Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology

About Stephen Stuempfle

Stephen Stuempfle, a folklorist known for his work on the steelband movement and broader transformation of Trinidad’s landscape during the 19th and 20th centuries as well as for his steadfast service as the Executive Director of the Society for Ethnomusicology over the past 16 years, is retiring to devote more time to research and enjoying calypso. Accordingly, the following playlist in Steve’s honor is presented as this retirement appreciation.

When recently asked about his all-time favorite steelpan performance, Steve recalled the unmatched jubilation of “Pan in A Minor.” Calypsonian Lord Kitchener’s tune now beloved around the world was arranged by Jit Samaroo for the Renegades Steel Orchestra’s presentation at the 1987 Panorama competition during Carnival. This grandstand has proven to be a foundational site for Trinidad, but also for this scholar: Steve fondly reminisces on his doctoral research for a degree completed at the University of Pennsylvania that put him in the crowd at Queen’s Park Savannah in Port of Spain for the Panorama finals in 1988 and 1989. At this largest musical event of the year in Trinidad and Tobago, the atmosphere is one of buzzy anticipation when the top steelbands approach the stage to perform for the jury before thousands of delighted spectators.

Experiences like this led to Stuempfle’s detailed history on how pan as a Carnival street music during the 1930s grew into a national art and symbol by the 1990s, recounted in his 1995 book The Steelband Movement: The Forging of a National Art in Trinidad and Tobago. In this rich archival and ethnographic account, he guides readers roughly from the “Golden Age of the Calypso” (1934-1950), when calypsonian Roaring Lion sang “The whole island is carnival / People were jumping to and fro / To the rhythm of a red-hot calypso” to the point when, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of independence in 1992, the government of Trinidad and Tobago officially declared the steelpan its national instrument. Stuempfle’s co-edited volume on Music, Memory, Resistance: Calypso and the Caribbean Literary Imagination followed in 2007 and is a remarkable collection of some of the Caribbean’s most noted thinkers and performers, including Hollis “Chalkdust” Liverpool (whose “Carnival Is The Answer” gave him the fourth of his record-breaking nine Calypso Monarch titles), Earl Lovelace, Gordon Rohlehr, and M. NourbeSe Philip.

Stuempfle’s work goes well beyond his highly regarded ethnomusicological contributions. Captivated by the architecture of Port of Spain while studying pan yards, mas camps, and calypso tents, Steve turned his focus toward cultural geography. His momentous 2018 book Port of Spain: The Construction of a Caribbean City, 1888-1962 is an immersive tour of Trinidad’s capital city that reflects on the transformation of its built environs as the island nation moved from colonial rule to self-governance. It begins with an overview of the city’s landscape during the cocoa boom era of the late 1800s and concludes with visions of a modern architecture for the emerging nation in the 1960s.

While working on this project, Steve may have found another favorite calypsonian’s refrain resonating from the archives: singing in 1939 of “The Five Year Plan,” Atilla the Hun optimistically gushed about how a heady new government program of public works would elevate the population toward happy days. With independence yet on the horizon, Atilla noted that with various infrastructural improvements underway, “Port of Spain will hold her place with ease / The premier city in the West Indies.” Though close to a century removed, Stuempfle seemingly concurs, as he concludes his book with the observation that “Port of Spain remains in the end a unique urban landscape, one of much value to Trinidad and the world at large” (2018: 371).

Though, following Lord Invader’s directive, he may never forget the address “29 Port of Spain,” Steve has made his place in Bloomington in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology as an affiliated scholar teaching undergraduate courses on topics ranging from Caribbean Arts and Cultures to Folklore and Cultural Geography. In his primary appointment as Executive Director of the Society for Ethnomusicology, based at IU, Steve has worked tirelessly with national and international organizations such as the American Council of Learned Societies and the National Humanities Alliance to advance the discipline. He has further instituted two major projects, both involving collaborations with the IU Libraries: Ethnomusicology Translations (2015-present), a peer-reviewed, open-access online series for the publication of ethnomusicological literature translated into English, and Musicians in America during the Covid-19 Pandemic (2021), an open-access online archive of video interviews with musicians across the US. Prior to serving the SEM membership, Stuempfle was Folklife Curator (1995-2000) and subsequently Chief Curator (2000-2008) at the Historical Museum of Southern Florida. He received his PhD in Folklore at UPenn and a BA in English at Rice University.

With affection and thanks, we celebrate Steve’s retirement and send him back to school, to enjoy Machel Montano’s “Soul of Calypso,” which captured the 2024 Calypso Monarch crown. And like the iconic Calypso Rose, who declared “No time to rest or retire / Others have come and gone / But Calypso Rose is still singing on,” Steve Stuempfle will surely do the same.

Playlist:
Lord Kitchener, arr. Jit Samaroo, “Pan in A Minor”
Roaring Lion, “Mary Ann”
Chalkdust, “Carnival Is the Answer”
Atilla the Hun, “The Five Year Plan”
Lord Invader, “29 Port of Spain”
Machel Montano, “Soul of Calypso”
Calypso Rose, “Calypso Queen”

-Rebecca Dirksen

• Traditional arts in the Caribbean
• Caribbean cultural history
• Landscape, built environments, space, and place
• History of folklore studies and ethnomusicology