# Looking for some "Island" music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 26, 2001, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-island-music/83975 "2001-09-26T19:59:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enore\_Tsotset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/2bfe46/32.png) [@Enore\_Tsotset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enore_Tsotset)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-island-music/83975/1 "2001-09-26T19:59:51Z")
Ever since my evil company (OOPS! They monitor… Ahem… My lovely company that gave me the job I enjoy very much!) took away our streaming media capabilites, I lost access to “Radio Parrot Keys”. So that means it’s CD burning time. But I, like a dumbass, didn’t write down any of the songs they used to play or the bands that played them. Anybody know some good stuff? I need my steel drum bands! (of course I know of Buffet, but he only goes so far) ---
**Author:** ![Mercutio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Mercutio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mercutio)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2001, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-island-music/83975/2 "2001-09-27T06:03:22Z")
Day-O? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Enore\_Tsotset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/2bfe46/32.png) [@Enore\_Tsotset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enore_Tsotset)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2001, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-island-music/83975/3 "2001-09-27T15:24:34Z")
Harry Belafonte is always good… Anybody have anything newer? ---
**Author:** ![Nocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9fc348/32.png) [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2001, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-island-music/83975/4 "2001-09-27T15:32:00Z")
Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers. ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-island-music/83975/5 "2001-09-28T00:15:03Z")
[ul][li][Putumayo World Music](http://www.putumayo.com) puts out consistently good all-round collections of music from, well, the warmer regions of our planet.[/li][li]If your local public radio station carries it, [Afropop Worldwide](http://www.afropop.org/) is a great program of music from the entire African diaspora, which includes great swaths of the Caribbean, Brazil, and U.S. in addition to, of course, Africa.[/li][li]Looking for dance music? Try these categories: salsa, merengue, cumbia, soca (combination of soul and calypso), and zouk.[/li][li]Try _Buena Vista Social Club_ - music from some great Cuban masters - and the solo outputs of the musicians on that CD.[/li][li]How 'bout some fusion? Try Kirsty MacColl’s (RIP) latest effort, _Tropical Brainstorm_, for that Anglo-Latin beat (it’s better than the description sounds), and the band Orquesta de la Luz for Japanese salsa (really).[/li]I Googled on “Our Boys Steel Orchestra” and came up with [The Trinidad Online Pan Music Store](http://www.trinidad-online.org/Music/Steelband/index.shtml). Sounds like an intriguing source.[/ul]Hope this’ll get you started. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Big\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Big\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Big_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-island-music/83975/6 "2001-09-28T00:58:29Z")
David Rudder is always good. I have the album ‘1990’, (OK, it’s a little old) that is really good and doesn’t sound like everything else. His other stuff is good too, but they all seem very different. When I was in Venezuela, I heard someone there named Bonny Cepeda, who has some good stuff too. ---
**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-island-music/83975/7 "2001-09-28T02:21:05Z")
Billy Joel’s from Long Island. Does he count? ---
**Author:** ![Enore\_Tsotset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/2bfe46/32.png) [@Enore\_Tsotset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enore_Tsotset)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-island-music/83975/8 "2001-09-28T14:42:32Z")
\ Just thinking of what “Piano Man” would sound like in reaggae… HA! Shaggy! ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-island-music/83975/9 "2001-09-28T15:07:28Z")
You can’t go wrong with EXOTICA! The Best of Martin Denny (Rhino R2 70774). It’s got bird calls and EVERYTHING! The opening cut, “Quiet Village,” is a classic of Sputnik-era Tiki surrealism, and was a best-selling single in 1957.