of the "cadence" of Guadeloupe, which became "cadence 'lypso" in biligual Dominica, and was fused with African and European traditions by Jacob Desvarieux and "Kassav". This all happened in a period from 1975 to 1985, along with the explosive growth of "compas" from Haiti and it's derivatives in the Creole world.
The carnival it's a pre-lenten celebration. During Lenten you prepare for Holy week. You were supposed to fast and to be austere in your behavior. So, just before Lenten started the carnivals took place. People partied all than they could because they will not have the chance to do it again until Easter.
. . .the word carnival, a word derivated from caro, which in latin means meat and levare, which means "to remove". . .