Editing Nevis (section)

===Music, theatre and dance===
Nevisian culture has since the 17th century incorporated [[Africa]]n, [[Europe]]an, and [[East India]]n cultural elements, creating a distinct [[Afro-Caribbean people|Afro-Caribbean]] culture. Several historical anthropologists have done field research Nevis and in Nevisian [[Immigration|migrant]] communities in order to trace the creation and constitution of a Nevisian cultural community. Karen Fog Olwig published her research about Nevis in 1993, writing that the areas where the Afro-Caribbean traditions were especially strong and flourishing relate to [[kinship]] and [[subsistence farming]]. However, she adds, Afro-Caribbean cultural impulses were not recognised or valued in the colonial society and were therefore often expressed through Euro-Caribbean cultural forms.<ref>Olwig, Karen Fog (1993). ''Global Culture, Island Identity: continuity and change in the Afro-Caribbean community of Nevis''. Chur, Switzerland: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1993.</ref>

Examples of European forms appropriated to express Afro-Caribbean culture are the Nevisian and Kittitian ''Tea Meetings'' and ''Christmas Sports''. According to anthropologist [[Roger D. Abrahams]], these traditional performance art forms are "Nevisian approximation of British performance codes, techniques, and patterns". He writes that the Tea Meetings were staged as theatrical "battles between decorum and chaos", [[decorum]] represented by the ceremony chairmen and chaos the hecklers in the audience, with a diplomatic King or a Queen presiding over the battle to ensure fairness.<ref>Abrahams, Roger D. (1983). ''Man of Words in the West Indies: Performance and the Emergence of Creole Culture''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins U P, 1983.</ref>

The Christmas Sports included a form of comedy and satire based on local events and gossip.<ref name="Abrahams1" /> They were historically an important part of the Christmas celebrations in Nevis, performed on Christmas Eve by small troupes consisting of five or six men accompanied by string bands from different parts of the island. One of the men in the troupe was dressed as a woman, playing all the female parts in the dramatisations. The troupes moved from yard to yard to perform their skits, using props, face paint and costumes to play the roles of well-known personalities in the community.<ref name="Abrahams1"/>

Examples of gossip about undesired behaviour that could surface in the skits for comic effect were querulous neighbours, adulterous affairs, planters mistreating workers, domestic disputes or abuse, crooked politicians and any form of stealing or cheating experienced in the society. Even though no names were mentioned in these skits, the audience would usually be able to guess who the heckling message in the troupe's dramatised portrayals was aimed at, as it was played out right on the person's own front yard. The acts thus functioned as social and moral commentaries on current events and behaviours in Nevisian society. This particular form is called "Bazzarding" by many locals. Abrahams theorises that Christmas Sports are rooted in the pre-emancipation Christmas and New Year holiday celebrations, when the enslaved population had several days off.<ref name="Abrahams1">Abrahams, Roger D. (1973). "Christmas Mummings on Nevis." North Carolina Folklore Journal (1973): pp. 120–31.</ref>

American folklorist and musicologist [[Alan Lomax]] visited Nevis in 1962 in order to conduct long-term research into the black folk culture of the island. His field trip to Nevis and surrounding islands resulted in the anthology ''Lomax Caribbean Voyage'' series.<ref>Cowley, John. [http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/nevis.htm "Caribbean Voyage: Nevis & St Kitts Tea Meetings, Christmas Sports, & the Moonlight Night"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070506220528/http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/nevis.htm |date=6 May 2007 }}. ''Musical Traditions'', 1 November 2002. Retrieved 8 May 2007.</ref> 
Among the Nevisians recorded were [[chantey]]-singing fishermen in a session organised in a rum shop in Newcastle; Santoy, the Calypsonian, performing [[Calypso music|calypsos]] by Nevisian ballader and local legend Charles Walters<ref>Abrahams, Roger D. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1498145 "Charles Walters – West Indian Autolycus'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227062618/http://www.jstor.org/stable/1498145 |date=27 February 2017 }}. Western Folklore, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Apr. 1968), pp. 77–95.</ref> to guitar and [[Cuatro (instrument)|cuatro]]; and [[string band]]s, [[fife (instrument)|fife]] players and drummers from Gingerland, performing [[quadrilles]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

The island is also known for "Jamband music", which is the kind of music performed by local bands during the "[[Culturama]] Festival" and is key to "Jouvert" dancing. The sounds of the so-called "Iron Band" are also popular within the culture; many locals come together using any old pans, sinks, or other kits of any sort; which they use to create sounds and music. This form of music is played throughout the villages during the Christmas and carnival seasons.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}