"As I examined the Pearse Archive, a paper-clipped set of ten transcribed songs, called "trumpet songs," came to my attention. I recalled hearing these songs earlier as rousing choruses in songs of the Trinidad Spiritual Baptists. I felt that some were North American Negro spirituals, but could not, at that point, explain their explain their use in that place and time.... My thesis is that the songs were introduced to Trinidad during the early nineteenth century by black North American soldiers who were liberated from slavery after their service in the British navy." (author)
