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July 14, 2022
Monique Roffey's Playlist for Her Novel "The Mermaid of Black Conch"
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Roxane Gay, and many others.
Monique Roffey's novel The Mermaid of Black Conch is a magnificent fable that speaks clearly to modern times.
The New York Times wrote of the book:
"One can’t help admiring the boldness of Roffey’s vision. . . . Sentence by sensuous sentence, Roffey builds a verdant, complicated world that is a pleasure to live inside. . . . Aycayia is a magical creature, though rendered so physically you might start to believe in the existence of mermaids."
In her own words, here is Monique Roffey's Book Notes music playlist for her novel The Mermaid of Black Conch:
This novel is full of music, mostly the reggae Reggie listens too, very loudly. Also, the soca and calypso which would be played down on the foreshore at CeCe’s parlour. Also, South American icaros. Also, Aycayia sings to herself, a mix of opera, hymns and icaros. Here are a few of the tunes and bands either mentioned in the book or alluded to. Together, they create a ‘mood’ of the 1970s, Caribbean.
1. Ah Put on me Guns Again, The Mighty Chalkdust is a soca tune playing in the bar, CeCe’s parlour, down on the foreshore as the men are gathering for the fishing competition.
2. Jean and Dinah, The Mighty Sparrow, as above.
3. Get Up, Stand Up, Bob Marley, is a rallying cry and song Reggie listens to loudly or on his headphones. He loves the mighty Bob. He introduces Aycayia to Bob Marley and she mentions this song in one part of her narrative.
4. Duppy Conqueror, Bob Marley, as above. Aycayia listens to this with Reggie. A duppy is a ghost.
5. Pressure Drop, Toots and the Maytals, a song about karmic justice. The Maytals are a 70s Jamaican reggae band, one of Reggie’s favourite bands.
6. A Rebel Soul, Aswad, as above. I figured Reggie would have got his hands on Aswad’s first vinyl record. Released in 1976.
7. Slave Driver, Bob Marley. Reggie is listening to this song on his headphones in the great house.
8. Ave Maria, the ancient hymn is a well-known funeral song. Aycayia is singing it to herself towards the end of the novel, as she is lies in the bath on Miss Rain’s home, as she is changing back into a mermaid.
9. Andean ‘icaros’, these are ancient magic, medicine songs sung in South America, often during rituals. They have a sacred quality and sound other worldly.
10. Miles Davis, The Ramones. These are the bands referred to by Hank Clayton at the end of the book, when he and his father are getting drunk and have been defeated by the villagers and the mermaid. I wanted Hank to have a secret life he hides from his father; he is bi-sexual, and writes poems. He avoids sharing his more complex side from his alpha male father.
Monique Roffey is a senior lecturer in creative writing at the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University. She is the author of seven books, four of which are set in Trinidad and the Caribbean region. The Mermaid of Black Conch won the 2020 Costa Book of the Year Award and was short-listed for several other major prizes. Roffey's work has appeared in The New York Review of Books, Wasafiri, and The Independent. She was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and educated in the United Kingdom. Her website is moniqueroffey.com.
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