<P> Calypso in the Caribbean includes a range of genres, including: the Benna genre of Antiguan and Barbudan music; Mento, a style of Jamaican folk music that greatly influenced ska and reggae; Ska, the precursor to rocksteady and reggae; Spouge, a style of Barbadian popular music; Dominica Cadence - lypso, which mixed calypso with the cadence of Haiti; and soca music, a style of Kaiso / calypso, with influences from cadence - lypso, soul, and funk . </P> <P> It is thought that the name "calypso" was originally "kaiso" which is now believed to come from Efik "ka isu" ("go on!") and Ibibio "kaa iso" ("continue, go on"), used in urging someone on or in backing a contestant . There is also a Trinidadian term "cariso" that is used to refer to "old - time" calypsos . The term "calypso" is recorded from the 1930s onwards . Alternatively, the insert for The Rough Guide to Calypso and Soca (published by World Music Network) favours John Cowley's arguments in Carnival, Canboulay and Calypso: Traditions in the Making, that the word might be a corruption of the French carrouseaux and through the process of patois and Anglicization became caliso and then finally "calypso"; however, Cowley also notes that the first mention of the word "calypso" is given in a description of a dance in 1882 by Abbé Masse . </P> <P> Calypso music was developed in Trinidad in the 17th century from the West African Kaiso and canboulay music brought by African slaves imported to that Caribbean island to work on sugar plantations . The slaves, brought to toil on sugar plantations, were stripped of all connections to their homeland and family and not allowed to talk to each other . They used calypso to mock the slave masters and to communicate with each other . Many early calypsos were sung in French Creole by an individual called a griot . As calypso developed, the role of the griot became known as a chantuelle and eventually, calypsonian . </P> <P> Modern calypso, however, began in the 19th century, a fusion of disparate elements ranging from the masquerade song lavway, French Creole belair and the calinda stick - fighting chantwell . Calypso's early rise was closely connected with the adoption of Carnival by Trinidadian slaves, including canboulay drumming and the music masquerade processions . The French brought Carnival to Trinidad, and calypso competitions at Carnival grew in popularity, especially after the abolition of slavery in 1834 . </P>

Who is credited for the creation of calypso