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Barbados, or as known by the British "Little England", is an Independent island nation situated on the boundary of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The island is about 434.5 km (270 miles) north-east of Venezuela.

After years of peaceful and democratic progress, Barbados became an independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations on November 30, 1966.

Slavery in Barbados was finally ended in 1838, and newly-emancipated blacks celebrated with instruments including drums and horns, as well as banjos, tambourines and xylophones. Still, however, the use of horns and drums was discouraged, leading to the primacy of vocal music; at the same time, new Protestant churches from North American moved into the island, bringing with them American parlor music, cowboy songs and revivalist hymns.

The island is divided into 11 parishes and the city of Bridgetown for administrative purposes. There is no local government. Barbados' defense expenditures account for about 2.5% of the government budget.

Jazz is a genre of music from the United States which reached Barbados by the end of the 1920s. The first major performer from the island was Lionel Gittens, who was followed by Percy Green, Maggie Goodridge and Clevie Gittens. These bandleaders played a variety of music, including swing, a kind of pop-jazz, Barbadian calypso and waltzes. With little recorded music on the island, radio broadcasts such as Willis Conover's Voice of America had a major influence.

Transportation on the island is good, with public taxis, called "ZRs" (pronounced "Zed-R")s, traveling to most points on the island. These public taxis as they are known can at times be crowded, but will usually take the more scenic routes to destinations. These buses generally depart from the capital Bridgetown or from Speightstown in the northern part of the island.

Progress toward more democratic government for Barbados was made in 1951, when universal adult suffrage was introduced. This was followed by steps toward increased self-government, and in 1961, Barbados achieved internal autonomy.

The three political parties of Barbados--the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), and the National Democratic Party (NDP)--are all moderate and have no major ideological differences; electoral contests and political disputes often have personal overtones. The major political problems facing Barbados today are in promoting economic growth: creating jobs, encouraging agricultural diversification, attracting small industry, and promoting tourism.

In the 1980s, jazz decline dgreatly in popularity, though saxophonist Arturo Tappin organized the International Barbados/Caribbean Jazz Festival, while other performances were organized by a group called the Friends of Jazz. More jazz calypso fusion musicians appeared on the scene during this period, including Janice Robertson and her Trinidadian husband Raf