Unlike regional neighbors, however, the plantation system of agriculture which relied on chattel slavery never took root in Anguilla, causing a distinctly independent cultural makeup.
Anguilla's Rastafarian heritage has played a role in the island's music and culture and produced influential figures like activist Ijahnya Christian and Robert Athlyi Rogers, the author of The Holy Piby.
[4] Other notable musicians include the soca group Xtreme Band, who gained regional fame following their success in the 2001 Carnival.
[5] Music institutions in Anguilla include the Soroptimist Club and the annual Tranquility Jazz Festival, though the island's most famous music celebration is Carnival, held near the beginning of August (the first Friday after the first Monday); it includes calypso competitions, j'ouvert, street dances, boat races, costumed parades and stilt walking, and beachside barbecues.
Other popular musicians from Anguilla include Evan Webster,[7] who is the most famous recent performer to emerge from the island's country music heritage.